Thai mural paintings have played a significant role in Thai society since The Sukhothai Kingdom period (1238-1438 AD) until the present. Wattana Boonjub (2009) points out that Mural painting was used for teaching the Thai people in the past. Throughout history, temples have become a crucial part of Thai' lives; for example, Wat Phumin in Nan…

Whilst critical realism (CR) is becoming recognised as a significant meta-theory for the social sciences, there is little guidance on how to produce research which is consistent with its ontological and epistemological assumptions. This article contributes to an emerging discussion about how CR can be applied, drawing on an example of a…

The purpose of this article is to review the literature on geography and mental health, report on a case example using new methods for studying this topic, and provide recommendations for future research. Over 25 years ago, Holley (1988) conducted a review of the literature on geography and mental health and astutely stated, "… it is…

As a follow on to my earlier research with beginning teachers, in which I investigated their propensity for pedagogical change, when they faced difficult and unfamiliar cultural situations in school, this research was undertaken to test the findings on a larger scale. The research from which this case study is drawn uses a greater number of…

Staff members at Sesame Workshop asked us to conduct a meta-analysis of their proprietary evaluation research on the effects of viewing international versions of "Sesame Street." Given global crises in early childhood education, and given the wide reach of "Sesame Street," it was of considerable interest to us whether there…

Critical realism (CR) is a useful philosophical framework for social science; however, little guidance is available on which precise methods -- including methods of data collection, coding, and analysis -- are best suited to applied CR research. This article provides a concrete example of applied qualitative research using CR as a philosophical…

The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of coding and observation manuals in classroom studies. While observation manuals have been a part of the methodological toolkit for measuring various aspects of instruction for decades, the field has also been suffering from "paradigm wars," fragmentation and local production of instruments.…

This article analyses the university experiences of 44 students with disabilities. The voices of Spanish students describe the reasons that lead them to choose a given university degree, their transition in the university, the perception they have of themselves as students and how they evaluate their academic results. This study was done with the…

The important role that geometry plays in the mathematics curriculum has been extensively documented. However, the reduction of geometry in school mathematics, and the focus on basic computation and procedures, raises the question of the competencies students acquire and the classroom atmosphere in geometry lessons. The goal of this multiple case…

Partnerships with students are considered one of the principles of good Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) practice. However, not all partnerships are equally successful. What characteristics are common to successful partnerships and what preparatory elements can lead toward more successful partnerships? In this article, our team of…

This article analyses the social interactions and behaviours evident within an adult, amateur ballet class in one of Scotland's cities. Using an ethnographic empirical approach, the study utilises Erving Goffman's model of dramaturgy to explore the impression management of participants from the ballet class. Evidence (data) was generated through a…

This article explores the use of iPads as part of a child-centred data collection approach to understand young children's creativity. Evidence is presented from a small study of three- to five-year-old children's creative play. Analysis of the children's engagement with iPad video diaries and free-to-use tablet applications was logged across two…

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) asked the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA) to undertake research to explore the current issues around academic teaching qualifications in the HESA Staff record and to offer recommendations to improve data quality and coverage in future…

This article presents the methodology used in a population-based study of early communicative development in Norwegian children using an adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates communicative development inventories (CDI), comprising approximately 6500 children aged between 0 ; 8 and 3 ; 0. To our knowledge, this is the first CDI study collecting data…

Most teacher educators who work at institutes for higher vocational education have faced a new role since the European Community aimed to upgrade the general quality of education. Research tasks have been added as a new important core business for institutes that used to be mainly focused on education. Teacher educators therefore have to become…