Each of the major music cultures in West Asia--Turkey, Persia, and the Arab countries--has distinct rules of improvisation. Improvisation in each of these countries is described; a glossary is included; selected readings and recordings conclude the article. (KC)

This column has been a feature in this journal since April 1998 and several of the first pieces featured information on the basic navigation of the site. Contains updates on pages related to National Science Foundation (NSF) programs with the focus on programs and funding. (ASK)

This article presents the opposing opinions of Dean Shareski and Carol Ann K. Winkler regarding the collaborative, anonymous collections of online information, such as Wikipedia. Dean Shareski, an educational consultant with the Moose Jaw Public School Division (Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada), contends that Wikipedia might be the best example of…

This article reports on the development of a framework for repurposing learning object components, more specifically components of slide presentations. Unlike the usual practice where learning object components are assembled manually, the framework enables on-the-fly access and repurposing of learning object components. In earlier work, we have…

We introduce resource graphs, a representation of linked ideas used when reasoning about specific contexts in physics. Our model is consistent with previous descriptions of coordination classes and resources. It represents mesoscopic scales that are neither knowledge-in-pieces nor large-scale concepts. We use resource graphs to describe several…

The members at the American Federation of Teachers examined each state's and Washington, D.C.'s content standards documents to determine whether or not they contain enough information about what students should learn to provide the basis for coherent curricula and assessments. There is no perfect formula for this; they made a series of judgment…

The eagerly-awaited new edition of the successful "Essential Study Skills" continues to provide a truly practical guide to achieving success at university. Whether you are going to university straight from school, a mature student, or an overseas student studying in the UK for the first time, this is the book that will help you to better…

As the increasing number of Latino and Asian immigrants to the Atlanta area has escalated tensions over occupational, residential, and educational resources, research has begun to examine opposition to bilingual education as an extension of anti-immigrant prejudice and as a measure of perceived threat. This study uses content analysis to compare…

Little is known about the relationship between school characteristics, such as teacher-student ratios, and the risk of incarceration in adulthood. Educational skeptics argue that investment in schools has little effect on outcomes, such as criminality or the risk of incarceration, because criminal propensities are fixed at an early age and…

In today's climate of standardized testing, the author shares his concern that colleagues who are currently implementing researched, inquiry-based science that awaken students' curiosity may soon be thwarted by mandated, time-consuming packaged programs. He encourages science educators to "fight" for inquiry-based science and includes some…

Progress monitoring tools have been shown to be essential elements in current approaches to intervention problem-solving models. Such tools have been valuable not only in marking individual children's level of performance relative to peers but also in measuring change in skill level in a way that can be attributed to intervention and development.…

The article surfaces, examines and draws conclusions on the varying perceptions, expectations and operationalised "realities" of tutor and student behaviour in relation to reading lists. The argument identifies a paucity of literature on reading lists, but, nevertheless, locates a number of potential literature sources with which to…

Since the early 1990s, the central government of China has been gradually privatizing early childhood education. As the main precursor of this large-scale reform in the country, Shenzhen has witnessed several innovative as well as radical changes. The existing public early childhood settings in the city were therefore forced to transform into…

According to van der Pluijm (2006), an ecological community occurs when interacting groups, living in the same area, are joined together by the set of connections. This definition implies a symbiotic relationship and the acknowledgment that what affects one member or part of the community also affects the others. When the interconnections are…

This article features an arts education curriculum project that was designed to use the oeuvre of Rembrandt van Rijn--seventeenth-century Dutch painter, etcher, and draftsman extraordinaire--as a teaching resource. A partnership of scholars, university professors, museum educators, and classroom teachers designed the project, which uses Rembrandt…