The rapid turnover of novice teachers is a stubborn challenge plaguing schools across the country. The field has come to some consensus about key elements of effective novice teacher support that have potential to ameliorate this problem, although this knowledge has been applied in an inconsistent fashion. Beginning teacher support is a complex…

Science is at heart a practical subject, but the perception of what makes good teaching and learning through practical science is often misunderstood. Through working with teachers on professional development courses at the UK's National Science Learning Centre, and drawing on work carried out by other organisations, we present some thoughts and…

Recent calls for teacher preparation to become more grounded in practice prompt the questions: Which practices? and perhaps more fundamentally, what counts as a model of instruction worth learning for a new professional--i.e., the beginner's repertoire? In this report, we argue the following: If a defined set of subject-specific high-leverage…

Current standards emphasize student engagement with inquiry practices. However, implementing inquiry instruction is a formidable challenge for teachers as they often lack models for using and adapting inquiry-based instructional materials. Teacher education programs can provide scaffolded contexts for developing teachers' ability to critique,…

In science education, inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning provide a framework for students to building critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Teacher professional development has been an ongoing focus for promoting such educational reforms. However, despite a strong consensus regarding best practices for professional…

This paper addresses the use of e-materials in learning. Under pressure from the public, which is becoming increasingly conversant with IT, schools and also other non-formal types of learning are changing into e-classrooms and e-learning. Among parents and teachers, too, there is a widespread opinion that e-learning is more motivating and is more…

During the 2004-05 school year, the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education conducted a study entitled "Building Academic Skills in Context: Testing the Value of Enhanced Math Learning in Career and Technical Education," commonly referred to as the Math-in-CTE study. This was a random-assignment experiment that tested the…

Education in science serves three purposes. First, it prepares students to study science at higher levels of education. Second, it prepares students to enter the workforce, pursue occupations, and take up careers. Third, it prepares them to become more scientifically literate citizens. The relative priority and alignment of these three purposes…

This article reviews research on the achievement outcomes of mathematics programs for middle and high schools. Study inclusion requirements included use of a randomized or matched control group, a study duration of at least twelve weeks, and equality at pretest. There were 102 qualifying studies, 28 of which used random assignment to treatments.…