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,...
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...
In this article the development of two teachers as they make the transition from pre-service teachers to experienced teachers is examined. While these teachers participated in the same mathematics methods course and similar collaborative environments in their practicum experiences, their mathematics classroom instructional practices revealed stark differences by the time they were experienced teachers. In an effort to investigate these differences, the teachers' beliefs were explored in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teaching Methods, Methods Courses, Intellectual Development, Mathematics Education,...
This empirical study compared the average ages at which four children with congenital blindness acquired 32 fine motor skills with age norms for sighted children. The results indicated that the children experienced extreme developmental delays in the acquisition of manual skills and a high degree of variability in developmental delays within and across six categories of fine-motor skills. (Contains 3 tables.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Developmental Delays, Blindness, Early Intervention, Psychomotor Skills, Longitudinal...
Of all Indian Health Service areas, the Aberdeen Area has consistently had the highest infant mortality rate. Among some tribes in this area the rate has exceeded 30/1000 live birth and half the infant deaths have been attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, a rate four to five times higher than the national average. The Indian Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen's Health...
Topics: ERIC Archive, American Indians, Prevention, Mortality Rate, Child Health, Infant Mortality,...
Research has shown that extensive reading offers a wide range of learning benefits to second language (L2) learners. However, most studies on L2 extensive reading are conducted collectively on groups of learners and do not provide a detailed picture of individual experience. Moreover, there are few studies conducted on the reading experiences of early L2 learners. This paper presents a longitudinal case study on the reading strategies and motivation of 2 Japanese middle school students...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Reading Motivation, Reading Instruction, Longitudinal Studies, Case Studies, Middle...
This study introduces three growth modeling techniques: latent growth modeling (LGM), hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), and longitudinal profile analysis via multidimensional scaling (LPAMS). It compares the multilevel growth parameter estimates and potential predictor effects obtained using LGM, HLM, and LPAMS. The purpose of this multilevel growth analysis is to alert applied researchers to selected analytical issues that are required for consideration in decisions to apply one of these...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Multidimensional Scaling, Academic Achievement, Structural Equation Models, Causal...
Teacher education programs focussing on the development of specialist teachers for "the middle years" have proliferated in Australian universities in recent years. This paper provides some insights into middle years' teacher education programs at the University of Queensland, Edith Cowan and Flinders Universities with regard to their: philosophical underpinnings; specific educational context; scope and nature of the program. In addition, some of the research directions and efficacy...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Teacher Education Programs, Preservice Teacher Education,...
The researchers explored the possible relationships between six specific influencing factors and the timing of a small group of graduate students' movement through their program, using a short researcher-designed qualitative survey administered once to students at three points in their programs: entrance, mid-point, and exit. While the experience of moving through graduate school does not appear to be well addressed in the research literature, this study points to the relevance of these...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Graduate Students, Graduate Study, Student Surveys, Longitudinal Studies, Influences,...
This paper examines the conflict in interest between teaching experiments and professional learning when they are combined in a research project. The study reported in this paper is the fourth year of a five year longitudinal study on the introduction of early algebraic concepts. The ten teacher participants are from five state primary schools in middle class areas in Brisbane, Queensland. The findings from this investigation suggest that potentially many conflicts exist between the interest of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Algebra, Teaching Skills, Educational Research, Conflict of Interest, Longitudinal...
The achievement gap, traditionally measured by test scores, also can be documented by dropout behavior. Examining dropout behavior among Black, White, and Hispanic students, with a particular focus on gaps within groups and not just between Whites and minorities, shows a clearer picture of the achievement gap. The results of our study show multiple achievement gaps both between and within groups, ultimately concluding that within-group gaps were often more significant than gaps between groups....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Dropout Rate, Dropout Prevention, Low Achievement, Parent Participation, Academic...
Although the field of gifted education generally recognizes the foundational work of Lewis Terman, rarely does one stop to examine the details of his longitudinal study and their connection to present-day gifted education. This article reexamines the beginnings of Terman's longitudinal study with a focus on elementary-school-aged children. Although the longitudinal study of gifted children was a defining feature of Terman's career, so too, was his work with intelligence tests. However, a strict...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary School Students, Intelligence Quotient, Academically Gifted, Intelligence...
