Several accounts concerning the systematic use of action research by eminent educators in the process of identifying and solving an educational problem(s) have appeared in professional journals. Thus, action research is gaining recognition by policy makers and educators as a tool for change However, this growing concept has not yet caught up in…

Integrating "The West Wing" in public relations courses can effectively dramatize the concrete and abstract dimensions of public relations. In turn, students see public relations in action (albeit fictionally so) and learn much about it through structured lessons. From individual writing assignments about situations in "The West Wing," to the…

We investigated whether the findings from worked-out example research on the effects of self-explanation prompts and on instructional explanations can be generalized to other example types--in this case: solved example problems. Whereas worked-out examples consist of a problem formulation, solution steps, and the final solution, solved example…

The results are described of two case studies on the conceptions and classroom practice of two Portuguese physics and chemistry teachers on the role of problem solving in the teaching/learning of science. One of these teachers was a novice and the other had about 20 years of teaching experience. The data were obtained from a questionnaire, a…

Least squares regression is the most common method of fitting a straight line to a set of bivariate data. Another less known method that is available on Texas Instruments graphing calculators is median-median regression. This method is proposed as a simple method that may be used with middle and high school students to motivate the idea of fitting…

Educators often exclude socially maladjusted children (SMA) from a proper education due to serious disruptive behavior. Never the less, these children are entitled to services under section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. While SMA children are indeed difficult to educate, review of the associated literature suggests that methods to…

The course syllabus is a contract between instructor and students, a schedule of course assignments and activities, and a roadmap delineating objectives and checkpoints in the course. It is also a planning and reference tool for both students and instructor, and it models professors' expectations for their students. This study investigated whether…

Fiona was a 14-year-old 7th-grader whose academic history, frequent behavior problems, and low levels of academic engagement put her at-risk for academic failure. This study's purpose was to examine the effectiveness of a systematic process for identifying the function of her problem behaviors and designing interventions that directly addressed…

Most teachers have attended countless workshops that advocated new teaching methods, materials, or techniques in addressing special student populations. They politely listen as a series of presenters enthusiastically introduce their information in written and verbal form. They return to the classroom, fully intending to use their new skills, but…

This paper outlines the practical aspects of a project aimed to offer access to numerate knowledge for preschool children by providing them with take-home numeracy kits. A Koori preschool in an urban regional area of New South Wales, Australia, was involved in the project. The centre catered for 18 four- and five-year-old children. The two main…

Transformational Events is a new pedagogic pattern that explains how innovations (and other transformations) happened. The pattern is three temporal stages: an interval of increasingly unsatisfactory ad hoc solutions to a persistent problem (the "mess"), an offer of an invention or of a new way of thinking, and a period of widespread adoption and…

Objective: The authors discuss the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed for a resident to be competent in supporting and working with families, as mandated by the residency review committee (RRC) core competencies. Methods: The RRC core competencies, as they relate to patients and their families, are reviewed. The Group for Advancement of…

This qualitative study explored health sciences students' perceptions of their experiences in online problem based learning (PBL) and focused on their views about learning and group process in the online environment. Participants were novices to online learning and highly experienced in PBL, therefore, they could reflect on past face-to-face PBL…

Introduction: In group learning settings like problem-based learning (PBL), the quality of interaction is closely related to group success. However, research and practice have shown that the interaction in tutorial groups is not optimal. In the present study, a questionnaire was used to measure students' perceptions of occurrence and desirability…

This article demonstrates how the system archetype "drifting goals" can be used in the classroom to explore ethical dilemmas. System archetypes provide a framework that shifts the focus from seeing ethical dilemmas as stemming solely from the acts of individuals to exploring the systemic structures that are responsible for generic patterns of…