Student enrollment in K-12 online learning programs showed a tenfold expansion in the years between 2002 and 2005. Despite increased implementation to fulfill critical local needs, there is very little evidence-based research available to inform education leaders' decisions relating to these initiatives. To address the important question of whether online learning can be as effective as traditional face-to-face learning, this research presents the findings from a quasi-experimental design...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Enrollment, Quasiexperimental Design, Algebra, Online Courses, Instructional...
This paper reports on a pilot study that examined the use of a science and technology curriculum based on robotics to increase the achievement scores of youth ages 9-11 in an after school program. The study examined and compared the pretest and posttest scores of youth in the robotics intervention with youth in a control group. The results revealed that youth in the robotics intervention had a significant increase in mean scores on the posttest and that the control group had no significant...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Pretests Posttests, School Activities, Intervention, Scores, Robotics, Informal...
A subcategory of computer-assisted instruction (CAI), games have additional attributes such as motivation, reward, interactivity, score, and challenge. This study used a quasi-experimental design to determine if previous findings generalize to non simulation-based game designs. Researchers observed significant improvement in the overall population for math skills in the non-game CAI control condition, but not in the game-based experimental condition. The study found no meaningful, significant...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teaching Methods, Mathematics Skills, Computer Simulation, Quasiexperimental Design,...
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,...
This review provides a comprehensive examination of the literature surrounding the current state of K-12 distance education. The growth in K-12 distance education follows in the footsteps of expanded learning opportunities at all levels of public education and training in corporate environments. Implementation has been accomplished with a limited research base, often drawing from studies in adult distance education and policies adapted from traditional learning environments. This review of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Public Education, Distance Education, Literature...
This study was conducted on informal aspects of an inquiry-based physics course and reports findings about learning interactions and discourse observed during the first three semesters the course was offered. The course offered an alternative to the large lecture instruction typical in introductory university physics and promoted learning in an informal environment. The course organization attempted to engage students in investigations with only a small fraction of time devoted to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Physics, Investigations, Informal Education, Problem Solving, Interaction Process...
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,...
This study uses Partial Credit Rasch analysis to study a complex data set of student responses to survey items relating to chance and data. The items were administered in the classroom and collected from 1993 to 2003 in the Australian state of Tasmania. Data were collected from a total of 5514 individual students across Grades 3 to 11 over the decade and of these students 896 provided at least one repeated measure. As students completed a core of common items, Rasch analysis could be performed...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Foreign Countries, Longitudinal Studies, Mathematics...
The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' perceptions concerning the modular technology approach to teaching technology education in Georgia. The study addressed the following basic research question: What do teachers in Georgia perceive to be the main advantages and drawbacks to teaching technology education in a modular environment compared to a conventional environment? This study found that Georgia technology teachers who were familiar with teaching in modular laboratories tended...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Laboratories, Technology Education, Teacher Attitudes, Educational Facilities,...
Two hundred and thirty-one students in six Grade 9 classes in two government secondary schools located near Chiang Mai, Thailand, attempted to solve the same 18 quadratic equations before and after participating in 11 lessons on quadratic equations. Data from the students' written responses to the equations, together with data in the form of transcripts of 36 interviews with 18 interviewees (a high performer, a medium performer, and a low performer from each of the six classes), were analysed....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Equations (Mathematics), Grade 9, Algebra, Mathematics...
Multiple measures administered in repeated waves within a nonequivalent dependent variables quasi-experimental design were used to test the effects of a reform-oriented instructional method called Enhanced Anchored Instruction (EAI) on the math achievement of 128 middle school students, including students with learning disabilities (LD). EAI problems are presented in multimedia and hands-on formats, a potential benefit for students with low skills in both reading and math. Overall, students of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teaching Methods, Quasiexperimental Design, Effect Size, Ability, Learning...
This study used a multiple-baseline-across-students design to examine the effects of repeated readings combined with systematic error correction and performance feedback on the reading fluency and comprehension of 4 middle school students attending an outpatient day treatment program for their behavior problems. Additionally, a brief prediction strategy was added to the repeated readings package during the third phase of the study. Results indicated a functional relationship of repeated...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Instructional Effectiveness, Middle School Students, Prediction, Behavior Problems,...
Interest in improving the quality of professional development in this age of educational reform has intensified as a growing body of research suggests that teaching practices matter in terms of student achievement. Some have argued for embedding professional development in the context of teachers' work in order to transform both teaching practices and the structures and cultures of schools in which teachers practice. These changes are necessary so that teachers can develop innovative teaching...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teaching Methods, Educational Change, Faculty Development, Work Environment,...
Given the power of instructional technology and the ubiquitous nature of technology in society and the workplace, what are the social implications associated with teachers' decisions to use, or not use, technology to enhance teaching and learning? Despite current U.S. educational goals and the documented effect of the achievement gap, little attention has focused on critical issues associated with the use of instructional technology as a social justice tool. This article explores the social...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Technology, Justice, Social Values, Teaching Methods, Computer Attitudes,...