In this article, we report on grade-one children's preferences for narrative and/or information books, and their perceptions of what boys and girls like to read. Data include responses on two book preference tasks by 40 children in four schools. Children chose books and explained the reasons for their choices. One task was a closed, force-choice task, the other, an open-ended task. Boys and girls had similar interests, either preferring stories or liking information books and stories to the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Females, Reading Material Selection, Literature Appreciation, Grade 1, Males, Reader...
This article reports the results of a survey on K-8 teachers' inquiry beliefs and practices. The survey in this study was part of the National Science Foundation-supported, five-year, in-depth longitudinal case studies aimed at elucidating K-8 classroom teachers' motivations, goals, and purposes for carrying out inquiry in diverse, low SES schools. In the longitudinal case studies, diverse low SES schools were defined as culturally diverse schools, which had 50% or more of their students...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Skills, Inquiry, Teacher Attitudes, Longitudinal Studies, Low Income Groups,...
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,...
Liliana Escobar-Chaves and Craig Anderson investigate two important trends among American youth and examine the extent to which the two trends might be related. First, the authors note that U.S. youth are spending increasing amounts of time using electronic media, with the average American youngster now spending one-third of each day with some form of electronic media. Second, the authors demonstrate that American adolescents are engaging in a number of unhealthful behaviors that impose huge...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adolescents, Longitudinal Studies, Health Behavior, At Risk Persons, Obesity,...
Electronic media, particularly television, have long been criticized for their potential impact on children. One area for concern is how early media exposure influences cognitive development and academic achievement. Heather Kirkorian, Ellen Wartella, and Daniel Anderson summarize the relevant research and provide suggestions for maximizing the positive effects of media and minimizing the negative effects. One focus of the authors is the seemingly unique effect of television on children under...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Television Viewing, Academic Achievement, Preschool Children, Program Effectiveness,...
Background: Despite findings that support physical activity (PA) as an effective means of improving health and quality of life, PA levels among girls tend to decline with age. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess changes pertaining to PA commitment following a curriculum-based running program designed for 3rd-to-5th-grade girls. Methods: Participants (n=196) were given paper-and-pencil surveys containing an adaptation of the "Feelings about Physical Activity Scale" in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Intervention, Health Education, Physical Activities, Females, Public Health, Quality...
Over the past decade many university-based teacher education programs and school districts have forged partnerships creating restructured, collaborative programs aimed at improving teaching and learning for credential candidates, as well as the children that they serve. According to data from the California Department of Education, progress is being made in raising the percentage of fully certificated teachers teaching in urban schools; however, it is unknown whether this progress will be...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Urban Schools, Professional Development Schools, Inservice Teacher Education,...
In recent years the number of students who are English Language Learners (ELL) in U.S. schools has increased dramatically. When they meet bilingual paraprofessionals in the classroom and on school grounds, ELL students learn that these paraprofessionals do seem to know everything (or at least the important things to survive at school). Bilingual paraprofessionals help students move through multiple, complex, unfamiliar school settings and make connections to life outside school. In this...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Ethnography, Secondary School Students, Paraprofessional School Personnel, English...
Using a new method to measure identity, we attempt to capture salient identities of young children developing into "good students." Using a nationally representative sample of American kindergarteners who advance to the first grade, derived from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, we examine identities based on socio-economic status, motor skills and weight that affect school performance as measured by both cognitive and non-cognitive skill assessments. Results reveal that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Body Weight, Socioeconomic Status, Federal Legislation, Academic Achievement, Young...
Studies suggest that three and four-year old children who are exposed to preschool have a greater chance of academic success throughout their schooling. This article highlights a five-year case study of children of poverty who attended a structured preschool in Salinas, California. The longitudinal study exposed various components of a successful preschool program. The study results indicate that children of poverty who attended preschool out performed in second and third grade a similar...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Poverty, Preschool Education, Academic Achievement, Grade 3, Young Children, Success,...
