Examined the comparative efficiency of inquiry-group instruction and traditional teaching methods on Taiwanese junior high school students' achievement and attitudes toward earth science. Surveys of students in both groups indicated that students in the inquiry group had significantly higher achievement scores and significantly more favorable…

Focuses on four aspects of the interaction process in distance education: (1) justification for interaction in the pedagogical process; (2) definition of interaction as it applies to the process of learning; (3) relationship between the current technologies and interaction; and (4) methodologies for integrating interaction into distance education.…

False teeth among children are a Public Health problem which has not received adequate attention in Uganda. This study was therefore developed as a community-based descriptive cross-sectional carried out in Kanungu District using qualitative methods of data collection among caregivers of children, Community Owned Resource Persons and Service…

The article reports from a qualitative study of family group conferencing in Wales. Family group conferences are meetings of extended family networks that are convened in order to plan for a child's care and welfare. They are an attempt to enable families to have a greater say in welfare decisions and often particularly encourage children's…

Given the current diversity of communication tools at an educator's disposal, what role (if any) does the discussion forum play in the development of a strong sense of community among students? This study sought to investigate the relationship between discussion forum interaction and perceived student sense of community. The results of the study…

Institutions across the U.S. have designed and implemented first-year experience programs that have gone a long way toward affecting student success. Retention rates have increased at some institutions as a result of these interventions, and first-year students often get the support they need to negotiate the transition into college. Now many…

The aim of this paper is to compare the effects of different communication media on the quality of arguments and the development of argumentative reasoning. The study involved 73 undergraduate students. It consisted of a pre-test, an intervention session consisting of either an asynchronous online discussion or a face-to-face discussion, and a…

Many mathematics educators share a view of mathematics as a social and cultural phenomenon and believe that the learning of mathematics concepts is developed and enhanced through the use of learning communities. Electronic discussion boards provide one avenue for supporting such social learning. This paper discusses the use of a Question and…

High-risk behavior in youths related to HIV transmission continues to occur despite large-scale efforts to disseminate information about safe sexual practices through education. Our study examined the relationships among knowledge, decision-making strategies, and risk assessment about HIV by youths during peer group focused discussions. Two focus…

The loss of a family member is a traumatic experience for any child, affecting every aspect of life. In this article, we describe many of the needs of the child experiencing a loss, focusing on parental bereavement. A rationale for using support groups with grieving children is presented. Furthermore, we provide a review of best practices from the…

Reflective dialogue is still very much an unexplored area in teacher education in Pakistan. This article presents findings of a study that engaged four teachers in the process of reflective dialogue in a school in Karachi, Pakistan. It explores the teachers' response to the process and possible reasons. It also examines the role played by those…

This case study focuses on the groundwork aiming at developing school-family-community collaboration in the deployment of the HSA in a low socio-economic status elementary school. Two theoretical models--the HSA and Hoover-Dempsey et al. (1997, 2010) models--guided the analysis of five discussion groups (N = 31) regarding their perceptions of the…

This study investigated 6 weeks of online asynchronous discussions in a graduate-level course involving eleven students. The research purposes of this study were to identify patterns of collaborative knowledge exploration (CKE) and to suggest new analytical dimensions for investigating online discussions. Based upon a unique theoretical framework…

This exploratory analysis examined the nature of asynchronous, text-based communication in peer-directed educational discussions. The nature of communication changed over time and women exhibited greater tendency for epistolary communication than men. Initial posts, which were expository in nature, focused on disseminating information whereas…

Recent political and economic developments in Algeria have brought about reforms of the educational system. A new curriculum was introduced as part of these reforms. This study explores the beliefs of French and English school teachers about curriculum innovation in Algeria. The study is positioned in the qualitative research tradition and looks…