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,...
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...
This paper discusses the functionalist perspective of stratification and institutional processes of values inculcation in schools and organizations. It is assumed that students' school-to-work transition entail certain differences in life and work expectations as the education system forms the basis of cultural reproduction and values formation. A quantitative study was conducted to investigate the variations in value priorities between managers, professionals and executives in a MNC in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Socialization, Values, Questionnaires, Surveys, Global Approach,...
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 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 paper reports on an exploratory, longitudinal study that analyzes and interprets the evolution of teachers' beliefs regarding learning, teaching, and technology, and their instructional practices, in the context of integrating technology-based information-rich tasks in six 4th-6th grade classrooms. The study used multiple research tools, interviews, questionnaires and observations, focusing on both teachers' beliefs and classroom practices. The findings reveal that following multi-year...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teaching Methods, Research Tools, Classrooms, Teacher Attitudes, Interviews,...
The purpose of this research study was to develop a theory-based methodology for exploring instructional computer use by faculty members in one College of Education (COE) and implementing this methodology at an Anatolian university in Turkey. Rogers' (2003) Diffusion of Innovations theory was used as the theoretical framework in the process of instrument development, data collection, and in the interpretation of the results. The faculty members in the study reported low levels of use and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Methods, Faculty Development, Educational Technology, Schools of...
The objective of the study was to examine the effectiveness of an intervention based on attribution retraining with regards to student misconduct and coercive teacher behavior. An intervention would lead to a sustained decrease in misbehavior and coercive discipline without using any external control systems. In this case study, a male, veteran Grade 8 teacher and his students were involved in a long-lasting conflict characterized by an increase of disruptive student conduct and the teacher's...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Grade 8, Intervention, Retraining, Discipline Problems, Behavior Problems, Behavior...
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 paper presents results of a study attempting to identify the extent to which teacher effectiveness research and research into teacher interpersonal behavior can help us collect valid and reliable evaluative data from students about their teacher behavior. The major findings of teacher effectiveness research are outlined and the process that was followed in order to design questionnaire measuring student views of their teacher behavior in the classroom is presented. The main findings of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Questionnaires, Achievement Gains, Teacher Evaluation, Content...
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...
Knowledge of the strategies used by English as a foreign language (EFL) or second language (ESL) readers can help instructors teach these techniques and thereby enhance their students' reading comprehension. The present study compared three categories of reading comprehension strategies (metacognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective) to determine their effects on 31 EFL students' reading comprehension. A standard reading comprehension test taken from the First Certificate in English (FCE) and a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Inferences, Metacognition, Reading Comprehension, English (Second Language), Second...
The matching law was used to analyze whether the proportion of shots taken from two- or three-point range would match the proportional reinforcement rates produced by those shots when the reinforcement rate of three-point shooting was changed. Rule changes in 1994 and 1997 altered the distance of the three-point line in the National Basketball Association, which created a quasiexperimental reversal design, thereby naturally changing three-point reinforcement rates. The present data partially...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Team Sports, Reinforcement, Behavior Modification, Attention Deficit Disorders,...
This paper reports on a study that compared the practice of corporal punishment in ten basic schools in the Greater Accra District in Ghana. Five of the ten schools were designated as inclusive project schools (IPS) and the other five as non-inclusive project schools (NIS). The primary purpose was to find out if the inclusive project schools were more effective in eradicating corporal punishment from their schools than were the non-project schools. One hundred teachers responded to a six-item...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Measures (Individuals), Inclusive Schools, Punishment, Discipline,...
This paper reports the use of several quantitative analytic methods, including Rasch analysis, to re-examine teacher responses to questionnaire items probing opinions related to the compulsory numeracy tests conducted in Years 3, 5, and 7 in Queensland, Australia. Nisbet and Grimbeek (2004) previously reported an interpretable and statistically acceptable 6-factor exploratory factor solution. The present paper improved on this outcome by utilising Rasch analysis to identify items with orderly...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Numeracy, Item Analysis, Factor Analysis, Factor Structure,...
