This article looks back at several of the classic ethnographies in British sociology of education and shows that quantitative work played a significant part in many of them, and that quantitative results were part of the evidence used to support claims and arguments put forward by the authors. The article then examines some more recent…

We analyze results from paired pre- and post-instruction administration of the Mechanics Baseline Test to 2238 students in introductory mechanics classes. We investigate pairs of specific wrong answers given with unusual frequency by students on the pretest. We also identify transitions between pre- and post-test answers on the same question which…

Suffering of the underachievers and misdiagnosed cases brought a group of educators at Srinakharinwirot University to start a pilot project in 1980. This project led to the discovery of many issues on identification, programming, and school evaluation among experts. Questions raised from parents and teachers were in need of the right answers.…

This paper organizes and analyses over 500 geoscience misconceptions relating to earthquakes, earth structure, geologic resources, glaciers, historical geology, karst (limestone terrains), plate tectonics, rivers, rocks and minerals, soils, volcanoes, and weathering and erosion. Journal and reliable web resources were reviewed to discover (1) the…

The level of educational attainment in the United States is a central focus of public policy. The Obama administration, some states, large national foundations, and other organizations have set near-term goals to increase the number of Americans with college degrees. Achieving these goals is likely to involve a combination of increasing…

In response to the wide-scale proliferation of "the cone of learning"--a fanciful retention chart confounded with Dale's Cone of Experience--the authors make four major claims debunking this fantasy and provide documentary evidence to support these claims. The first claim is that the data in the mythical retention chart do not make…

Critics have been attempting to debunk the mythical retention chart at least since 1971. The earliest critics, David Curl and Frank Dwyer, were addressing just the retention data. Beginning around 2002, a new generation of critics has taken on the illegitimate combination of the retention chart and Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience--the corrupted…

The authors are attempting to set the record straight regarding the sources frequently cited in the literature of the mythical retention chart and the corrupted Dale's Cone. They point out citations that do not actually connect with relevant works; provide correct citations of sources that are often cited erroneously; add references for overlooked…

Background: Historically, significant advances in scientific understanding have followed advances in measurement and observation. As the resolving power of an instrument increased, so have gains in the understanding of the phenomena being observed. Modern interactive systems are potentially the new "microscopes" when they are…

An exploratory study was conducted with 23 organic chemistry educators to discover what general chemistry concepts they typically review, the concepts they believe are fundamental to introductory organic chemistry, the topics students find most difficult in the subject, and the misconceptions they observe in undergraduate organic chemistry…

This brief is a companion to the policy brief entitled, "Discipline Policies, Successful Schools and Racial Justice," which reviewed the research on disciplinary exclusion from school and made several recommendations, including the following three for seeking policy change through legislation: (1) Federal and state policy should require…

Young, Wright, and Laster (2005) stated that since the "Brown v. Board of Topeka, Kansas" decision, gaps in educational achievement have been a recognized problem across the United States. Particularly, differences in achievement levels for elementary and secondary African American students have remained. Daniels (1998) stated that…

The focus of this paper examines how dual language education (DLE) programs are valuable. The literature shows that children do much more than just thrive in a dual language environment. According to research, children who are bilingual are cognitively, academically, intellectually, socially and verbally more advantaged than their monolingual…

Scholars have provided numerous critical analyses of the structural causes of poverty. Unfortunately, many teachers are still led to believe, via best selling books and mainstream discourse, that behaviors, neighborhoods, and families determine educational outcomes. This "culture of poverty" theory must be disproved; educators need to be…

Educators' fear of statistics stems from various factors, including deficiencies in their preparation programs: insufficient relevance, inadequately integrated technologies, and stress on inferential statistics. Attendance statistics are worthless unless principals and superintendents can interpret them and incorporate them into their…