The study reviewed in this paper examined three separate methods for teaching the "control of variables strategy" ("CVS"), a procedure for conducting a science experiment so that only one variable is tested and all others are held constant, or "controlled." The study analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial of…

The paper examines systems of validation of skills and experience as well as the main methods/tools currently used for validating skills and knowledge in lifelong learning. The paper uses mixed methods--a case study research and content analysis of European Union policy documents and frameworks--as a basis for this research. The selection of the…

Automation toward efficiency is the aim of most intelligent systems in an educational context in which results calculation automation that allows experts to spend most of their time on important tasks, not on retrieving, ordering, and interpreting information. In this paper, the authors provide a tool that easily evaluates Learning Objects quality…

To determine if quizzes containing higher order thinking questions are related to critical thinking and test performance when utilised in conjunction with an immersion approach to instruction and effort-based grading, sections of an "Educational Psychology" course were assigned to one of three quizzing conditions. Quizzes contained…

Statistical analyses investigating latent structure can be divided into those that estimate structural model parameters and those that detect the structural model type. The most basic distinction among structure types is between categorical (discrete) and dimensional (continuous) models. It is a common, and potentially misleading, practice to…

We examined whether the results of a response-restriction analysis (RRA) could be predicted on the basis of response distribution in early sessions, when these sessions indicated interaction with multiple items. Four preschool-aged children participated. For 3 of the 4 participants, the results from sessions conducted prior to restriction of the…

The article focuses on the realisation of participatory evaluation (PE) in national educational evaluation activity. The realisation of PE is examined by adapting the Daigneault and Jacob model (2009; originally Cousins & Whitmore, 1998) to five national-level educational evaluations carried out in Finland. According to the chosen frame of…

The Fifth Edition of the :Handbook of Research on Teaching" is an essential resource for students and scholars dedicated to the study of teaching and learning. The volume covers a vast array of topics ranging from the history of teaching to technological and literacy issues. In each authoritative chapter, the authors summarize the state of…

Writing is a complex process, and this complexity poses particular challenges when researchers and teachers approach the task of analysing young students' writing samples. This paper outlines a program of research undertaken to develop a writing analysis tool. The tool is designed to map shifts over time in the range of skills and competencies…

This article describes one school district department's efforts to train and support teachers in providing effective curriculum, instruction, and assessment methods to their students. This large, K-12 district embraces the spectrum of low to high SES schools, a large number of gifted students from diverse populations, and a variety of gifted…

For the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) to be understood as significant intellectual work in the academy, SoTL practitioners need to identify shared principles of good practice. While honoring the diversity of SoTL in its many forms across the globe, such principles can serve as a heuristic for assessing work in our field. These…

The past decades have seen an increase in the attention and focus of student affairs work in Africa. As the profession works to strengthen its reputation and value within higher education through conferences, organisations and publications, student affairs professionals can also raise the stature of the profession through work on their individual…

There is a tension between conducting comprehensive systematic reviews and completing them in time to meet policy-making deadlines. The "rapid evidence assessment" has been proposed as a solution to this; offering rigorous reviews in a condensed timescale. While used frequently in healthcare, this mode of reviewing presents considerable…

This special issue is a timely initiative in developing more knowledge and deeper understanding of assessment of, as, and for teaching. The alert reader might have noticed that the title of this author's contribution is not "Formative Assessment of Teachers", but "Formative Assessment of Teacher Learning". In her opinion…

Today, school climate assessment has become an increasingly important and valued aspect of district, state, and federal policy. Recognizing that effective school climate improvement efforts are grounded in valid and reliable data, the Federal Department of Education launched the Safe and Supportive Schools grant in 2010 to provide 11 states with…