This paper presents two studies in which an empirical approach was taken to understand and explain form generation and decisions taken in the design process. In particular, the activities addressing aesthetic aspects when exteriorising form ideas in the design process have been the focus of the present study. Diary methods were the starting point…

In a decade when brain research has helped people understand learning difficulties in children, and people have seen increased media attention on the use of medications to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adults, Dr. Edward (Ned) Hallowell has worked tirelessly to educate the medical profession, parents,…

This report from the Study of School-Level Expenditures presents findings on how state and local education expenditures at the school level vary within school districts. This study is not examining compliance with the current Title I comparability requirement, nor does it examine the comparability of resources between districts. Rather, it focuses…

The need for usage of technologies which removes the boundaries of time and location increases day by day today when information and accession to information gains importance. Effect of mobile learning to education is an issue to be researched in order to provide lifelong learning. The fact that mobile devices are small and they have got with a…

Mounting evidence is exposing how merit pay incentives, charter schools, vocational curriculum, and high-stakes testing regimes do not fulfill their purported objectives, and instead are enormously detrimental to students, education workers, marginalized groups, social equality and ultimately the collective good. While the wealthy continue to…

As a topic of study, disability is not new at institutions of higher education. Psychological and intellectual disabilities have been of interest in psychiatry and psychology at least since the late 1800s and early 1900s. The post-World War II era, in particular, witnessed the rapid expansion of academic programs in special education, vocational…

In recent years No Child Left Behind has provided new labels to supposedly high- and low-performing schools and has identified large numbers of schools as low performing. Are school-to-school differences in the quality of instruction offered as great as the public is led to believe? Using the disciplined inquiry typology of Newman, Marks, and…

We present an example analysis and corresponding information graphics of data from a cognitive ability assessment as a means to illustrate the use of a Rasch measurement approach and advantages inherent in such an approach for a wide variety of teaching and learning investigations. The importance of placing measurements of student performances and…

Existing cross-national research on educational attainment does not fully address whether the same level of educational attainment generates the same level of literacy skills in different countries. We analyze literacy skills data for young adults from 19 countries in the 1994-1998 International Adult Literacy Survey and find that in all…

The purpose of this report is to provide national data on the technical and further education (TAFE) workforce in 2008 and, where possible, compare this with 2002 data collected for the report "Profiling the national vocational education and training workforce" (NCVER 2004). Currently, there is no regular consistent national collection…

This study examines the differences in equating outcomes between two trend score equating designs resulting from two different scoring strategies for trend scoring when operational constructed-response (CR) items are double-scored--the single group (SG) design, where each trend CR item is double-scored, and the nonequivalent groups with anchor…

Some scholars view academic and industrial science as qualitatively different knowledge production regimes. Others claim that the two sectors are increasingly similar. Large-scale empirical evidence regarding similarities and differences, however, has been missing. Drawing on prior work on the organization of science, we first develop a framework…

Recent data from the College Board's Annual Survey of Colleges reveal significant variation in institutional aid patterns among colleges and universities. The undergraduate tuition discount rate--the ratio of institutional grant aid to published tuition and fee charges--is higher at private institutions than at public institutions, but there are…

Teaching music can be a stressful profession. How current and future teachers perceive stress, and the personal emotions that result from stressful situations, raises many questions. This study investigated differences in perception of levels of emotional stress between early and late program students in music teacher education using a concise…

Differential item functioning (DIF) of items has become an important issue in test fairness and equity in large-scale assessments. DIF occurs when subgroups of test takers have equal trait levels but differ in their probabilities of a correct response. DIF items may threaten the validity of test scores for subgroups and can mislead researchers…