This article comes largely from observations made on-the-job while teaching mathematics in a government high school in the ACT. The issues canvassed will be familiar to those who have considered the arguments for and against ability grouping in mathematics education. It is speculative in nature, hinting at a synthesis of opposing views in the ability-grouping debate and ending with a proposal about how the practice of streaming might be aligned better with numeracy outcomes.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Numeracy, Ability Grouping, Mathematics Education, Mathematics Instruction,...
Mathematics is like a language, although technically it is not a natural or informal human language, but a formal, that is, artificially constructed language. Importantly, educators use their natural everyday language to teach the formal language of mathematics. At times, however, instructors encounter problems when the technical words they use, as formal parts of mathematics, conflict with an everyday understanding or use of the same word, or related words. This article discusses this problem,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Symbols (Mathematics), Artificial Languages, Vocabulary, Mathematics, Mathematics...
The Social coping Questionnaire (SCQ) measures strategies used by gifted adolescents to minimize the negative effect they believe their high ability has on their social interactions. Previous studies have supported the factor structure, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability of the SCQ. The current study provides construct validity evidence for the SCQ by comparing it with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Upon entrance to a residential academy, 339 gifted adolescents completed...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Measures (Individuals), Interpersonal Relationship, Interaction, Adolescents, Gender...
To explore factors associated with college students' intentions to participate in Internet-based health research, data were collected from 502 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory-level business courses at a large midwestern university. Findings suggest that intentions to participate in Internet-based research are influenced by one's perceptions of social norms related to research participation and the extent to which one regularly discusses personal health information with others....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Undergraduate Students, Recruitment, Hygiene, Behavior Standards, Social Behavior,...
Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. University health and physical education programs have a unique opportunity to assist in childhood obesity prevention through service-learning programs. However, prior to the implementation of service-learning curricula, it is imperative to gain insight in the unique needs of the selected community. The purpose of this study was to understand a service-learning community through exploring parent, teacher, and student perceptions...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Prevention, Physical Education, Health Education, Focus Groups, Family Involvement,...
Research indicates that affective attitudes such as liking of a subject and confidence in one's ability within a subject predict academic performance. Generally, immigrant minority students have positive attitudes and often have low academic performance. This study examines the self-efficacy and liking of subjects of New Zealand students and analyses the relationship of those attitudes towards academic performance in mathematics, writing, and reading by self-reported ethnicity. Data were...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Student Attitudes, Minority Groups, Self Efficacy, Academic...
The benefits of cooperative learning strategies, such as group project work, have been advocated in a wide range of educational contexts. There is however, scant information on the outcome of such programs on students of low academic ability. In this study, interviews were conducted with four groups of low-ability students, with the aim of investigating their perceptions on the effectiveness of group project work in promoting their social and cognitive skills. Our findings show that although...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teaching Methods, Academic Ability, Learning Strategies, Cooperative Learning, Low...
The study describes the extent of change in students' cognitive expectations after going through an Introductory Physics course. Cognitive expectations are beliefs about the learning process and the structure of knowledge. Using the Maryland Physics Expectations (MPEX) survey, the students' responses reflected the highest level of agreement with the "experts' response" in the following clusters: independence, math link, reality link, and effort link. The study has shown that students...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Liberal Arts, Physics, Business Education, Introductory Courses, Student Attitudes,...
The integrated-skills approach (ISA), which incorporates the four language skills--reading, writing, speaking, and listening--has become a dominant trend in FL college instruction in Taiwan. The purpose of the study was to examine how the ISA is being used in Taiwan's EFL college classes, develop an understanding of students' satisfaction with the integrated-skill class and authentic activities, and determine if students' views about separated-skill instruction changed during the year of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Language Skills, College Instruction, Class Activities, Student...
The core purpose of this paper is to draw together research issues and concrete problems with the use of multimedia technology at the graduate level in higher music education by examining one university's responses to the challenges posed by the use of multimedia technology as a teaching and learning aid for music education. Between June and July 2006, this study conducted a simple questionnaire and interview survey of 16 postgraduate students. The results suggest that music students are...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Student Attitudes, Learning Motivation, Educational Technology,...