The National Association of Industrial and Technical Teacher Educators (NAITTE) will celebrate its 69th birthday this year. In keeping with this progression of years, the products and services of the organization are advancing as well: the "Journal of Industrial Teacher Education (JITE)" will turn 43, the Industrial Teacher Education Directory (ITE Directory) will turn 49, and the News and Views Newsletter will turn 26. Such a record speaks to the durability and quality of the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Industrial Education, Teacher Educators, Technical Education, Higher Education,...
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,...
This study addressed a major concern expressed by the Director of Academies of The Human Employment and Resource Training (HEART) Trust/National Training Agency (NTA) Jamaica. Its purpose was to identify the entrepreneurial competency gaps that may exist between the desired behavior of training instructors and the behavior that presently exists among the instructors who participate in institution-based enterprise activities. This study first identified the entrepreneurial competencies that the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Program Effectiveness, Foreign Countries, Public Agencies, Entrepreneurship, Surveys,...
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,...
Concerns about the importance of variation in statistics education and a lack of research in this topic led to a preliminary study which explored pre-service teachers' ideas in this area. The teachers completed a written questionnaire about variation in sampling and distribution contexts. Responses were categorised in relation to a framework that identified levels of statistical thinking. The results suggest that while many of the students appeared to acknowledge variation, they were not able...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Sampling, Statistics, Misconceptions, Questionnaires, Preservice Teachers,...
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,...
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...
Many educators and researchers are trying to define statistical literacy for the 21st century. Kimura, a Japanese science educator, has suggested that a key task of statistical literacy is the ability to extract qualitative information from quantitative information, and/or to create new information from qualitative and quantitative information. This article presents research that offers a theoretical basis using the SOLO Taxonomy to capture students' ability to create new information from...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Questionnaires, Program Validation, Item Analysis, Bayesian...
This paper describes a school/university graduate induction program that has provided support to beginning teachers since 1994. A 10-year follow-up study of program graduates was recently conducted to examine these questions: (a) How many graduates are still in the education profession? (b) How many have remained in the classroom? and (c) What are their retrospective perceptions of the induction program on their initial teaching experiences? Quantitative and qualitative data were collected....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Graduate Surveys, Professional Development Schools, Beginning Teacher Induction,...
An in-depth examination of an elementary beginning teacher's successes and struggles was conducted to provide insight into the demands placed upon her from teacher responsibilities, her school, the students in her classroom and their parents, as well as the pressures from personal goals and setbacks. Monthly open-ended interviews and a questionnaire distributed three times during the academic year provided insight into the successes and struggles she was experiencing and the types of knowledge,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Responsibility, Teacher Effectiveness, Beginning Teachers, Elementary School...
Issues such as financial autonomy, academic autonomy and administrative autonomy are crucial to the effective management of university education globally. For many years Nigerian universities have complained of being impeded in these areas because of the supervisory role of the National Universities Commission (NUC) which tend to encroach on their autonomy. In order to confirm this complaint and profer solution 280 university administrators and 100 university union officials from the 10...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Educational Administration, Academic Freedom, Institutional...
Despite professors' education and socialization and the significant rewards they receive for research activities and output, the 80/20 rule seems to apply; that is, there exists a system of stars who produce a disproportionate volume of research such that most research tends to be undertaken by a small percentage of the academy (Erkut, 2002). Although a growing body of research seeks to address this imbalance, studies of research productivity have tended to reveal its institutional and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rewards, Interaction, Grants, Productivity, Faculty Publishing, Questionnaires,...
This article reports the findings of a university's pilot project documenting the impact of an intervention entitled Course (Re)design for Internationalization Workshop (CRIW) on faculty perspectives and their subsequent willingness to engage in internationalization of the curriculum. Two main theories, transformative learning (Mezirow, 1991) and faculty development (Ramsden, 2003) in the approach adopted for the CRIW (Saroyan & Amundsen, 2004) informed this study and its procedures. This...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Workshops, Intervention, Faculty Development, Educational Change, Transformative...
This research reports on college students' attitudes regarding alcohol abuse and rioting and beliefs about university- and community-based environmental management strategies to quell riotous behavior. Using a primarily qualitative research technique, the researchers explored attitudes toward recent rioting at a northeastern Big Ten University using a 16-item questionnaire containing mostly open-ended items. A selected sample of 150 students majoring in education or health and physical...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Students, Antisocial Behavior, Qualitative Research, Student Attitudes,...
