The nature of science is a complex theme, and continues to be the subject of advanced and ongoing scholarship, drawing upon a range of disciplines. Therefore, whatever is presented in school science as being "the" nature of science must at best be a simplification, and so there is a need to form judgements about which simplifications are…

Over the past few decades, the practice of education and training has been shifting from traditional knowledge transmission approaches to constructivist approaches of knowledge construction. This evolution is supported by research in cognitive science, education, and discourse processes. Constructivist theories of learning assume that students use…

Readers typically experience processing difficulty when they encounter a word that is anomalous within the local context, such as "The mouse picked up the "dynamite...". The research reported here demonstrates that by placing a sentence in a fictional scenario that is already well known to the reader (e.g., a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon, as a context…

Digital libraries play a crucial role in distance learning. Nowadays, they are one of the fundamental information sources for the students enrolled in this learning system. These libraries contain huge amount of instructional data (text, audio and video) offered by the distance learning program. Organization of the digital libraries is…

In this article, the author shares some ways that social studies teachers in the United States have worked to scaffold knowledge, skills, and dispositions that over time create global awareness and worldmindedness--habits of the mind that foster knowledge, interest and engagement in global issues, local/global connections, and diverse cultures.…

A prior experience of behavioral control over a stressor interferes with subsequent Pavlovian fear conditioning, and this effect is dependent on the activation of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (mPFCv) at the time of the initial experience with control. It is unknown whether mPFCv activity is necessary during fear learning and/or testing for…

The 5E teaching model provides a five step method for teaching science. While the sequence of the model is strictly linear, it does provide opportunities for the teacher to "revisit" prior learning before moving on. The 5E method is described as it relates to the teaching of aerobic cell respiration.

This study aimed at examining an unorthodox approach in which teacher trainees observe experienced teachers to benefit from their professional experience instead of the more common practice in which teacher trainees are evaluated through self-reflection and peer review. The target population was 111 teachers randomly selected by 20 teacher…

This study of cooperative learning in post-secondary engineering education investigated achievement of engineering students enrolled in two intact sections of a computer-aided drafting (CAD) course. Quasi-experimental and qualitative methods were employed in comparing student achievement resulting from out-of-class cooperative and individualistic…

It is well-documented that students' prior knowledge, cultural background, and language proficiency play a role in how they read, interpret, and respond to writing tasks (Barkaoui, 2007; Connor & Kramer, 1995; Hinkel, 2002). Essays written by students from different language backgrounds often differ in their linguistic, stylistic, and…

This study looks at the fairness of assessing learning journals both as the fairness in creating a valid and robust marking process as well as how different student groups may have unfair disadvantages in performing well in reflective assessment tasks. The fairness of a marking process is discussed through reflecting on the practical process and…

Even seasoned public relations (PR) practitioners can find it difficult to handle communications during a crisis situation when the consequences of making poor decisions may seem overwhelming. This article shares results from using a collaborative simulation to teach college students about crisis communications in an advanced-level PR course.…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine variables explaining students' positive and negative experiences of groupwork and connect country of residence with the perception of generic skills development and self-reported satisfaction with groupwork. It also aims to examine the effect of prior training in groups from the perspective of…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how students with workplace learning experience the process of the assessment of prior experiential learning (APEL) in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: This is an inductive and exploratory study drawing on methodology from the field of academic literacies. It addresses two questions:…

This study investigates the possibilities of estimating value added as a performance indicator in senior secondary vocational education. Value added is interesting in this context because it is considered as a reliable tool for comparing the effectiveness of educational institutions. Although value added indicators have been developed since the…