This study investigated whether providing students with the choice of chat versus threaded discussion boards for online discourse is an effective instructional strategy in terms of student learning and satisfaction. The sample was teacher education students enrolled in face-to-face (FTF) and online sections of one undergraduate foundations course. Both sections required participation in online text-based discussion. Comparison groups included course format (FTF vs. online), discussion format...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Strategies, Computer Mediated Communication, Student Attitudes, Academic...
The purpose of this study is to critically examine teachers' and their students' views about technology integration in schools focusing on the following questions: (1) What are students' perceptions about technology integration in schools?; (2) What are teachers' views about using technology in teaching and learning?; and (3) What do teachers say about the "oversold, underused" phenomenon of technology in schools? Data were collected from 15 secondary mathematics and science teachers...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Attitudes, Educational Technology, Technology Integration, Science Teachers,...
This paper investigates the questions and considerations that should be discussed by administrators, faculty, and support staff when designing, developing and offering a hybrid (part online, part face-to-face) degree program. Using two Web questionnaires, data were gathered from nine instructors and approximately 450 students to evaluate student and instructor perceptions and opinions of hybrid instruction and activities. In comparison to prior research, the results of this study offer larger...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Technology, Distance Education, Program Development, Curriculum...
This study investigates how inservice teachers constructed new knowledge, the extent of knowledge construction achieved, and how instructors participated in and facilitated the online discussion to affect knowledge construction. One finding is that most inservice teachers seemed to favor discussion activities at the stage of knowledge confirmation rather than knowledge construction. Another finding is that some facilitation approaches used by the instructors when serving as both facilitator and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Computer Mediated Communication, Inservice Teacher Education, Teacher Role, Online...
This study investigates whether gender has an effect on students' attitudes toward, and their uses of, technology. Data were collected from 59 sixth grade students to examine their attitudes toward and uses of technology by means of The Computer Survey (TCS), computer logs, interviews, classroom observations, field notes, and student work. One of the major findings of the study was that gender differences in attitudes, perceptions, and uses of computers were not found to be significant. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Grade 6, Females, Males, Gender Differences, Student Attitudes, Computer Attitudes,...
Growing perceptions that students exploit information technology to evade academic assignments prompted surveys of student attitudes about unethical uses of information technology (e.g., cutting and pasting excerpts from Web sites without attribution) at two institutions. Students at a private church-affiliated college rated cheating behaviors as more offensive than their counterparts at a regional campus of a major research university. However, ordinal rankings of academically dishonest...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Attitudes, Personality Traits, Research Universities, Ethics, Cheating,...
This study investigated the effect of group discussions and question prompts on students' vicarious learning experiences. Vicarious experiences were delivered to 65 preservice teachers via VisionQuest, a Web site that provided examples of successful technology integration. A 2x2 factorial research design employed group discussions and question prompts as independent variables and students' perceptions of their competencies and self-efficacy for technology integration as dependent variables....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Technology, Technology Integration, Self Efficacy, Preservice Teachers,...
The computer-supported Project Work classroom learning environment discussed in this paper represents a paradigm shift from teacher-centered to student-centered teaching and learning in Singapore schools. Besides the face-to-face weekly lessons in existing Project Work classrooms, the students engaged in computer-supported online forum discussions. Two hundred and sixty students and 26 teachers from seven high schools participated in this study. Their perceptions of this new learning...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Educational Environment, Student Attitudes, Test Validity, Item...
We further evaluated the Virtual Lecture Hall (VLH) (Cramer, Collins, Snider, & Fawcett, in press), an instructional computer-based platform to deliver PowerPoint slides threaded with audio clips for later review. Students from either an in-class or online section (ns = 810 and 74 respectively) of introductory psychology had access to live recorded lectures via the VLH, made available through the course Web site. Approximately 45% of in-class and 78% of online students used the resource...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Psychology, Lecture Method, Online Courses, Introductory Courses, Web Sites, Student...
The following paper is based on a review of 68 referred journal articles that focused on introducing technology to preservice teachers. Ten key strategies emerged from this review, including delivering a single technology course; offering mini-workshops; integrating technology in all courses; modeling how to use technology; using multimedia; collaboration among preservice teachers, mentor teachers and faculty; practicing technology in the field; focusing on education faculty; focusing on mentor...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Statistical Analysis, Technology Integration, Program Descriptions, Journal Articles,...
