This study investigates elementary pre-service mathematics teachers' noticing in a video-based activity within the context of a mathematics teaching methods course. To this end, we analyzed what and how pre-service mathematics teachers noticed in the Public Release Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) videos. Data obtained…

This article draws on current literature leading to the development of a holistic framework to support practitioners in observation and assessment of childrens evolving inquiry skills. Evidence from the 2011 Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) in England identifies a decline of year five student achievement in science. A…

This article reports on an exploratory project in which technology and dynamic social network analysis (SNA) are used for modelling classroom interaction. SNA focuses on the links between social actors, draws on graphic imagery to reveal and display the patterning of those links, and develops mathematical and computational models to describe and…

The aim of this study is to examine preservice science teachers' skills of formulating hypotheses and identifying variables. The research has a phenomenological research design. The data was gathered qualitatively. In this study, preservice science teachers were first given two scenarios (Scenario-1 & Scenario-2) containing two different…

White Paper 5's aim is to provide South Africa's children with a solid foundation for lifelong learning and development. Children need to be nurtured and developed holistically for them to participate efficiently in their democratic society. However, South African students continue to perform poorly in Trends in International Mathematics and…

In educational effectiveness research, it frequently has proven difficult to make credible inferences about cause and effect relations. The article first identifies the main categories of threats to valid causal inference from observational data, and discusses designs and analytic approaches which protect against them. With the use of data from 22…

Empirical analysis of secondary biology classrooms revealed that, on average, 68% of teaching time in Germany revolved around processing tasks. Quality of instruction can thus be assessed by analyzing the quality of tasks used in classroom discourse. This quasi-experimental study analyzed how teachers used tasks in 38 videotaped biology lessons…

The lack of exposure to practical work in primary schools leads to incompetency in manipulative skills and students may carry this problem with them to secondary school. To address this issues, an in-depth qualitative study was conducted during transition from primary to secondary school. The research involved 10 primary school students (grade 6)…

Background: Educators, researchers and policy-makers worldwide continue to struggle to understand the changes needed for improving educational outcomes and attainment for students, particularly in content areas such as mathematics and science that are essential for developing a highly skilled workforce. Given the continuing emphasis on linking…

One of the main components of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge refers to their use of representation forms. In a similar vein, organizing concepts logically and meaningfully is an essential element of teachers' subject matter knowledge. Since subject matter and pedagogical content knowledge of teachers are tightly connected as categories…

Two-thirds of U.S. citizens do not understand the scientific process. There is a clear misunderstanding about what science is--and is not--both in our society and in the classroom. Furthermore, students below basic proficiency are locked into an achievement gap. In response, the No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2001. Since then, there has…

National data has shown that Americans are scoring at lower levels in mathematics and science than their international peer group. Yet, the data does not feature students' voices. This study helps fill that gap by highlighting American engineering students and their international counterparts matriculating at an HBCU (Oliver University). This…

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the largest, most comprehensive, and most rigorous international comparison of education ever undertaken. During the 1995 school year, the study tested the mathematics and science knowledge of a half-million students from 41 nations at five different grade levels. In addition to…

This report is based on inspections of mathematics in primary and secondary schools carried out between August 2002 and April 2005. In addition to schools inspected, Her Majesty's (HM) Inspectors also visited primary and secondary schools to observe and describe aspects of best practice. This report also draws on pupils' attainment in Scottish…