This study forms a holistic, rich description of the way a professional development experience transformed teachers of mathematics. This professional development targeted teachers from six underachieving schools in a southern state who trained for a week in inquiry techniques of instruction. The method used to study the impact this experience had…

In this original qualitative study, we examined the processes employed by a school district that had made progress in closing achievement gaps in a post-No Child Left Behind context. The district served more than 26,000 students in an economically and ethnically diverse community. Secondary analysis of the findings uncovered a primary…

This paper discusses a recent Australian study of boys' education using case studies to determine successful practices. It focuses on an early childhood site where access to "discourses of power" for students and parents and a valuing of students' "action knowledge" created a particular democratic culture achieving improved…

Communicative language teaching (CLT) is promoted in teacher education programmes around the world, although the appropriateness of this methodology in contexts outside the English-speaking West has been questioned, often from a theoretical perspective. In fact, very little empirical research has been conducted into the practical knowledge of CLT…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe the perceptions of teachers and caregivers concerning gender differences in the educational experiences of children influenced by the HIV status of their parents or orphaned by AIDS in 7 orphanage schools of Western Kenya. 12 teachers and 8 caregivers participated in the study. Data were…

In the United States and around the world, calls for educational reform stress the need for a scientifically literate population, prepared for the twenty-first century workforce. These calls have translated into new curricula, which in isolation, are not enough? Teachers play an essential role in the development of scientifically literate…

This study examined preservice teachers' understanding of the syntactic structures of inquiry; in particular, what it means to give priority to evidence and how to use evidence to construct explanations. Data were collected from student journals, the course syllabus, the assignment description, and weekly lesson plans. The use of content analysis…

An ethnographic study conducted between 2003 and 2006 followed three children from Latin America attending three different public Japanese primary schools. The investigation concerned a Japanese-language tutoring programme for foreign children, which was evaluated by participant observation and a set of in-depth interviews with officials, school…

This article reports on a two-year project located within one local authority (LA), Brighton and Hove City Council, which was selected in 2003 to become a Primary Foreign Language Pathfinder. The main aim of this Pathfinder was to work with 18 other LAs across the country to pilot fresh approaches towards delivering foreign languages in the…

PictoPal is the name of a technology-supported intervention designed to foster the development of emergent reading and writing skills in four and five year old children. Following the theoretical underpinnings and a brief description of PictoPal, this article describes how children worked with the technology; how the intervention elicited their…

In recognition of the multiple pathways through which family and peer systems are linked, this short-term longitudinal study tested a tripartite model of family-peer relationships. One hundred fifty-nine fourth-grade children (82 boys, 77 girls) and their parents participated in a study of the links between parent behaviors and children's peer…

Through focused observations of teaching practices in 15 classrooms representing 2,475 minutes, a number of instructional patterns were revealed. The majority of time students spend in high school requires that they listen or wait. Students are engaged in authentic reading, writing, and peer work for only a small fraction of the day. If high…

This study investigated variation in students' behavioral engagement across mathematics classes in China and the United States. Student behavioral engagement was examined along with two aspects of the classroom (group size and teacher instructions given about classroom behavior). Video observational data were collected and coded over 1051 time…

"Biological invasions" are now recognized as the cause of significant ecological and economic damage. They also raise a series of less visible social issues. Management of invasive species is often a political process raising questions such as who decides which organisms are to be managed, and who benefits or is affected by different…

The goal-directed theory of imitation (GOADI) states that copying of action outcomes (e.g., turning a light switch) takes priority over imitation of the means by which those outcomes are achieved (e.g., choice of effector or grip). The object [fewer than] effector [fewer than] grip error pattern in the pen-and-cups task provides strong support for…