The aim of this study is to determine the student teachers' concerns about the teaching process including the teaching profession, teaching methods, planning, instruction, evaluation and classroom management. A total of 156 student teachers from five departments in the Gazi faculty of education participated in the study. A questionnaire including an open-ended item was applied in order to establish the nature of the student teachers' concerns. The responses from the student teachers to the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Classroom Techniques, Student Teachers, Teaching (Occupation), Measures...
This article examines the effects of the leadership style of the principal, "transformational leadership and transactional leadership", along with teachers' job satisfaction on schools' organizational health. Specifically speaking, it investigates to what extent the variations in school health can be related to the principal's leadership style and teachers' job satisfaction. To this end, a Likert-type questionnaire was administered to 635 teachers working in Turkish schools out of a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Teaching (Occupation), Job Satisfaction, School Personnel,...
This study examined reports of self-harm by early adolescents as well as associations between salient interpersonal stressors and self-harm. While attending health education centers located in Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, early adolescents (n = 737) responded to a questionnaire measuring stressors, coping, and self-harm. Approximately 19% of early adolescent students reported some type of self-harm. Those reporting parents as a source of stress more frequently reported...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Early Intervention, Health Education, Prevention, Early Adolescents, Adolescents,...
The ability of students' social supports, such as friends from high school and family, to effectively lessen stress often wanes during students' transitions to postsecondary institutions. College, most often the best years of a student's life, at its first bloom (choosing a school) carries with it with high anxiety about changing location, routine and study habits; separation from friends; the learning environment; managing finances; and much more. On the positive side, college marks a period...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Students, Gender Differences, Social Support Groups, Peer Relationship,...
In an effort to individualize instruction and improve the effectiveness of instructor-learner transactions, education and instructional research has addressed a wide assortment of learner variables and assessed their relationships to instructional methods and environments. Adult education has recently seen the development by Conti and Kolody of a new model for the study and classification of learning preferences, which they call learning strategies. To accompany their model, they created a new...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Attitudes, Learning Strategies, Technical Education, Teaching Methods,...
In this ever-changing economy, young adults must remain flexible and adaptable as they transition from school to work and plan their future life courses. It is difficult for today's youth to choose training programs which will guarantee them secure, long-term employment. As the future grows less predictable, greater uncertainty and risk are involved in each career decision. This study concerns young adults enrolled in vocational education and training programs. The study sought to investigate...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Technical Institutes, Focus Groups, Young Adults, Education Work Relationship,...
This research, using questionnaire and interview data, examined practices and challenges of educators in areas of southern Ontario in fostering immigrant parents' support for their children's literacy. Results showed that teachers learn about the language and culture of their students, modify homework assigned to their ESL students, and encourage parents to read to their children in their mother tongue. Teachers need to increase their awareness of parents' perceptions of authority and the role...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Parent Participation, Parent School Relationship, Foreign Countries, Immigrants,...
This study examined the assessment literacy of primary/junior teacher candidates in all four years of their concurrent program. Candidates from each year of the program completed a survey pertaining to self-described level of assessment literacy, main purposes of assessment, utilization of different assessment methods, need for further training, and suggested methods for promoting assessment literacy in university and practice teaching settings. Levels of self-efficacy remained relatively low...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Evaluation, Self Efficacy, Educational Change, Teaching Methods, Evaluation...
Cooperating teachers are believed to have a tremendous influence on new teachers' beliefs and practices, but few researchers have systematically studied the mechanism through which cooperating teachers exercise their influence. This study is concerned with pedagogical interaction that occurs between intact pairs of cooperating and student teachers. Specifically, we examined predictors of cooperating teachers' self-reported pedagogical interaction with their student teachers. Results indicate...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Teaching, Student Teachers, Educational Change, Cooperating Teachers,...
