This mixed method study examines Finnish pupils' (N = 825; age groups 12-13, 15-16) views on the place of religion in the public school. Religious landscape in Finnish society has changed significantly in recent years, as the "new" diversity (Vertovec 2015) has supplemented the "old" one. The role of institutionalized religion…

With the increasing need to learn languages as a result of globalization there is a great demand on the part of the learners to communicate in a second/foreign language, which is also supported downwards by the governments and upwards by the parents. Among the many aspects of foreign language learning, affective factors are researched a lot as…

The present paper looks at the issue of standardization in L2 oral testing. Whereas external examiners are frequently used globally, some countries opt for test-takers' own teachers as examiners instead. In the present study, Sweden is used as a case in point, with a focus on the mandatory, high-stakes, summative, ninth-grade national test in…

One of the great problems of Ethiopia for the educational arena is retention. Averagely 8.07% of each year of the secondary education students is repeated due to lack of achievement in this country. The percentage of retention in a country shows what proportion of students is regularly repeated in the same grade and who are, therefore, committing…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to expand the growing body of research on the educational impact of 1:1 mobile devices, investigating the iPad's potential to reduce the disparity of access to high-quality instructional technology and achievement for low income, racially, and linguistically diverse students. Design/methodology/approach: This…

The purpose of this study was to examine ninth grade EFL students' experiences and attitudes towards classrooms equipped with interactive whiteboards (IWB). The data were collected with a questionnaire about attitudes towards IWB use in EFL classes, and observations from three different classrooms in three different high schools. The study…

This paper reports on a mixed-methods study of 111 Advanced Placement calculus students' self-reports of their graphing calculator use, comfort, and rationale for trusting a solution produced with or without a graphing calculator when checking written work. It was found that there was no association between gender, teacher-reported mathematical…

This mixed-methods longitudinal project investigates the association between student perceptions of their schools and themselves. Findings from the first two waves of data analysis with 894 middle and high school students in a midsized Great Lakes city reveal similarities and differences between the grade levels (7th-10th) and their perceptions of…

The relationships between adolescent ethnic identity and attitudes toward school and school climate are investigated in a small, multiracial/multiethnic city in the Great Lakes region with ethnically diverse adolescents taught by primarily White teachers. The mixed methods investigation of 986 eighth through eleventh grade students during the…

Objective: To consider the short- and medium-term impact of a school-based exhibition of prevention materials designed by adolescents in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) knowledge and attitudes and in the school's involvement in health education. Design: Mixed-methodology that combines quantitative and…

This mixed-methods study investigated relationships among gender, academic motivation and achievement in a mid-sized Wisconsin high school. A questionnaire was developed that focused on perceived ability, achievement motives and achievement goals. Interviews with teachers focused on relationships among academic motivation and gender achievement.…

The principles of new public management -- market mechanisms, accountability and standards -- have been applied in the education system. These methods are supposed to increase efficiency, but there is also a risk of negative consequences from the services provided if the measures of performance target a reduced range of goals, ignore relevant…

This article reports on the findings of a study conducted to investigate teachers' and students' perceptions of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom and to find out differences of perceptions according to some variables such as gender, level of English proficiency, hours of weekly IWB use, and years…

The study examined the difference in performance of boys and girls in solving problems on the properties of a rectangle. The conceptual framework of the study was based on the idea that teaching the learners content in a familiar context tends to facilitate geometry learning. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews with the…