This study investigates how teachers interact with immigrant-origin youth in school-based contexts of reception that mediate youth's educational opportunities. One understudied context is sheltered instruction, where English learners (ELs) are placed into separate content-area courses to target their linguistic needs. This qualitative study…

Informed by the results of a baseline research study of regional citizen knowledge and understanding concerning watershed issues, a team of university faculty and classroom teachers designed and implemented a water conservation education program to address lacking areas of watershed knowledge. The authors developed age-appropriate, hands-on…

While research supports that formative assessment can improve student learning, it is rarely used and difficult to implement. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the use of student handheld response systems (SRS) as a tool for formative assessment in high school classes as well as teachers' attitudes towards this…

Student response systems are wireless devices used for engaging students. Many studies using student response systems have been conducted in larger lecture-type settings such as in colleges and universities. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine the effectiveness of student response systems in middle school math classrooms to…

This article briefly describes the central tenets of a program several low-income middle schools implemented to remove failure as a choice students could make in completing their assignments. Instead of doling out Fs for poor and nonexistent work, teachers devised a variety of options students had to follow to demonstrate eventual mastery of…

In an attempt to capture the diverse experience of undergraduates at the University of Washington (UW), the authors designed and conducted the University of Washington's Study of Undergraduate Learning (UW SOUL), a longitudinal study that tracked 304 students (about five percent of the entering freshman and transfer class) through their…

A seminar is described that was designed to improve the interpersonal skills of psychiatric residents at New York State Psychiatric Institute. Participating residents gained a new perspective on the troubled individuals with whom they interact by role-playing psychiatric patients. Participant reactions and outcomes of the seminar are discussed.…

Discusses the outcomes of an investigation into the motives and appreciation of autonomous language learners among students and staff of the Department of Individual Foreign Language Studies at the University of Amsterdam. The results showed so much variety that any conclusions or correlations were hard to make. (Author/SED)