The aim of this article was to find the connections between teachers' actions (N = 7) and their 3rd graders' performances (N = 86) when solving an open problem. A lot of information about the teaching sessions was gathered by video recordings and collecting pupils' solutions. Teachers' actions were analysed carefully through the phases of a…

Background: Assessment "for" learning (AfL) is now marketed across the Western world as a key to an improved goal attainment in most school subjects. The concept has also attracted increased interest in the international research field of physical education (PE) in recent years. According to (Chan, K., P. J. Hay, and R. Tinning. 2011.…

This paper presents findings from classroom observations of one teacher (Beth). It focusses on the development of conceptual understanding of fractions with her students, articulated in Kieren's sub-constructs (Kieren, 1980,1988), and Hansen's progressions (Hansen, 2005). The study covers three lessons within a six week unit. Findings from this…

Using videos from 63 teachers in grades 4-8 who were part of the Measures of Effective Teaching study, we identified five tendencies in the teaching of reading comprehension that can inform future work on the design and implementation of reading instruction. The five tendencies are: (1) Instruction is generally text-centric, but dominated by…

Previous related research on teaching effectiveness in one senior level award--Higher Still Physical Education (HSPE) in Scotland--revealed a number of extended challenges in adopting the practical experiential teaching and learning approaches advised. However, these studies were restricted by lack of observation of teaching and learning in action…

School districts and states across the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic Region and the country as a whole have been modifying their teacher evaluation systems to identify more effective and less effective teachers and provide better feedback to improve instructional practice. The new systems typically include components related to…

The National Research Council (NRC) has indicated that effective instruction in colleges of agriculture should prepare students to enter a dynamically changing workplace by helping students learn to be proficient in 21st century skills. The NRC suggested that effective instruction in colleges of agriculture should encompass a hospitable learning…

This study examined the effects of lesson study on participants' classroom observations and perceptions of lesson effectiveness, by investigating the focus of their observations during a mathematics lesson and their ratings of the lesson's effectiveness, both preceding and subsequent to the lesson study experience. Prior to the lesson study,…

There is considerable agreement about the fact that the presence of researchers in the classroom mediates teaching and learning. Why "should" two very different forms of human activity, one designed to study the other, interact and mediate each other? In this article, we propose cultural-historical activity theory as a framework for understanding…