One of the greatest challenges experienced by teachers teaching students who learn English as a foreign or a second language is teaching a class consisting of fast learners and slow learners commonly referred to as mixed-ability classes. The present study investigates challenges experienced by teachers of English language classes encompassing slow…

The importance of actively engaging in mathematics discourse in order to learn mathematics is well recognized. In this paper, I use Basil Bernstein's concepts of pedagogic discourse to document and analyse academic learning time of students in Years 8 and 9 at a suburban lower secondary school: in particular, for what proportion of class time…

A 3-year study was launched in a Hong Kong secondary school to investigate the effects of the medium of instruction (MOI), specifically English and Chinese, on the learning of certificate-level physics. A total of 199 Secondary Four (S4 or tenth-grade) students, divided into three major ability groups, participated in a teaching intervention…

In this qualitative study, I examined and interpreted the literacy instruction of a fourth grade instructor who identified herself as a student-centered teacher. I sought to understand and interpret the beliefs and attitudes of my participant, Julie. Through seven unstructured interviews and five observations, I collected, and simultaneously…

This action research project report summarizes the methods used to reduce boredom and frustration and increase students' academic motivation in three mixed-ability classrooms. This action research project included 21 third grade students, 23 fifth grade students, and 28 eighth grade students (n=72) during the dates of September 10, 2007, through…

Educational games present the complex realities of simultaneous interactive processes more accurately and effectively than serial processes such as lecturing and reading. Objectives of educational gaming are to motivate students by presenting relevant and realistic problems and to induce more efficient and active understanding of information.…

Average-ability students often do not take full advantage of learning in mixed-ability groups because they hardly engage in the group interaction. This study examined whether structuring collaboration by group roles and ground rules for helping behavior might help overcome this participatory inequality. In a plant biology course, heterogeneously…

PROJECT ABLE, A STATE-WIDE PROGRAM TO PROVIDE BETTER EDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOR CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS, WAS ADOPTED BY AN INNER-CITY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN SYRACUSE, NEW YORK. SPECIAL STAFF USED WERE--INSTRUCTIONAL SPECIALISTS, A READING CLINICIAN, AN AUDIOVISUAL COORDINATOR, A SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER, A VOCATIONAL AND PLACEMENT COORDINATOR,…

Singapore has attempted to use school-based intervention studies as a vital feedback system in developing a more viable and sensitive preservice curriculum. The Institute of Education (IE), the sole trainer of teachers in Singapore, is conducting ongoing research in the area of effective teaching strategies, which aims at assessing the…

The physical education program at Phillips Exeter Academy (New Hampshire) is designed to benefit students who, while being academically gifted, have the normal range of athletic aptitude and interests. The primary objective of the overall program is to develop individual abilities and promote physical fitness. While some students enjoy and…

To provide a differentiated language arts program to meet the needs of highly able and gifted readers and to encourage interest in reading and the development of state reading goals, students in the sixth grade of a middle school in Maryland were grouped by ability for their language arts/reading classes. Students were exposed to a wide variety of…

This monograph consists of 22 reprints of reports published since 1979 in the Middle School Journal's regular column "What Research Says to the Practitioner." Each report synthesizes research studies related to effective implementation of middle school programs and concludes with a list of references. The contents are divided into two main…