Teacher motivation is one of the factors that affect the realization of the teaching objectives, motivation and academic achievement of student. This study aimed to answer to the question "How is the relation between the students' academic (sciences and mathematics) achievement and teachers' morale/motivation in Singapore, Japan, Finland and…

The importance of motivation in learning has been widely recognized. However, due to its multidimensional and complex nature, it appears difficult to synthesize research findings on motivation across studies. Heated debates about the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on learning and their interaction have been going on since the terms…

The detrimental effects of school violence on students' physical and emotional health are well studied, and research has shown that school violence affects students in every nation across the globe. However, few cross-national studies have compared direct, physical forms of school violence to indirect, emotional forms such as teasing. Using…

This dissertation addresses the complexity of test illustrations design across cultures. More specifically, it examines how the characteristics of illustrations used in science test items vary across content areas, assessment programs, and cultural origins. It compares a total of 416 Grade 8 illustrated items from the areas of earth science, life…

Due to the scarcity of cross-cultural comparative studies in exploring students' self-efficacy in science learning, this study attempted to develop a multi-dimensional science learning self-efficacy (SLSE) instrument to measure 316 Singaporean and 303 Taiwanese eighth graders' SLSE and further to examine the differences between the two student…

During the 2009-2010 academic year, 10 schools participated in the Meaning of Life educational program, an adaption of the popular U.S. Laws of Life program. The program sought to encourage each participant to develop a personal approach to finding meaning in life. To evaluate the success of the program, we conducted a study to compare measures of…

Research on the adaptation of children of migrants in Russia shows that while they adapt successfully in many ways, there is a need for teachers to be better equipped to deal with the cultural conflicts these children often experience.

This study examined the similarities and differences among 171 Grade 7-12 science teachers from three different countries (54 U.S, 63 Bolivian, and 54 Turkish) with respect to their attitudes toward environmental education (EE) and instructional practices. The instrument employed explored how teachers' knowledge, instructional practices,…

Malaysia was ranked 16th and 10th in mathematics based on the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 1999 and 2003, respectively while its neighbor, Singapore, used to be a part of Malaysia until 1965, was ranked first in both years. Hence, it is the aim of this study to investigate what makes Singaporean students better in mathematics…

Ensuring a safe learning environment for students is a major responsibility of educators and policymakers around the world. Based on the secondary analyses of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data collected from 33 countries in 1999, the study found that 8th graders who witnessed their friends' violence…

The purposes of this study were to describe and compare the specific physical activity choices and sedentary pursuits of African American and Caucasian American girls. Participants were 1,124 African American and 1,068 Caucasian American eighth-grade students from 31 middle schools. The 3-Day Physical Activity Recall (3DPAR) was used to measure…

This paper compares the way lessons on systems of linear equations unfold in a classroom in the Negev region of Israel with the way they unfold in a Shanghai and Hong Kong classroom. Lessons are viewed as temporal entities describable not only by the nexus of topics they contain but also by how they flow in time. In this light, the lessons in the…

The paper deals with the facts obtained from TIMSS 2003 (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study). This international comparative study, which includes 47 participant countries worldwide, explores dependence between eighth grade students' achievement in the areas of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and geography, and basic…