In this study, the implementation effects of a staff development program on cooperative learning (CL) for Dutch elementary school teachers were studied. A pre-test-post-test non-equivalent control group design was used to investigate program effects on the instructional behaviours of teachers. Based on observations of teacher behaviour during…

One fifth of Americans smoke; many have no plans to quit. Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an effective approach to intervention with precontemplative smokers, yet a substantial number of healthcare practitioners lack training in this approach. Two interactive online tutorials were developed to teach practitioners to deliver brief tobacco…

Video has assumed an increasingly prominent role in teacher education, particularly in the form of the viewing of videotaped class lessons by preservice teachers. Yet there is little research that confirms whether preservice teachers attend to the aspects of the video(s) that teacher educators anticipate or desire. This article explores this issue…

This randomized pretest/posttest group study examined the impact of explicit instruction in decoding, comprehension, and fluency on the reading achievement of incarcerated students from facilities in a southwestern (SW) state, a southeastern (SE) state, and a mid-Atlantic (MA) state. Comparisons were made between instruction comprised of higher…

The Re:Membering Fatherhood Program is designed for men wanting to address and improve their fathering experience. The primary focus is to enhance the personal parenting capacity of each individual, not to develop or inculcate a specific set of parenting skills. This exploratory study evaluated the efficacy of an eight-week, manualized…

A learning environment is a social one, and as a social environment it impacts what learners retain, how they form ideas, and what connections are made and lost when acquiring new skills and knowledge (Goleman, 2006). Today's college students' expectations for and perceptions of professors in the classroom are likely to influence their learning…

Helping students in the professions apply conceptual ideas to the problems of practice is a key goal of problem-based learning (PBL). Because PBL is organized around small, collaborative groups, scaling up PBL to large, heterogeneous classes poses significant challenges for implementation. This study presents a hybrid model that mixes online and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how Korean fourth graders' performance on reading comprehension and written summarization changes as a function of instruction in summarization across test times. Seventy five Korean fourth graders from three classes were randomly assigned to the collaborative summarization, direct instruction, and…

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of engineering design classroom activities on conceptual change in science, and on attitudes toward and knowledge about engineering. Students were given a situated learning context and a rationale for learning science in an active, inquiry-based method, and worked in small collaborative…

Since the inception of the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1975, an increasing percentage of children between the ages of 3-21 have been identified as students with learning disabilities (LD). Reports from the National Center of Learning Disabilities (2000) have suggested that monitoring of student learning is frequently…

Oral proficiency is an important goal in second language learning not only for communication, but also for developing reading and writing skills. Use of cooperative learning (CL) strategies has been shown to successfully improve second language learning in many cases for its focus on individual accountability and positive interdependence (Kagan &…

This applied dissertation investigated whether a combined-strategy group intervention improved social competence among children with autism spectrum disorders. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders exhibit deficits in social behaviors that may negatively impact all aspects of their lives. Social competence for individuals with autism spectrum…

An extensive review of the literature has been conducted in the area of self-determination for youth with disabilities who are preparing for their transitions from school to post school activities. Self-determination is presented as a best practice for transition education and current instructional practices used to teach such skills are…

This study examined the effectiveness of child centered play therapy (CCPT) with academically at-risk 1st graders. In this quasi-experimental design, twenty-one 1st grade students were assigned to the experimental group and 20 students were assigned to the no treatment control group. The children in the experimental group received two 30 minute…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of professional development on the knowledge and classroom practices of teachers of science in kindergarten through Grade 5. These teachers, trained to be generalists in the content areas, were strongly prepared in pedagogical practices, reading skills, basic language arts, and mathematics…