This study brings together insights from research on teaching and learning in specific subjects, learning environments research, and effectiveness research, by linking teacher interpersonal behaviour to students' subject-related attitudes. Teaching was studied in terms of a model originating from clinical psychology that was adapted to education. Teacher interpersonal behaviour was analysed in terms of two, independent behaviour dimensions called Influence and Proximity. This study investigated...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Influence, Statistical Analysis, Proximity, Motivation, Educational Research,...
This study focuses on the relationship between teacher-student interpersonal behaviour and students' attitudes toward science. To investigate this relationship, student perception data have been gathered with 1021 secondary science students, located in 31 classes in Kashmir, India. Teacher interpersonal behaviour was conceptualised in terms of two behavioural dimensions, Influence (the degree of teacher control in communication with students) and Proximity (the degree of cooperativeness between...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Teacher Influence, Teacher Background, Proximity, Educational...
This study investigated associations between teacher-student interaction and students' attitudes towards chemistry among 497 tenth grade students from three independent schools in Singapore. Analyses supported the reliability and validity of a 48-item version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI). Statistically significant gender differences and stream differences (i.e. gifted vs. non-gifted) were observed for numerous QTI scales, but gender x stream interactions also emerged....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Teacher Student Relationship, Grade 10, Interaction, Gender...
This paper reports the results of two interventions involving the integrated study of mathematics and technology practice to girls in Years 6 and 7. The focus of the study was to look at factors that contributed to girls' disengagement with mathematics study and seek pedagogical solutions for this. The key mathematics concepts embedded in the two interventions were proportional reasoning and ratio. A design based research methodology was adopted. The study started with the assumption that by...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Methodology, Intervention, Females, Mathematics Education, Mathematical...
In a previous article published in the "Journal of College Reading and Learning," we presented the results of a self-study of our commitment as faculty and staff members to providing a multicultural learning experience for our students. This follow-up article provides the findings of a study conducted during spring semester 2004 to explore student perceptions of their multicultural experiences within the same academic unit. In the discussion that follows, we also address differences...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cultural Pluralism, Student Attitudes, Student Surveys, Individual Differences,...
The present study assessed the effects of summer parent tutoring on 3 children with learning disabilities using empirically derived reading interventions. Brief experimental analyses were used to identify customized reading fluency interventions. Parents were trained to use the intervention strategies with their children. Parents implemented the procedures during parent-tutoring sessions at home and results were measured continuously in high-word-overlap and low-word-overlap passages to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Parents as Teachers, Intervention, Tutoring, Reading Fluency, Learning Disabilities,...
The racial, ethnic, linguistic, and economic diversity within urban areas necessitates the creation of scholastic environments that are responsive to the varying academic and social needs of the student population. This qualitative study investigates ways in which teacher and administrator behavior and the school environment contribute to the successes or frustrations of minority students in AP and IB courses. Classroom observations and interviews with 9 administrators, 4 counselors, 43...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Advanced Placement Programs, Educational Environment, Teacher Behavior, Administrator...
This paper reports on a qualitative study which generated detailed case study information about the transition experiences of seven Indigenous students as they moved from Year 7 in their community school to Year 8 in their new urban high school context (Rennie, Wallace, Falk & Wignell 2004). In particular the study aimed to document the literacy and numeracy practices valued in the home community, community school and urban high school and highlight any continuities and discontinuities...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Numeracy, Community Schools, Student Attitudes, Literacy Education, Indigenous...
Social relations are often seen as transactions between individuals. The dynamic teacher, accordingly, is one who gives energy and knowledge to students. Because this understanding fails to appreciate the relational forces at work in the lively classroom, it produces unhealthy attitudes toward education. Teachers who try to live up to it will not only burn out, they will distort their students' educational development. The vitality of the classroom comes from an energy that is created between...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Student Relationship, Phenomenology, Classroom Communication, Classroom...
Group work is a widely used learning approach in higher education where it is seen as encouraging the development of collaborative skills and attitudes while producing an assessable product. Group assignments can, however, create dilemmas and tensions for both staff and students. Students often seek academic intervention in the form of support and dispute arbitration; and the types of interventions employed to deal with issues arising during and after group work, and the effectiveness of the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Intervention, Assignments, Cooperative Learning, Higher Education,...
