Teacher education programs are often accused of failing to prepare preservice teachers for real life classroom situations. In the case of research on classroom management, the focal point is often classroom teachers and their educational and behavioral goals rather than students' experiences. This study aims to explore the perspectives of…

Grade 12 students in my son's psychology class had been asked to share their deepest reactions and thoughts toward the victims of the "Charlie Hebdo" incident in Paris. "Charlie Hebdo" is a satirical magazine that had published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Students felt sympathetic toward the victims and…

The present study concerns the activities teachers develop and ninth-graders' participation in responses to those activities. The objectives of this study were to identify and describe the types of teaching activities developed and how students respond to them and to show how the target language is used in the classroom. The data collection was…

This article presents results from an empirical study of how student engagement is visible during introductory algebra. Previously, the notion of engagement in mathematics has been studied from students' and researchers' perspectives. This study is instead focused on teachers' perspectives on student engagement. Eight teachers in grade 6-7 have…

As more countries align their curricular frameworks with play-based and experiential pedagogies, this paper provides a critical insight into the benefits and challenges that arise in practice when a play-based approach to learning and teaching becomes a political directive in Northern Ireland primary schools. Drawing on socio-constructivist and…

More and more teachers are facing the decision whether they should allow or promote students the use of technology in the classroom. The decision is difficult as there are apparently both advantages and disadvantages in doing either way. In terms of positive impacts, research revealed that the use of digital devices in the classroom setting was…

This paper deploys notions of emergence, connections, and designs for learning to conceptualize high school students' interactions when using online social media as a learning environment. It makes links to chaos and complexity theories and to fractal patterns as it reports on a part of the first author's action research study, conducted while she…

Reflects on teaching Shakespeare in secondary school. Finds it is possible to see in a set of classroom practices an alternative model of reading, a notion of collaborative, negotiated making of meaning. Gives student responses as to why they would be studying Shakespeare. Reflects on their comments. (PA)

A comprehensive and rigorous investigation of the person-environment fit hypothesis that students achieve better in their preferred environment is described. The design of this study included four notable features. First, the student outcome domain included a comprehensive range of six affective and three cognitive outcomes. Second, classroom…

Students are rarely given the opportunity of being decisionmakers in class, and when they are, they may feel unsure of how to organize their own learning. However, over time they come to appreciate the benefits of a more active engagement in learning English. In this paper, I describe a procedure based on Exploratory Practice (EP) for guiding…

Describes the development and validation of a questionnaire, the Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire (TCBQ), that assesses student perceptions of five important teacher behaviors: (1) Challenging; (2) Encouragement and Praise; (3) Non-Verbal Support; (4) Understanding and Friendly; and (5) Controlling. (Contains 49 references.)…

The Learning in Science Project (1979-1981) studied the problems and difficulties of learning science at the 10-14 year old level in New Zealand to provide insights into the world of the science learner and provide an alternative perspective of the science classroom to that currently held by teachers and others. This paper offers practical…

During the last 3 years we have made many visits to two rural Mexican primary schools. As a result of our experiences there, we believe that students' sense of responsibility in a school setting depends on the nature of the commitments they make and the work they do in and for the school. We have also learned that certain educational and social…

The present research makes an original contribution to the previously distinct fields of classroom environment and person-environment fit because it uses the Classroom Environment Scale, which assesses actual and preferred classroom environment, in a person-environment fit study. (Author/PN)

Discusses inequitable learning opportunities of Canada Natives. Finds that rules and expectations of schools often create feelings of shame in Native learners that lead to withdrawal and failure. Asserts that when teachers become cultural brokers they can eliminate the inequalities and develop an environment conducive to learning. (CMK)