The present longitudinal study employed two distinctive approaches (variable-oriented and person-oriented) to examine low-income children's academic and social functioning across the important transition from pre-k to first grade. Participants included 152 former urban Head Start children. Variable-oriented and person-oriented approaches were…

This study has three major purposes, including designing mobile natural-science learning activities that rest on the 5E Learning Cycle, examining the effects of these learning activities on students' performances of learning aquatic plants, and exploring students' perceptions toward these learning activities. A case-study method is utilized and…

The Seventh School Curriculum Reform in Korea was introduced in 2000 to prepare school-aged Koreans for an information and knowledge-based society. The reform effort emphasises information and communication technology (ICT) in the K-12 curriculum and a learner-centred pedagogy. This study examines the contributions of ICT, specifically,…

This study compares overall laboratory averages and individual test scores along with a student survey to determine the effects of using virtual microscopy in place of optical microscopes in a large undergraduate human anatomy course. T-tests revealed that the first two laboratory examinations (of four) and the overall laboratory averages were…

One of the ultimate goals of policy makers is to enable citizens to take advantage of a globalised world economy. This is leading them to focus on the improvement of education policies, ensuring the quality of service provision, a more equitable distribution of learning opportunities and stronger incentives for greater efficiency in schooling.…

There is evidence that student beliefs about science and classroom instructional strategies are related to achievement outcomes. This study was designed to examine relationships between student beliefs about science, instructional activities, and science achievement of elementary-school students in Japan. Students included in this analysis were…

Four historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Howard University, Jackson State University, Talladega College, and Xavier University of Louisiana, participated in a project titled, Learning Communities for STEM Academic Achievement (LCSAA), whose goal was to increase the participation of African American students in the fields of…

This study deals with the instructional efficiency of integrating text and animation into computer-based science instruction. The participants were 84 seventh-grade students in a private primary school in Istanbul. The efficiency of instruction was measured by mental effort and performance level of the learners. The results of the study showed…

Achievement disparities among racial groups attest to the elusiveness of the "science for all" goal, an emphasis of reform efforts in the USA. One popular approach to making science accessible to all is group work. The study investigated roles attained by five African American and six European-American eighth graders working in small,…

This report describes the relationships among English proficiency, economic status, and student performance on the 2007 Science Texas Assessment of Academic Knowledge and Skills for students in Austin Independent School District.

International comparisons help us explore the assumptions made about U.S. schools, students, and pedagogy. That is why the author decided to spend five months in the Czech Republic teaching science education courses at Palacky and Ostrava Universities and learning about the Czech education system. As a result, the new context challenged his…

In recent years, a number of analyses assessments used in different countries have appeared. Analyses emerging from international comparisons such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have focused on what might be termed "cross-sectional" comparisons;…

Many state and federal governments have mandated in such documents as the National Science Education Standards that inquiry strategies should be the focus of the teaching of science within school classrooms. The difficult part for success is changing teacher practices from perceived traditional ways of teaching to more inquiry-based approaches.…

This paper reports findings on the changes in students' understandings of the concept of matter during an academic year, for students from grade 3 through high school chemistry. The instrument for measuring students' understandings of matter consists of three forms: one for grades 3-6, one for grades 7-9, and one for grades 10-12. The three forms…

President Bush continued his campaign to get schools to focus more on mathematics and science education with a visit to a middle school in Rockville, Maryland, where students study robotics and work with NASA scientists. President Bush toured the school with Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings as part of his initiative to emphasize math and…