In this study, the authors explore the "apparent gulf between professionals' advice and actual teachers' practices." Their study recognizes the imperviousness of teacher practice to the efforts of researchers and curricular reformers. For over a century, the authors argue, "best practices" in social studies have always included instruction that promotes higher-order thinking and inquiry-based learning, regardless of whether the promulgators were committed to citizenship...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Constructivism (Learning), Public School Teachers, Citizenship Education, Social...
Middle school teachers, like all educators around the nation, are encountering classrooms comprised of an unprecedented number of students from various cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. Due to the influx of immigrants entering the U.S. educational system, the number of students who speak a native language other than English has grown dramatically and will account for about 40% of the school-age population by 2040. The reality of a multicultural, multilingual student population dictates...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Strategies, Student Needs, Middle School Students, Teacher Effectiveness,...
In this article the popularity of the concept of competence in higher vocational education is explained and the most important issues in this field are discussed. In particular, the vagueness of the term and the problems in defining job and training profiles are explained. Then the design of competence-based education is discussed. The paper ends by mentioning some subjects that are relevant to the future of competence-based education. Competence-based education is a catch-all word concealing...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Vocational Education, Competency Based Education, Instructional Effectiveness,...
As a consequence of findings and theses on the change in demand for qualifications, the debates on lifelong learning and a large number of articles on the theory of didactics, since the mid-1980s the concept has become established that traditional methods of teaching and learning in vocational education are dysfunctional and should be replaced or complemented by methods which are more activity-or problem-oriented, as well as being of a self-regulated nature. However, as concerns vocational...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Lifelong Learning, Vocational Education, Methods Research, Teacher Qualifications,...
This study compared the perspectives of foreign and Japanese instructors regarding the impact of the former on lesson content and student learning. Participants consisted of 208 Assistant Language Teachers (ALT) and 96 Japanese Language Teachers (JLT) working together through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. Path models constructed to illustrate causal relationships among eleven selected variables revealed three findings: (a) Both groups observe a close interdependency between ALT...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, High Schools, Path Analysis, Japanese, Language Teachers, Teacher...
This study implemented a multiplication program based on systematic practice, aimed at improving children's recall of basic multiplication facts. Four Year 5 classes were recruited to participate in the study. Two classes practised multiplication facts using pencil and paper worksheets and another two classes practised on computers. Eleven practice sessions (each of 15 minutes duration) were conducted over a four week period. Both groups increased their recall of basic multiplication facts and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematics Instruction, Multiplication, Mathematics Skills, Recall (Psychology),...
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,...
Critics of Invitational Education and other self-concept approaches to learning have long argued that there is a lack of empirical data to support the claims that approaches to student instruction based on self-concept theory are central to effective learning. Ellis (2001) examines a number of these analyses where self-concept, self-esteem, and self-efficacy are derided as antecedents to successful learning. However, by examining the empirical research on classroom management, all of the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Self Efficacy, Teacher Student Relationship, Classroom Techniques, Educational...
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...
This study investigates a basic writing course within a freshman learning Community at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). Multiple layers of data, both qualitative and quantitative, provide a thick description of what occurred overall in that classroom over the course of one semester. My findings suggest that basic writing classes are more successful within a learning community in terms of student pass rates and increased engagement. Thus, further study of basic writing...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Basic Writing, College Freshmen, Developmental Studies Programs, School Holding...
The problem of achievement gaps among different subgroups of students has been evident in education for many years. This manuscript revisits the work of renowned educator Benjamin S. Bloom, who saw reducing gaps in the achievement of various groups of students as a simple problem of reducing variation in student learning outcomes. Bloom observed that teaching all students in the same way and giving all the same time to learn--that is, providing little variation in the instruction--typically...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Mastery Learning, Teaching Methods, Achievement Gains, Learning...
This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study explored how the encoding of text ideas is affected when students with learning disabilities (LD) take notes from Web-based text. In the quantitative phase of the study, 15 students took three kinds of notes--typed, copy and paste, and written--with each kind of notes addressing a different topic. After taking notes, students performed poorly on two immediate measures of facts learning. Cued-recall test performances were best for topics noted by...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Notetaking, Qualitative Research, Learning Disabilities, Multiple Choice Tests,...
In this article, the ways in which special education for students with learning disabilities was perceived as "special" historically and what we know about effective special education instructional practices for students with learning disabilities currently are summarized. The influence of monitoring progress, providing explicit and systematic instruction, understanding the critical factors associated with progress in academic areas such as reading and math, and teaching students in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Integrated Services, Learning Disabilities, Special Education, Teaching Methods,...