The purpose of this study is to explore elementary students' views of (NOS) to see how well they align with national reform recommendations (AAAS, 1993; NRC, 1996). Using an open-ended questionnaire coupled with one-on-one interviews of fourth-grade students conducted at the end of the school year, the researchers explored students' understandings of the distinction between observation and inference, the creative and imaginative nature of science, and the tentative yet reliable nature of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Scientific Principles, Researchers, Elementary School Students, Student Attitudes,...
This paper represents Part I of a two-part study examining preservice teachers' development of a personalized, research-based Science Teaching Rationale (STR). Researchers have historically documented the application of the "rationale paper" (Clough, 1992; Veronesi, 1998) using qualitative methodologies. Since the rationale paper continues to receive attention at conferences (e.g., at the annual conference of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science) and grow in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teachers, Elementary School Science, Statistical Analysis, Evaluation...
This preliminary study investigates the current situation of school library support of K-12 health education in China. A survey of 42 school librarians and 115 K-12 teachers from selected schools was conducted to find out their views about school library's role in school health education and their current practice of library use in health teaching. Collection and circulation statistics were gathered from 29 schools where the Hua Xia 2000 school library automation system has been in operation....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Health Education, Elementary Secondary Education, School Libraries, Foreign...
This study explored relationships between preservice early childhood teachers' views of nature of science (NOS), cognitive developmental levels, and their cultural values. Using the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS-B) and interviews, we assessed views of NOS. The Learning Context Questionnaire (LCQ) was used to determine the cognitive levels. Using the Schwartz Values Inventory, we determined cultural values. We analyzed the preservice teachers' views of NOS by searching for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teachers, Scientific Principles, Scientific Concepts, Early Childhood...
This study investigated how early childhood education (ECE) (PreK-3) preservice teachers' ideas about science education change as a result of implementing an inquiry-based curriculum within an ECE science methods course (ten-week quarter). Fifty-two preservice teachers, including 50 females and 2 males, with 2 members of an ethnic minority group were part of the study. The preservice teachers' knowledge and understanding of how to implement inquiry learning deepened over the ten-week period....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teachers, Methods Courses, Teacher Education Curriculum, Elementary...
The education of farmers would be result oriented if among other things the learning enhancement situations are created. Farmers' receptivity to training largely depends on the use of several educational methods by extension agents to reach farmers in Mezam division of Northwest province of Cameroon. Data were collected from May to August 2000 using Kerlinger's n [greater than or equal] 30 sampling technique in the division since no definite sampling frame could be obtained. The result...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Extension, Adult Learning, Foreign Countries, Sampling, Teaching Methods,...
The Leventis Foundation (Nigeria) Agricultural Schools (LFNAS) are schools established to train youths to develop their state and their nation in the area of food production. This study sought to assess the trainability of enrollees in the three operating LFNAS. Five research questions were posed. The CIPP evaluation model was adopted. The population and sample for the study consisted of a total of 247 enrollees. Questionnaires, structured interviews and observational techniques were used to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Career Development, Economic Development, Developing Nations,...
This paper explores the post-graduation experiences of 94 doctoral graduates from the Division of Business at the University of South Australia. Data were gathered by means of an online questionnaire. The first part examines the extent to which the original goals and ambitions of the graduates were realised in successfully completing the doctoral learning journey. The second part investigates ways in which doctoral learning outcomes were applied after graduation. These two foci are of interest...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Graduates, Foreign Countries, Doctoral Degrees, Questionnaires, Doctoral Programs,...
Many young women become disillusioned with physical education in their high-school years. Mounting evidence suggests that this disillusionment starts in early adolescence. This article discusses the experiences of female students in coeducational, middle-school, physical education classes. Focus group interviews, individual interviews, and questionnaires were used to collect data. The following themes emerged: personal competence, a moving body is a healthy body, choice and variety for a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Physical Education, Early Adolescents, Sex Fairness, Student Motivation, Females,...
Teachers everywhere are being held accountable for their professional actions through the test-driven curricula sweeping the nation. The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE, 2002) makes it clear that promotion of reflective practice is an important component of teacher education programs. This multiple case study examines the relationship between epistemic stances and reflective thinking using a set of theories and instruments that allowed for the analysis of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Student Teachers, Adult Learning, Reflective Teaching,...