This paper reports on a study that examines the effects of problem context on students' performance. The performance of 151 Year 10 students on six mathematical problems was compared with the performance on fifteen variants with more and less context familiarity (CF) and engagement (CE) across levels of context use (LCU). The latter explanatory…

This paper examines the effect of a podcasting task on the examination performance of several hundred first-year chemistry undergraduate students. Educational researchers have established that a deep approach to learning that promotes active understanding of meaning can lead to better student outcomes, higher grades and superior retention of…

This case study described teachers with varying technology skills who were implementing the use of geospatial technology (GST) within project-based instruction (PBI) at varying grade levels and contexts 1 to 2 years following professional development. The sample consisted of 10 fifth- to ninth-grade teachers. Data sources included artifacts,…

We designed and implemented curriculum intended to be used by students in an algebra-based introductory physics laboratory course. Our curricular goal was to foster, through observations in the lab, a coherent framework in students' understanding of general principles presented in the introductory mechanics course, while addressing known student…

Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) integrates inquiry, problem- and project-based learning, cooperative learning, and authentic assessment. Case studies were carried out on 21 teachers who used CTL to teach science in elementary schools to diverse groups of children. The findings indicated that the conditions that fostered the implementation…

Alternative assessments, also called authentic or performance assessments, have first the common notion of a meaningful performance or product. The use of such alternatives with students belonging to nondominant language and cultural groups is of interest because of the hope that this type of assessment can show what these students can really do…

Australia's new information technology training package emphasizes assessment occurring in the workplace or in a simulated work environment. The options available to Australia's technical and further education (TAFE) institutes in delivering institutionalized training to meet this requirement were explored. The following four options were…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…