This longitudinal study examined the relationship between pedagogical continuity in literacy education and early literacy development by comparing Chinese children in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Stratified random sampling was used to select 24 preschool and Primary 1 classes in four communities catering to middle-class families in each city. The 24…

Case analysis is often used in early childhood teacher education as a constructivist method for developing students' professional skills and knowledge. Although case-based instruction is popular, the professional literature contains little empirical evidence that it effectively helps students develop professional knowledge. Indeed, some empirical…

The study compares the performance of distance learning students with full-time students in a traditional face-to-face learning environment. This study is one aspect of a larger research project designed to gain insight into factors that may influence the performance of distance learning students. The data used in the study represent the…

Living in today's world requires that one be up to date on the technological advances that have made knowledge more accessible; and being up to date on knowledge is crucial. However, what are the optimal methods for conveying knowledge, and is there one method that will work best for each individual? This study centers on comparing two teaching…

Many studies have investigated relationships between self-directedness and various indicators of success in university coursework but few have explored the evolution of self-directedness that may or may not occur in these settings. This study sought to discover how self-direction in learning of participants in an undergraduate healthcare ethics…

Heuristics are deeply-held, tacit knowledge structures connected to our feelings. A heuristic study explores a phenomenon crucial to the researcher's self-discovery (Moustakas, 1990). Like me, many undergraduate composition instructors feel both fear and hope at the crossroads of composition and technology. Technology and composition shape one…

This study addressed the comparison of classroom education with online education in helping adult ministerial students reach the specific levels of competencies in the fields of theology and pastoral care in the Church of the Nazarene. As the Director of the Alabama Nazarene School of Ministry and a member of the Master's Teacher Program of…

While the topic of who is responsible for addressing the issue of developmental education is being discussed at the national level, it is also presently being discussed in the Alabama postsecondary arena, where committees and symposiums are forming to discuss this topic. While nothing has yet been resolved, it still bears some study since…

This mixed method study examined the oral contributions and personal journal writing of 8 focal students in an eleventh-grade integrated history/English classroom to ascertain whether and to what extent the students had appropriated three types of cognitive strategies desired and modeled by their teachers. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of…

This dissertation offers a Cognitive Grammar-based approach to teaching cases to L2 German and Russian students and examines the impacts of various methods of case instruction in beginning German and Russian language classes. A CG-based explanation of cases was already proposed by some CG theorists (i.e., Langacker 1987, 1991; Smith 1987, Janda…

Background: Worked examples are very effective for novice learners. They typically present a written-out ideal (didactical) solution for learners to study. Aims: This study used worked examples of patient history taking in physiotherapy that presented a "non"-didactical solution (i.e., based on actual performance). The effects of model expertise…

This paper reports the results from a study which explored the influence of condition (access to four-function calculator, access to graphing calculator with instructional exposure, and access to graphing calculator without instructional exposure) on the mathematical performance of students with and without a disability. The results were analyzed…

The need in modern healthcare for professionals who are self-directed and autonomous has increased in recent decades. Problem-based learning is spreading in nursing education as one strategy for meeting these demands. This article deals with the relationship between the design and execution of nursing education curricula and students'…

Critical thinking is a valued educational outcome; however, little is known about whether psychology courses, especially ones such as research methods courses that might be expected to promote critical thinking skills, actually improve them. We compared the acquisition of critical thinking skills for analyzing psychological arguments in 3 groups…

This study provided preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of "Teaching Strategies GOLD", a recently developed observational system for assessing young children's development and learning. The measurement properties of "Teaching Strategies GOLD" were compared with those of an older instrument, "The Creative…