Teacher quality has become a national policy concern in the US, especially in mathematics. This study provides insights into the conceptualisation of high quality mathematics teaching from the perspective of approximately 750 students in grades nine through twelve. Results from Rasch analysis yield information about the quality of the "Mathematics Quality Survey" constructed for this study and the hierarchy of items representing varying levels of quality as perceived by the students....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematics Instruction, Teacher Effectiveness, Rating Scales, Student Attitudes,...
The goals of this project were to 1) assess obesity status and body satisfaction among African American college students, and 2) to compare differences in these variables between students at a predominantly white university (PWU) and a historically black college and university (HBCU). Four hundred and two undergraduate females completed a self-administered survey (199 HBCU and 203 PWU). The mean BMI for all respondents was 25.24 plus or minus 5.56. There was no significant difference between...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Housing, Females, Wellness, Obesity, Black Colleges, African American Students, Data...
This study investigated the attitudes of health education/promotion students toward homosexuals and the extent to which those attitudes were related to their comfort and interest in working with gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) individuals and health issues socially-related to this community. Participants included 182 undergraduate and graduate health education/promotion students from nine academic institutions in the United States. The Index of Attitudes towards Homosexuals was used to assess...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Attitudes, Homosexuality, Health Education, Professional Education, Graduate...
This paper reports on an empirical study of how structure, culture, and message content affected communications between principals and teachers in one Swedish school. The study revealed that communication within this school merely transmitted the information necessary for conducting daily work, which resulted in predictable behaviors, rather than stimulating learning and encouraging challenging dialogue about significant pedagogical and school improvement issues. (Contains 2 tables.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Principals, Student Attitudes, Foreign Countries, Teachers, Educational Change,...
The theoretical framework for using alternative assessment in the classroom includes considering learners as constructors of knowledge; finding authenticity in materials and activities; employing dynamic, ongoing evaluation tools; and empowering students. By putting these ideas into practice, individual attributes of initiative, choice, vision, self-discipline, compassion, trust, and spontaneity can be promoted in students. The opportunities and obstacles associated with implementing...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Graduate Students, Altruism, Alternative Assessment, Evaluation Methods, Student...
Every teacher is a messenger. The message that a teacher communicates and portrays is acquired formally and informally through systematic study, and environmental and socialization processes. While formal study happens consciously within a particular period of time, experiential learning that impinges on the development of the message happens all the time. It is a pervasive force with a long incubation period. No matter how the effects of environmental processes are suppressed and ignored,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Beginning Teachers, Speech Communication, Secondary Education, Teacher Student...
In this article, the author shares her perspectives on the Bringing Theory to Practice project and liberal education. The Bringing Theory to Practice project has developed strategies and support for the necessary research and for initiatives individual campuses have proposed to affect the multiple and troubling increases in forms of student disengagement. Association of American Colleges and Universities' (AAC&U) partnership with the project has emphasized liberal education's commitment to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, General Education, Colleges, Campuses, Audiences, Liberal Arts, Student Needs,...
The author had a conversation one late afternoon with an untenured colleague from another department regarding chili pepper ratings. Her colleague explained that the popular RateMyProfessor.com Web site allows students to rate faculty members not only according to standards of "clarity," "helpfulness," and something called "easiness," but also in terms of "hotness," denoted with a cheerful cartoon of a red chili pepper. Many of her colleague's students...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cartoons, Feedback, College Faculty, Student Attitudes, Higher Education, Role of...
Education accompanied by social mobility is the cornerstone of the American dream. Yet, each year scores of children, especially those from the underprivileged class, fail to meet even the most modest academic expectations and subsequently never reach their academic potential. This research rejects earlier explanations of academic failure and suggests that Modality theory, the idea that students differ in their ability to learn new and difficult material depending on the manner in which it is...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Grade 6, Teaching Methods, Academic Failure, Social Mobility, Academic Achievement,...
Some women have various misconceptions about technology careers. Some of them think that one has to be a geek in order to become a computer scientist. When the Women in Computing Group at Indiana University (WIC@IU) was looking for ideas on how to increase the number of women in computing majors at IU, the authors realized that women were turning away from technology careers before they arrived at college. The authors realized that the solution in convincing women to pursue technology careers...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Womens Education, Careers, Majors (Students), Females, Computer Science,...