Students who are chronically absent are more likely than other students to drop out of school. Many schools have goals to reduce student truancy and to help chronically absent students attend school regularly. Few studies, however, have focused on whether or how family and community involvement help reduce rates of chronic absenteeism. In this longitudinal study, data were collected from 39 schools on rates of chronic absenteeism and on specific family and community involvement activities that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Community Involvement, School Community Relationship, Positive Reinforcement, Family...
This quasi-experimental study (based on parent self-selection) examines the effects of a parent involvement program on kindergarten children's English language skills. This program was implemented as one component of a Migrant Even Start Family Literacy Program. The study was conducted at a rural Midwestern elementary school with 14 kindergarten children of families participating in the parent involvement training program, and 15 kindergarten children from families not participating. This study...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Control Groups, Parent Participation, Family Involvement, Parent School Relationship,...
First Year Experience (FYE) programs have been implemented in universities and colleges to address the emergent needs of matriculating students. It is well documented that many students are not prepared for the rigors of postsecondary education and FYE programs are designed to supplement the necessary academic and life skills. These academic and life skills range from knowing the location of the library to seeking out appropriate personnel when personal issues arise. Evaluating programs...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Freshmen, Academic Persistence, Longitudinal Studies, Student Needs,...
This eight-year study represents a pioneering effort to investigate color expression in children's graphic notations at two stages of development: "Pre-literate" (age: 7.0-8.5), before students received school music instruction, and "Post-literate" (age: 14.0-15.5), three years after students acquired Standard Notation in school, and to consider the effects of age and musical literacy on notational color expressions. Two meetings with Israeli/Jewish schoolchildren were held...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Music Education, Music, Music Activities, Longitudinal Studies, Developmental Stages,...
This paper presents a four-year longitudinal case study of a nine-year-old student when he was diagnosed with leukemia. Cognitive, neuropsychological, and affective functioning both pre and post chemotherapy treatment were assessed. Full neuropsychological evaluation revealed difficulties with processing speed, concentration, and organization following treatment. Psycho-educational interventions developed through interdisciplinary team collaboration resulted in significant reductions in these...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Medical Services, Interdisciplinary Approach, Cancer, Children, Case Studies,...
From 1932 to 1940, the Progressive Education Association (PEA) conducted its Eight-Year Study. At first, the study appeared to be a poorly funded comparison of two groups of students in secondary schools. During the last four years, as more financial support became available, the Eight-Year Study became a broadly based demonstration of a wide range of educational innovations. For contemporary educators, the story of the Eight-Year Study represents an opportunity to reconsider popular principles...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational History, Longitudinal Studies, Comparative Analysis, Educational Change,...
Mathematics achievement data from three longitudinally matched student cohorts were analyzed with multilevel growth models to investigate the viability of using status and growth-based indices of student achievement to examine the multi-year performance of schools. Elementary schools in a large southwestern school district were evaluated in terms of the mean achievement status and growth of students across cohorts as well as changes in the achievement status and growth of students between...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary School Mathematics, Mathematics Achievement, Accountability, Cohort...
The current study investigated how ethnicity and gender affect changes in the self-esteem of early adolescents during the middle school years. Self-report data were collected from more than 4,000 early adolescents from three ethnic groups: European American, African American, and Hispanic and analyzed using a consecutive three-year cross-sectional design to investigate group trajectories. Distinct group trajectories of self-esteem from sixth to eighth grade were found for each ethnic group....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Ethnic Groups, Grade 8, Grade 6, Gender Differences, Ethnicity, Grade 7, Self Esteem,...
This study investigated the impact of a Professional Development School (PDS) on student learning by comparing student achievement in a PDS and a control school. Student achievement data were collected from an elementary PDS and a matched control school over a 6-year period. The results indicate that the PDS moved more students up to mastery level and more students out of intervention level on state standardized tests than the control school. PDS development descriptions and standards ratings...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Professional Development Schools, Standardized Tests, Academic Achievement,...