Although students with emotional or behavioral disorders have historically experienced poor school outcomes compared to other students with and without disabilities, a number of effective practices are available that can make special education for students with emotional or behavioral disorders special. Within the three broad intervention areas of inappropriate behavior, academic learning problems, and interpersonal relationships, we provide a brief overview of a number of empirically validated...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Learning Problems, Behavior Disorders, Integrity, Special Education, Special Needs...
Student teaching is a challenging period for preservice teachers as they make the transition from preparation to practice. Support from mentor teachers and university personnel can make this time easier, helping preservice teachers successfully integrate educational theory into their practice. Because of logistical, financial, and personnel limitations, many student teachers with rural placements receive inadequate support. The Technology Supported Induction Network (TSIN) was developed to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Teaching, Student Teachers, Rural Schools, Mentors, College School...
With the still relatively recent advent widespread technological innovation in the global marketplace, leading to the "information age," massive automation, and corporate capital flight to Third World labor markets, future leaders are still needed, but increasingly, future workers are not. As result, students previously educated to be future workers are now educated, or rather miseducated or even diseducated, to be future prisoners. In 1977, Foucault posited the society as one...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Multicultural Education, Sanctions, Social Control, Educational Practices, Leadership...
Career and technical educators have long recognized the fact that a highly skilled craftsperson is not necessarily a highly skilled instructor of that craft. In the belief that the key to a productive, efficient workforce lies in high quality training for journeymen and apprentices, the Carpenter's International Training Fund (CITF) partnered with the Workforce Education and Development Program (WF ED) of Pennsylvania State University in an effort to improve the quality of workforce education....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Seminars, Workshops, Labor Force Development, Instructional Effectiveness, Career...
This article begins with an overview of how WebCT is used within a Masters in Education (M.Ed.) program in social studies and global education. WebCT is a class management system that allows instructors to choose from a variety of electronic technologies for a single course or integrate coursework across an entire academic program. In the M.Ed. program WebCT situates the interns within an online Professional Development School (PDS) Network of schools (half urban and half suburban) and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Computer Software Reviews, Courseware, Teacher Education Programs, Social Studies,...
Canadian universities are struggling to address seemingly contradictory challenges pertaining to undergraduate education: high demand and underfunding. A number of instruments, including the National Survey of Student Engagement (National Survey of Student Engagement, n.d.), have led to greater priority being placed on the undergraduate experience. Yet, strategies to ensure student satisfaction with their education, through initiatives such as small classes and personal contact with faculty,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Undergraduate Study, Problem Based Learning, Teaching Methods, Foreign Countries,...
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an earth systems science course (integrated mathematics and science content) on preservice elementary teachers' mathematics and science teaching efficacy. Paired t-tests revealed that the personal mathematics and science teaching efficacy and science teaching outcome expectancy significantly increased over the course of the semester for the experimental group (those students enrolled in the earth systems science course). For the control...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Integrated Curriculum, Preservice Teacher Education, Earth Science, Mathematics,...
Although there is a considerable emphasis on inquiry-based, active learning in standards documents, curriculum documents, and textbooks, there exists a great deal of debate regarding the effectiveness of specific curricular and instructional approaches, including kit-based instruction. This study examines the efficacy of science kits in improving content knowledge. The method used involved treatment and comparison groups composed of 2,299 elementary school students in third, fourth, and fifth...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary School Students, Textbooks, Active Learning, Teaching Methods, Elementary...
We evaluated the effectiveness of group safety training and in situ feedback and response interruption to teach preschool children to avoid consuming potentially hazardous substances. Three children ingested ambiguous substances during a baited baseline assessment condition and continued to ingest these substances following group safety training. In situ feedback and response interruption resulted in a decrease in opening ambiguous containers; this decrease was maintained when ambiguous novel...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Feedback (Response), Child Safety, Behavior Modification, Preschool Children,...
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a case study approach on students' achievement and attitudes towards viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protista. Fifth-grade students (N = 88) from two different classes were involved in the study. One intact class was assigned as the experimental group, whereas the other intact class was assigned as the comparison group. The comparison group students received their instruction by traditional teaching, whereas the experimental group...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Biological Sciences, Grade 5, Case Method (Teaching Technique), Elementary School...
In recent years, educators have begun to use learning portfolios as a means of evaluating student learning in higher education. Research indicates that learning portfolios can help students understand better the learning process as well as enhancing learning outcomes. They promote reflection on the learning experience and encourage students to think critically and make judgments about their own learning. The aim of this paper is to explore how short-answer portfolios can support the development...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Portfolios (Background Materials), Adult Students, Learning Experience, Skill...
The purpose of this study is to review the success of implementation of cooperative learning in various courses delivered at the Center for Community Service and Continuing Education at Kuwait University. According to recent research in the field of social cognition, learning situations which make use of the social context often achieve superior results over individualistic experiences. Interviews with 200 university teachers conducted for the last two years showed their experience and opinions...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cooperative Learning, Foreign Countries, Teaching Methods, Teacher Attitudes,...
