Being a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is not very enchanted. Despite all of its charms, Hogwarts still requires its students to attend class, read books, write exercises, take tests, and be graded on a competitive scale. The teachers do not use veritaserum to check students' homework or studiousness. Nor do students…

It is a commonly held opinion by faculty that teaching online takes considerably more time than traditional face-to-face instruction. But there is a dearth of quantitative data to either support or disprove this belief. This paper presents the results of a study that involved the logging of instructor time for seven comparable pairs of online and…

There has recently been a call for more pedagogic comparative research to counter the dominance of structural and policy led studies. At the same time there is also a necessity to provide alternative comparative research to that concerned with global standardizing performance and performativity strategies. The research, on which this paper is…

Background: The last comparative analysis of how the six regional accrediting commissions review distance education programs was conducted in 2000. A few months later in March 2001 all six accrediting bodies did something that they hadn't done before, they adopted common standards for reviewing distance education programs. Purpose: The purpose was…

Context-based and science-technology-society (STS) approaches to teaching science in high school have become widely used over the past two decades. They aspire to foster more positive attitudes to science while, at the same time, provide a sound basis of scientific understanding for further study. This paper reviews the detailed research evidence…

Biology and chemistry graduates (n = 29) on a one year, post graduate, initial teacher training course were asked about their perceptions of written lesson appraisals produced by mentors when observing their teaching. Data were collected using the same open questions at three points in their course. The data relating to mentors who had received…

This article empirically supports the thesis that there is no clear and unequivocal argument in favor of simulations and experiential learning. Instead the effectiveness of simulation-based learning methods depends strongly on the target group's characteristics. Two methods of supporting experiential learning are compared in two different complex…

Young learners of Japanese heritage language (JHL) need a solid foundation of oral language to develop strong literacy skills. Considering the limited hours of instruction at JHL schools, oral language and literacy skills rely on a joint effort between the JHL school and parents. JHL schools that help parents understand the nuances of JHL…

This action research project investigated 2 different instructional procedures used for third grade students' vocabulary acquisition. We researched read-aloud trade books containing targeted vocabulary words with daily direct word learning strategies and compared that to a traditional definitional approach with 12 bilingual and 4 monolingual…

Two classroom approaches to reducing racial and ethnic prejudice among college students were compared: a class session based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and an educational lecture drawn from a textbook on the psychology of racial differences. Undergraduates who were enrolled in two separate classes on racial differences were exposed…

The authors investigated between- and within-domain relations of academic emotions, including students' enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom experienced in mathematics, physics, German, and English classes (N = 542; Grades 8 and 11). Corroborating assumptions of domain specificity, the between-domains relations of these emotions were weak…

Encouraging students to share and compare solution methods is a key component of reform efforts in mathematics, and comparison is emerging as a fundamental learning mechanism. To experimentally evaluate the effects of comparison for mathematics learning, the authors randomly assigned 70 seventh-grade students to learn about algebra equation…

In recent years teachers within the classroom have experienced an increase in the off-task behaviors of students. The purpose of this action research project was to increase on-task behavior through development of classroom social skills. The causes may be a lack of social skills, outside influences, presentation of materials, students not…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of PALS (Peer Assisted Learning Strategies) for students who struggle with reading in first grade. Two groups of children were compared in terms of their reading fluency. The groups included English language learners (ELL) well as native English speakers. One group was instructed using the…

This study examined the relationships between metacognition, self-regulation and students' critical thinking skills and disposition in online Socratic Seminars for ninth grade World Geography and Culture students. Participants of this study came from six intact pre-AP (Pre-Advanced Placement) classes in a public high school in south central Texas…