In this article literature published on Mode Deactivation Therapy (MDT) was reviewed in depth. Several studies were identified that used a common outcome measure of reduction of physical and sexual aggression, other risk related behaviors. Comparisons of MDT and, other standardized approaches typically used in treating aggression in juveniles, were made. The studies involved individual clients and small groups using MDT and comparative methodology. The studies involved varying periods in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Age, Behavior Modification, Cognitive Restructuring, Methods, Psychotherapy, Outcomes...
This longitudinal study followed students (n = 265) from kindergarten through seventh grade and examined early social and academic predictors of school performance at two normative school transitions. Questions addressed include: (a) are there changes in students' school performance over time, especially at school transition points; (b) are changes in school performance dependent on sociodemographic factors; and, (c) does early social and academic competence predict stability or change in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Standardized Tests, Academic Achievement, Interpersonal Competence, Early Experience,...
Strong evidence exists for the efficacy of behavior analytic approaches with children on the autism spectrum (Carr & Firth, 2005; Weiss 2001, 2005). Many early childhood intervention studies report outcomes based on pre-school populations (Smith, 1999; Casto & Mastropieri, 1986) while outcome studies for younger populations are scarcer. We reviewed one year of instructional outcome data from an early intervention classroom that used applied behavior analysis in concert with verbal...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Early Intervention, Autism, Cost Effectiveness, Teaching Methods, Behavioral Science...
This 10 week longitudinal evaluation study evaluated a brain-based learning curriculum proposed by Smilkstein (2003) by comparing student performance in a traditional basic writing curriculum with NHLP-oriented basic writing curriculum. The study included two classes each of experimental and traditional methods. Results of the data, gathered by means of questionnaires and in-class writing, indicate the experimental classes expressed more positive comments than the traditional classes, and, on...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Basic Writing, Brain, Teaching Methods, Scientific Research, Theory Practice...
This paper is concerned with the pathways students take through their studies at university. A critique of current research demands a fresh approach to explaining student progression, in particular within Australian higher education. To date, theories of student progression commonly consider the fit of the person to the university environment within one rather homogeneous socio-cultural milieu. Socio-ecological approaches provide a new, more appropriate framework for investigating the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Undergraduate Students, Higher Education, Student Characteristics, Foreign Countries,...
A longitudinal study tested the hypothesis that rapid cognitive improvement adversely affects young children's long-term memories encoded prior to cognitive transition. Seventy-one Year One (five- to six-year-old) children were assessed for recall for event and educationally-relevant information and cognitive ability (in operational reasoning) at four points to Year Three. Contrary to the hypothesis, recent cognitive transition appeared to slightly improve--not worsen--recall for educational...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Long Term Memory, Cognitive Ability, Longitudinal Studies, Foreign Countries,...
This article describes an unconventional method to teach un-contracted braille reading and writing skills to students who are blind and have additional disabilities. It includes a keyboarding curriculum that focuses on the whole language approach to literacy. A special feature is the keyboard that is adapted with braille symbols. Un-contracted braille reading is not taught, but is acquired simultaneously while embedding essential concept skills.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Braille, Whole Language Approach, Functional Literacy, Writing Skills, Keyboarding...
This paper reports and discusses the results of a study that was undertaken to determine factors that influence choices that secondary school students make between enrolling in community college or university, and in particular whether or not those choices are affected by the degree of "articulation" within a public system of post-secondary education. There are several studies that have emerged recently in the United States and Canada that examine factors that influence the choice of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Attitudes, Community Colleges, College Choice, Institutional Cooperation,...
Task-based learning (TBL) was a methodological innovation in the 1999 English Language syllabus for secondary schools and the 2006 curriculum for senior secondary schools in Hong Kong, designed to replace teacher-centred, grammar-focused approaches that were identified as previously prevalent. This two-year longitudinal study analyses the implementation of TBL in three schools. It focuses on teachers' conceptions of TBL and classroom practice, and the support provided by senior management. It...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Development, Secondary Schools, Innovation, Foreign Countries, Leadership,...
The discrepancies between test-based and teacher-based criteria of high achievement are well-documented for students of all ages. This study seeks to determine whether certain high school students who score high on tests of academic achievement are more likely than others to be nominated for advanced academic programs by their teachers. Using Gagne's Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent as a guide, this study focused on three categories of correlates: social perceptions, individual...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Self Efficacy, High Achievement, Academic Achievement, Student Motivation,...
