To understand how technology changes today's classrooms, two Russian educators working in the United States examine instruction through their technology-based course in high school chemistry. Eight tables compare traditional and innovative perspectives on course goal, course content, context shells, learning styles, assessment,…

Mauritius is a multilingual country with English, French and Creole as the main languages, and several ancestral languages which are mainly used for religious ceremonies. Most children speak Creole at home and learn English, French and one ancestral language in the first year of primary school. The educational dropout rate is 40-50% after primary…

This study evaluates two databases, "Historical Abstracts" and REESWeb, to determine their effectiveness in supporting academic social science research. While many performance evaluations gather quantitative data from isolated query and response transactions, this study is a qualitative evaluation of the databases in the context of…

While the publication of school report cards and profiles is common in a number of states, their contents and formats vary as they represent the concerns and initiatives of policymakers. Over recent years, several studies have been made of school report cards and profiles. In this investigation, the focus is a comparison of report cards and…

The whole language approach to reading instruction emphasizes a literature-based program rather than the traditional skills-related approach. The principles and practices of whole language have engendered both educational and political debate for the following reasons: whole language challenges the traditional educational power arrangement, giving…

This paper examines the preschool programs of the Reggio Emilia region of Northern Italy, describing the role of Loris Malaguzzi in the founding of the municipal preschools in the region after the Second World War and discussing the theoretical and philosophical basis of the child-centered, developmentally appropriate, art-centered Reggio Emilia…

This paper examines the use of oral dialogue journals as an integral part of foreign language instruction. It discusses the strengths and weaknesses of oral (audiotape) journals, and compares them to written journals. The paper then explores the use of oral dialogue journals in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to adult students…

To analyze a student's conceptual changes, analyzing transcriptions of writing and verbal statements may not provide enough information. In a study of 25 sixth graders learning about matter and molecules, concept mapping of students' stated ideas was used to analyze the kinds of organizational changes the students made to use new science…

There is a wide array of approaches that produce materials (courseware) for the delivery of university level courses via Distance Learning (DL). DL has increasingly become part of university systems across the United States and is expected to grow to 10% of enrollment at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) by the start of the next…

National evaluations of quality aspects of vocational training programs (VTPs) in five European countries--Belgium, Germany, France, Greece, and Portugal--were reviewed to determine how VTP quality is currently being evaluated and identify a more coherent approach to evaluating VTPs. Special attention was paid to how existing evaluation studies…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on international perspectives on human resource development (HRD). The first paper, "Human Resource Development Practices in American and Chinese High-technology Companies in Taiwan" (Hsin-yi Chen), uses quantitative and qualitative data on HRD practices in high-technology companies in…

This report summarizes the highlights and presents statistical data (two-thirds of the report) from a national survey of 35,478 full-time college and university faculty members at 392 two-year colleges, four-year colleges and universities, carried out in the fall and winter of 1989-90. The 200-question survey focused heavily on how faculty members…

Species identification tasks are a prerequisite for an understanding of biodiversity. Here, we focused on different educational materials to foster the identification of six European reptile species. Our educational training unit was based on natural plastic models of six species and pupils either used an illustrated identification book or a…

As the pedagogical-effectiveness of information technology (IT) in mathematics education is carefully established the topic of discourse among mathematicians and mathematics educators is no longer a dispute about whether or not to use IT in the teaching and learning of mathematics but a shift to some debate about the when and how of its usage.…

Presented in this symposium reader are nine papers, four of which deal with the theory and impact of the Rasch model on language testing and five of which discuss final examinations in secondary schools in both general and specific terms. The papers are: "Introduction to Rasch Measurement: Some Implications for Language Testing" (J. J.…