The empirical study, in this article, involved 42 students (ages 14-15), who used the urban simulation computer game SimCity 4 to create models of sustainable future cities. The aim was to explore in what ways the simulated "real" worlds provided by this game could be a potential facilitator for science learning contexts. The topic investigated is…

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the role played by basic numerical magnitude processing in the typical and atypical development of mathematical skills. In this context, tasks measuring both the intentional and automatic processing of numerical magnitude have been employed to characterize how children's representation and…

In the face of rapid technological and economic developments globally, pre-service teacher education programs in the Asia-Pacific region are challenged to prepare teachers who are open to new ideas, new practices and information and communication technologies (ICT), to learn how to learn, unlearn and relearn, and to understand and accept the need…

Alternative models of the structure of individual and developmental differences of written composition and handwriting fluency were tested using confirmatory factor analysis of writing samples provided by first- and fourth-grade students. For both groups, a five-factor model provided the best fit to the data. Four of the factors represented…

Psychological need theories offer much explanatory potential for behavioral scientists, but there is considerable disagreement and confusion about what needs are and how they work. A 2-process model of psychological needs is outlined, viewing needs as evolved functional systems that provide both (a) innate psychosocial motives that tend to impel…

The social purposes of education are long term and oriented towards the construction and maintenance of a sustainable future. This article focuses on developing-country contexts with relatively low formal school enrolment rates, where dropout and failure rates are alarming, and where many children leave school semi-literate, soon to relapse into…

The present paper reports on a study that investigated the role of procedural and declarative memory in the acquisition of Finnish past tense morphology. Two competing models were tested. Ullman's (2004) declarative/procedural model predicts that procedural memory supports the acquisition of regular morphology, whereas declarative memory supports…

Given the substantial increase in the numbers of students identified with an autism spectrum disorder, it is imperative that effective training for classroom teachers, administrators, and other support staff be undertaken to increase the capacity within schools to effectively educate these students. Although many professional development programs…

Economic conditions over the past year have brought most nations in the world to a state of flux. What once appeared to be a thriving economy has now been in one of the steepest recessions in decades. To get our economy back on track, organizations will need to seek IT investments and solutions that increase productivity, improve security and…

Recently we have seen an increase in the calls for universities and the education community to re-think undergraduate education and create opportunities that prepare students as effective global professionals. The key motivator is the need to build a research and industrial workforce that works collaboratively across cultures and disciplines to…

For most of the last 50 years, teachers and administrators have perceived professional development and the instructional role primarily in terms of what one individual does with classes of others. Teachers, like their students, were considered to be rather passive acceptors of the instruction, rather than active modifiers. Thus, there was very…

This article focuses on the theoretical frame of action research and the teacher as researcher, working through a Norwegian Research Council-funded project in a school that explored learning strategies for pupils' subject and social development. Action research is here called research and development (R&D) work as the term envisages that…

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) is a federally funded national resource center designed to support early care and education providers address the social-emotional needs of children birth through age 5 years. Recent research has found that an extraordinarily high number of young children are being…

The paper provides an insight into the results of a lesson designed and carried out at Riga Construction College in the study subject "Building Constructions". The aim of this study is to better understand the impact of learning environment reorganisation into juvenile groups while teaching technical study subjects. In particular, the…

The reality that American public schools are not meeting the needs of all students and the increasing incongruity between student and teacher demographics demand increased efforts to prepare teacher candidates to work with students who are ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse. Teacher preparation programs are charged with this work…