This mid-point report from a seven-year study about building a college culture investigates how a multifaceted approach including mentoring, technology, campus visits, parent involvement, and tutoring impacts at-risk middle school students' college aspirations and eventual success gaining college acceptance. Based on NAEP report data, many young adolescents may not be adequately prepared for postsecondary education and workforce success. This longitudinal study follows a student cohort (n = 50)...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Longitudinal Studies, School Readiness, Higher Education, College Preparation, Middle...
Two Heads Are Better than One: The Factors Influencing the Understanding and Practice of Classroom-Library Collaboration proposed to identify the factors involved in educating future K-8 classroom teachers about collaboration for instruction with school library media specialists (SLMSs). This longitudinal study monitored the growth of teacher education students' understandings of collaboration through their preservice education, student teaching, and first year of classroom teaching. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Teaching, Cooperation, School Libraries, Media Specialists, Librarian Teacher...
This pilot study examined qualitative and quantitative changes in counselling interns' skill development and perceptions of their own development over the internship year. Eighteen counselling interns completed a pre- and post- internship questionnaire, and of those interns, twelve submitted three videotaped counselling sessions, taped at the beginning, middle, and end of the internship. Videotapes were analyzed based upon Bloom's (1986) theory of automaticity. Responses to the questionnaires...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Internship Programs, Content Analysis, Skill Development, Pretests Posttests,...
The purpose of this study was to perform a longitudinal examination of the teaching self-efficacy of preservice agricultural education teachers. Data were collected for two years at The University of Georgia and Texas A&M University during the Fall 2004 and Spring 2005 and the Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 semesters (N = 102). Data were collected at the following three collection points: (1) before methods class, (2) after methods course/before student teaching, and (3) after student teaching....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Strategies, Classroom Techniques, Student Teaching, Preservice Teachers,...
The purpose of this study was to identify the agricultural education enrollment trends in Iowa using 15 years of data collected from 1991 to 2005. It was found that agricultural education enrollment, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) participation, and FFA membership have grown. Using annualized growth rates, agricultural education enrollment (4.06%) grew more rapidly than SAE participation (1.65%) and FFA membership (2.39%). Although growth was realized in all three components, the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Agricultural Education, Experiential Learning, Enrollment Trends, Longitudinal...
In 2005 a South Australian university inaugurated a new provision of higher education programs in a regional city. Previously, would-be university students in the area had only the options of off-campus study, moving away from home to become internal students, or not pursuing university studies at all. The initiative provided the opportunity to study the effects of the new university presence on its students, university staff and the wider community, and at the same time to learn much that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Educational Needs, Distance Education, Focus Groups, Foreign...
The authors contend that blended learning represents a boundary object; a construct that brings together constituencies from a variety of backgrounds with each of these cohorts defining the object somewhat differently. The Sloan-C Pillars (learning effectiveness, access, cost effectiveness, student satisfaction, and faculty satisfaction) provide a foundation for the evaluation of asynchronous learning networks that works equally well for the evaluation of blended learning environments. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Psychology, Case Studies, Models, Instructional Design, Introductory Courses, Student...
The 2008 Sloan Blended Workshop evaluation track provided participants with ideas, methods, and resources with which to design and evaluate their courses, programs, and blended initiatives. The many questions that arose from participants at the Workshop provided the motivation to document our University's evaluation experiences at course, program and institutional levels. This paper presents our lessons learned including successes and challenges, with developing and conducting a longitudinal...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Workshops, Evaluation Methods, Program Evaluation, Longitudinal Studies, Outcomes of...
Introduction: The rapid growth of the Internet has modified the boundaries of information acquisition (tracking) in environmental scanning. Despite the numerous advantages of this new medium, information overload is an enormous problem for Internet scanners. In order to help them, intelligent agents (i.e., autonomous, automated software agents that are theoretically able to make inferences) have been developed. In this context, this paper examines how information acquisition activities based on...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Action Research, Information Systems, Dictionaries, Data Analysis, Internet,...