This paper discusses three levels of "what works" in enabling education--namely, current and successful engagement, transition and future participation, and managing uncertainties. It points to the importance of high quality programs that get the students involved with learning, effectively preparing them for further study and providing the necessary survival skills for an essentially unknown and technology-driven future.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Education, Educational Quality, Child Care, Program Effectiveness, Minority...
When adult learners return to formal education after a period of absence, coping with change is a constant and often omnipresent challenge. As they come to break down previous barriers to success in an educational arena, many adult learners are able to change the perceptions they have of themselves as learners. Previously held assumptions are often challenged and perceptions of how individuals come to hold these views undergo scrutiny. Using Cranton's (2002) phases of perspective transformation...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Transformative Learning, Adult Basic Education, Adult Education, Adult Learning,...
This paper examines the underlying assumptions that competency-based frameworks are based upon in relation to leadership development. It examines the impetus for this framework becoming the prevailing theoretical base for developing leaders and tracks the historical path to this phenomenon. Research suggests that a competency-based framework may not be the most appropriate tool in leadership development across many organisations, despite the existence of these tools in those organisations, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Leadership Training, Leadership Effectiveness, Management Development, Competency...
This paper describes two teacher educators' practice of incorporating "jugyoun kenkyuu"--the Japanese lesson study approach--in teacher preparation programs. To ascertain the effectiveness of using this approach in undergraduate and graduate education programs, the authors conducted a research study among 17 undergraduate students and 51 graduate students. The results of this study showed that the lesson study approach is an effective tool for lesson planning, lesson presentation, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students, Teacher Education, Teaching Methods,...
In this article, the authors present a case study that is an exploration of credential candidates' attitudes toward a teaching performance assessment as a measure of their teaching ability, and the impact on faculty instructional decisions, practice, and attitudes toward the assessment. This study generated both qualitative and quantitative data. Results revealed that assessment, discussion, sharing results among faculty, credential candidates and partner schools can begin to open the dialogue...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Credentials, Performance Based Assessment, Policy Analysis, Qualitative Research,...
Health educators are providing students with the health knowledge and health skills that are prerequisites for becoming health literate and using assessment tools to demonstrate effectiveness. In the school health educators' world, accountability equates to improved student knowledge and skills. To expect them to be held accountable for students' behavior would be professional suicide. In this paper, the authors intend to show how and why educators have adopted a standards-based philosophy of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Comprehensive School Health Education, Public Health, Accountability, Educational...
This study evaluated the effectiveness of Positive Prevention, a theory-based, HIV/STD prevention education curriculum for high school youth. Three hundred fifty-three students participated in a longitudinal experimental design to determine the impact of the curriculum on HIV/AIDS knowledge, self-efficacy to abstain from sex, self-efficacy of condom use, attitudes toward abstaining from sex, and sexual behaviors. Results indicate that the curriculum significantly increased positive attitudes...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Design, Self Efficacy, Prevention, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Sexuality,...
There has long been controversy in this country about the implementation of school-based sexuality education. In recent years, however, the controversy has centered on abstinence education. Critics of abstinence education programs seem to have three major concerns relative to abstinence education programming: (1) promotion of religion; (2) provision of inaccurate information; and (3) ineffective programming. The focus of this article is on the charge that abstinence education programs are...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Sex Education, Program Effectiveness, Programming, Federal Government, Sexuality,...
The U.S. educational system invests heavily, in both time and money, in continuing education for teachers. In this article Heather Hill examines the effectiveness of two forms of teacher learning--graduate coursework and professional development. She focuses first on graduate education. Almost half of all teachers have a master's degree. Many states allow graduate coursework to count toward recertification requirements. Some districts require teachers to complete a master's degree within...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Salaries, Graduate Study, Continuing Education, Program Effectiveness, Faculty...
To address the lack of connection between theory and practice, a number of recent reforms in teacher education have included inquiry-based programs and/or new types of education courses, which encourage student teachers to be reflective problem solvers and change agents. Based on a pilot course for student teachers, the authors, also aspiring teacher educators, studied the process of implementing an inquiry approach toward teaching and learning to teach while simultaneously responding to the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Education, Student Teachers, Education Courses, Change Agents, Theory...
Teacher education programs employ various strategies aimed at providing teachers with the knowledge, habits of mind, and practices necessary to work with increasingly racially and ethnically diverse students. Often, these efforts have centered on the addition of a multicultural foundations course. Research on multicultural foundations courses focuses on the content and the impact of such courses on teachers' beliefs and attitudes but provides few insights into the pedagogy of multicultural...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Education Programs, Instructional Effectiveness, Curriculum Enrichment,...