Throughout the decades, writing has been recognized as a process that helps learners to think more deeply about ideas and information they encounter through reading, listening, viewing, and physically experiencing the world around them. "Discovery writing," the type of writing over which students have some control of the format, topic, purpose, and audience, leads to greater understanding of concepts across the middle school curriculum. "Staccato writing," the quick, short...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Writing Across the Curriculum, Childrens Writing, Student Attitudes, Content Area...
This study evaluated the viability of using a self-report instrument to assess separately the positive form and negative form of perfectionism among 317 Chinese gifted students in Hong Kong. These students tended to endorse positive perfectionism more than negative perfectionism. Positive and negative perfectionism were also found to relate differentially to life satisfaction and positive affect, as well as negative affect--the three components of subjective well-being. Although positive and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academically Gifted, Life Satisfaction, Self Efficacy, Foreign Countries, Personality...
This article shares findings from a research study on 14 gifted dropouts. The first author designed the study after she came in contact with four gifted young men who chose to leave school rather than put up with what they described as low-level curriculum and a culture that disrespected them. The intent of the study was to explore why gifted students drop out of school and examine the effects of dropping out on their plans for the future.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academically Gifted, Dropouts, Family Influence, Family Environment, Males, Dropout...
The focus of this study was art therapy students' and professionals' perceptions of their preparedness to understand and deal with technology as an art media and work tool within the practice of art therapy. To study the need for training in technology, surveys were sent to 177 current art therapy students and practicing art therapists resulting in a 32.2% return rate. The survey targeted American Art Therapy Association (AATA) members who were either current students or practicing art...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Art Therapy, Professional Training, Computer Literacy, Attitude Measures, College...
This paper explores 122 secondary school students' perceptions of the choral learning environment. A survey questionnaire was developed taking into consideration the responses of a pilot study in which students were requested to list what they liked and disliked about the choir. The participants rated their degree of agreement on a five-point scale on psychosocial and other perspectives of choral learning. Three research questions were posed: (1) What are Singaporean secondary school students'...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Secondary School Students, Educational Environment, Gender...
It is generally observed in the literature of school effectiveness research that there are two broadly categorized factors influencing pupil achievement. However, the results of the studies based on empirically collected data vary from country to country and from time to time. Premised on this inconsistency of results and gaps in knowledge of this field in Cambodian education, this study was conducted in order to examine the effect of pupil factor on their mathematics achievement. The data were...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Mathematics Tests, Student Interests, Mathematics Achievement,...
Learning no longer takes place as effectively as it did before in most current Korean classrooms. Many teachers have voiced concerns about a notably reduced level of students' interest in and enthusiasm for learning school materials, lack of students' attention to their lectures, and lack of students' involvement in classroom activities. This negative change, which has been observed since around 1997, is often referred to as "school collapse" in Korea, meaning classroom breakdown. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teaching Methods, Foreign Countries, Educational Change, Teacher Effectiveness,...
The present study investigated the satisfaction of international students. The factor analysis revealed the three factors of "learning and research", "living and adaptation" and "Japanese language ability". The ten variables were used to predict the satisfaction of international students and found five significant variables in predicating the satisfaction of international students. These were suitability of curriculum, progress of research, having a good friend,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Part Time Employment, Language Skills, Path Analysis, Language Aptitude, Factor...
Mathematics games are widely employed in school classrooms for such reasons as a reward for early finishers or to enhance students' attitude towards mathematics. During a four week period, a total of 222 Grade 5 and 6 (9 to 12 years old) children from Melbourne, Australia, were taught multiplication and division of decimal numbers using calculator games or rich mathematical activities. Likert scale surveys of the children's attitudes towards games as a vehicle for learning mathematics revealed...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Grade 5, Student Attitudes, Negative Attitudes, Likert Scales,...
Math anxiety can begin as early as the fourth grade and peaks in middle school and high school. It can be caused by past classroom experiences, parental influences, and remembering poor past math performance. Math anxiety can cause students to avoid challenging math courses and may limit their career choices. It is important for teachers, parents and students to be aware of the effects of math anxiety so that if a student is affected, the student can receive the support necessary to lessen or...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Grade 4, Mathematics Anxiety, Mathematics Instruction, High School Students, Career...