This article is based on a keynote address to the Learning for All Enhancing Effective Practice in Special Education School-led Symposia, Palmerston North, Christchurch, Napier and Auckland, New Zealand, June 2006. It considers "special education" teaching strategies, and the extent to which they overlap with "mainstream…

While the internationalisation of higher education has made learner diversity a key consideration in tertiary pedagogical practice, research into the application of computer-mediated technologies in this domain has rarely taken into account culture. This article responds to this gap in the research by comparing "Confucian-heritage" and…

Comparing data from two ethnographic studies of bilingual teachers and their students in the United States, the authors present a cross-case analysis that illuminates how issues of language are inextricably linked with issues of race, class, and socioeconomic status. The authors show how portraits of teachers' practice help to examine some of the…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether providing students with continuous written instructional support or fading written instructional support (scaffolds) better prepares students to construct scientific explanations when they are no longer provided with support. This article investigated the influence of scaffolding on 331…

Participants received different amounts of information in either a cTRAIN computer-based instruction (CBI) program or in a booklet format, presented before or concurrently with interactive questions about the information. An interactive CBI presentation that required an overt response during training produced equivalent acquisition and retention…

Purpose--The paper sets out to explore the challenges of problem-based learning (PBL) in tertiary education and to propose a framework with implications for practice and learning. Design/Methodology/Approach--A total of 18 tertiary students divided into three groups participated in the focus group discussions. A quantitative instrument was used as…

This pilot study compared two approaches for teaching rhythm reading skills to first-grade children. Two intact first-grade classes participated in six lessons focusing on simple rhythms (4 beats using eighth and quarter notes). The lessons were based on the same musical materials; only the approach was varied. After random assignment, Class 1…

The Farmer Field School (FFS) is a form of adult education using experiential learning methods, aimed at building farmers' decision-making capacity and expertise. The National Research Institute in West Africa conducted FFS in cowpea cultivation and we use this experience to analyse the implementation of the FFS approach. How does it work in…

To apply newer philosophical approaches in education, Alberta and Ontario experimented with dramatic curriculum and pedagogic reform during the progressive era, c. 1930 to 1955. However, by the mid-1950s both provinces returned to more traditional disciplinary approaches. This comparative historical study reveals three conditions that affected…

In this article, the authors call for an end to an approach to teaching which makes a nonsense of pupils' learning of mathematics. They decry the over-regulation of instruction techniques based on Ofsted inspections, showing how much class time may be lost to prescribed events like warm-ups and lesson recaps. To illustrate their assertion, they…

All business communication professors struggle with anxiety-ridden students when discussing public speaking. To alleviate students' fears of speaking in public a process was designed to allow business communication students to acknowledge, address, and annul their presentation fears. A six-year comparative study using qualitative methods and…

I altered the format of an exercise physiology course from traditional lecture to emphasizing daily reading quizzes and group problem-solving activities. I used the SALGains evaluation to compare the two approaches and saw significant improvements in the evaluation ratings of students who were taught using the new format. Narrative responses…

Innovations in undergraduate medical education, such as integration of disciplines and problem based learning, have given rise to concerns about students' knowledge of anatomy. This article originated from several studies investigating the knowledge of anatomy of students at the eight Dutch medical schools. The studies showed that undergraduate…

Best practice research in secondary science education begins with a noble goal: learn from the excellence of past instruction in order to help mold future instructional practice. On the surface, it seems that all people need to do is find excellent science teachers, find out what they do in the classroom, and recreate this in other classes around…

Online learning is rapidly becoming a permanent feature of higher education. In a preponderance of instances, online learning is designed using conventional educational practices: lecture, grades, group discussion, and the like. Concerns with traditional pedagogy instantiated by course management systems raise questions about the quality of…