With the United States' adoption of a standards-based approach to education, most attention has focused on the large-scale, high-stakes assessments intended to measure students' mastery of standards for accountability purposes. Less attention has been paid to the role of standards-based assessments in the classroom. The purpose of this paper is to…

This paper describes a subset of results from a large-scale two-year independent evaluation study conducted with the "Scientists in School" (SiS) outreach program and two large school boards in Ontario, Canada. Specifically, it explores the responses of elementary students (n= 811) from typically underrepresented groups in science…

Web 2.0 technologies are becoming popular in teaching and learning environments. Among them several online collaborative writing tools, like wikis and blogs, have been integrated into educational settings. Research has been carried out on a wide range of subjects related to wikis, while other, comparable tools like Google Docs and EtherPad remain…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that, with a bit of creative thinking, elements of certain university-wide projects (in this case study, establishing an iTunes U site) can be incorporated into student studies and assessment as real-world learning opportunities. Design/methodology/approach: Describes three different approaches…

This study addresses the perceived gap between the vision of education reform in Thailand embodied in its Education Reform Law of 1999 and the results of implementation a decade later. Drawing upon opportunistic data obtained from a sample of 162 Thai school principals, we analyze trends in reform implementation across schools in all regions and…

Parents in Hong Kong believe that play is harmful to children's studies and socio-emotional development. However, the term "eduplay" was first introduced by Rao and Li, a form of play-based education with "Chinese characteristics". This term captures the beliefs of teachers and parents about how learning could happen through…

This article reports from a research study concerning online distance study for competence development of vocational rehabilitation clients. The students included in the study are adults with health problems participating in a rehabilitation process to re-enter into working life. As a group the students are characterized by difficulties, problems…

This inquiry aimed to examine the benefits of having international field experience for a group of Hong Kong postgraduate student teachers who joined a six-week immersion programme in New Zealand. Through participants' reflections, interviews and programme evaluations, the present investigation found that the overseas field experience not only…

School districts are required to comply with a 2004 federal mandate to guide nutrition and physical activity environments of schools by developing and implementing wellness policies. The purposes of this article are to (a) discuss the implications of the federal mandate and (b) analyze policies from nine school districts in one large suburban…

The use of team projects has been shown to be beneficial in higher education. There is also general agreement that team efforts should be assessed and that the grading ought to represent both (1) the quality of the product developed jointly by the team, as well as (2) the degree of participation and quality of contribution by each individual…

Purpose: This study seeks to investigate the potential gap between important dimensions of business graduates' attributes and the actual performance of these graduates in their post-graduate employment. These graduates have completed a business-related degree from the business management faculty of a higher education institution (HEI) located in…

This research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of hands-on and minds-on activities on ninth grade students' achievement in and attitudes towards simple electric circuits. The study was conducted with 130 students, 70 of which were assigned as experimental group and instructed by hands-on/minds-on activities, while the 60 were assigned as…

This study's goals were to describe an urban, blended undergraduate/teacher preparation program and to assess its effectiveness in recruiting, retaining, and preparing diverse teachers to teach in urban schools. Methods used included a 43-item, on-line survey and semi-structured interviews. One hundred nine undergraduates (68%) responded to the…

As the number of PDS programs increased and awareness of the time, energy, and resources required became more evident, calls for evidence of PDS impact increased. Since 1998, researchers have attempted to design studies that investigate PDS structural features and participant outcomes more systematically. They have used both qualitative and…

"Everyone Playing in Class" is an unstructured free play based provision for small classes or groups. The intervention involves training staff in attachment theory, presenting up-to-date research findings on the role of play in emotional well-being and relationship building, as well as teaching reflective communication skills. In this…