The development of subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge has been the focus of much educational research and debate in recent years. Of particular interest is the process by which preservice science teachers develop pedagogical content knowledge from their subject knowledge. In the study presented here, a process of writing narrative…

This article is an introduction to two other articles in this issue, Catherine Maxwell's "Teaching 19th-century aesthetic prose" and Kirsteen Anderson's "The whole learner: the role of imagination in developing disciplinary learning". It highlights the significance of the courses described in Maxwell's and Anderson's accounts…

Recent literature that examines the implementation of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in classroom settings has reported various challenges related to educational cultures, classroom management, teacher cognition and learner perceptions. To facilitate the smooth transition of TBLT from laboratory settings to classroom contexts, measures need…

Practical skills are important for the employability of biosciences graduates; however, first year science undergraduates often struggle to adapt to university practical classes, affecting skills development and decreasing their enthusiasm for laboratory work. This study describes the effects of introducing online multimedia practical support…

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of self-management as a tier two enhancement to the group contingency intervention, Class-Wide Function-related Intervention Teams Program (CW-FIT). Two classrooms, first and fourth grade, and two students in each of the classrooms participated in the intervention. The group contingency…

This paper presents some results of research aimed at contributing to the development of a professional knowledge base for teachers of elementary mathematics methods courses, called here "teacher educators." We propose that a useful unit of analysis for this knowledge could be the tasks in which teacher-educators engage pre-service…

Dispositional optimism is an adopted orientation in which one believes that goals will generally be attained and that tasks can generally be successfully completed, whereas pessimists orient toward less belief in successful task or goal completion. A related concept, individuals with high self-efficacy believe they will be successful at particular…

The purpose of this paper is to report on an assessment task designed to provoke pre-service teacher education students to recollect and share experiences of what enabled and frustrated their learning. The assumption underpinning the creation of this task was that: if teacher education students could, through reflection and discussion, recapture…

The interpretation of single-case data requires systematic visual analysis across and within conditions. Graphs are a vital component for analyzing and communicating single-case design data and a necessary tool for applied researchers and practitioners. Several articles have been published with task analyses for graphing data with the new versions…

Background and purpose: This paper reports on part of an ongoing research project in England concerning the Nature of Science (NOS). The particular focus is on the initial thinking of the graduate scientists starting a one-year, Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course and the way the course approaches adopted influence their views and…

The study reported in this article investigated task-repetition with young Japanese children. Fifteen children with no prior knowledge of English completed a communicative listening task that was designed to introduce new vocabulary. The same task was repeated nine times over five weeks. In line with Allwright's (1984) claim that "interaction…

The use of computer software to facilitate learning in political science courses is well established. However, the statistical software packages used in many political science courses can be difficult to use and counter-intuitive. We describe the results of a preliminary user study suggesting that visually-oriented analysis software can help…

Developing critical numeracy is important in a society where mathematics plays a particular and significant role. One way of helping learners to develop the level of numeracy required to participate in society is by exploring ideas embedded in rich, accessible tasks. These can be linked to contexts that have relevance in their lives. One…

Although the Curriculum Principle in "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" states, "A school mathematics curriculum is a strong determinant of what students have an opportunity to learn and what they do learn," this article seeks to help teachers enhance tasks found in commonly used textbooks to create additional opportunities for…

Previous research on synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) has shown that SCMC interaction could draw learners' attention to form in ways that are similar to face-to-face interaction. However, the role of task type in focusing learners' attention on form has not been widely researched. In a repeated-measures design, this study…