The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of two different physical education intervention programmes on cognitive functions (i.e. creativity, attention and impulse control) in primary education students. These dimensions were measured in 168 children (8-12 years) before and after two 8-week intervention programmes with different…

Teaching chemical bonding using the octet rule as an explanatory principle is problematic in many ways. The aim of this case study is to understand the learning and teaching of chemical bonding using a research-informed teaching model in which chemical bonding is introduced as an electrostatic phenomenon. The study posed two main questions: (i)…

Research Findings: The present study involved using a questionnaire to investigate the mathematics teaching practices of 74 U.S. and 67 Chinese early childhood teachers. Quantitative and qualitative analyses yielded several key findings. First, U.S. teachers are less intentional in mathematics teaching than their Chinese counterparts.…

In 2003, the Norwegian higher educational system was reformed. The reform, known as the 2003 Quality Reform, introduced changes in the teaching model and student assessment. The authors wished to study how these changes affected male and female students. Therefore, they addressed student learning outcomes, measured through examination results,…

Natural reading development gradually builds up to the adult vocabulary over a period of years. This has an effect on lexical processing: early-acquired words are processed more quickly and more accurately than later-acquired words. We present a connectionist model of reading, learning to map orthography onto phonology to simulate this natural…

The greatest challenge facing America's schools today isn't the budget crisis, or standardized testing, or "teacher quality." It's the enormous variation in the academic level of students coming into any given classroom. Unfortunately, the issue has become enmeshed in polarizing arguments about race, class, excellence, and equity. What's…

Defining and understanding a generation of Americans has always been difficult until years after the generation ends. Although there is universal agreement on the Baby Boomer generation (1946-1964) and most people agree that Generation X started in 1965 and ended around 1979, after that it gets murky. In his research, the author believes that the…

Using a sociocultural framework, this article describes the importance of mediated learning and the difference between theoretical and empirical learning for developing scientific literacy. Components of scientific literacy are identified and a conceptual model adapted from ethnomathematics is used to demonstrate effects of theoretical learning on…

Describes a primary teacher's experience with implementing developmentally appropriate practice. Documents the process of changing teaching methods, abandoning ability grouping in reading, giving children significant choices, following children's progress, staying informed and sharing with colleagues, informing parents, and evaluating teaching…