This paper reports a qualitative study on students' informal reasoning on a controversial socio-scientific issue. Twenty-two students from four science classes in Norway were interviewed about the local construction of new power lines and the possible increased risk of childhood leukaemia. The focus in the study is on what arguments the students…

This article focuses on Italy's Higher Education reforms and hotly debated developments. These developments are experience credits and online universities. The reform replaced the existing degree system, in which most undergraduate programs lasted four years--although the average graduate actually took more than seven years to earn a degree--with…

Teaching culture in the foreign language (L2) classroom can be a real dilemma for instructors: What culture do we teach? What does it mean to learn about a culture? How can students learn culture? In order to answer these questions, we evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of two types of culture portfolios: a traditional one that used on-line…

In this article, the author contends that the shift in the way public literacy instruction is talked about and enacted is not merely a semantic one designed to conceal liberal motives from the students--or at least it should not be. Rather, it aims to honor the ways that personal, private interests can construct and reconstruct the public sphere.…

The author describes an undergraduate course she taught on "Representations of Slavery." In particular, she explains how the course involved studying an historic site on her university's campus: the former slave plantation of leading antebellum racist John C. Calhoun. She also analyzes how her school represents the site on its Web pages. (Contains…

Does the use of an online homework system such as WebAssign (http://webassign.net) in an introductory astronomy course affect student performance? Four sections of introductory astronomy were compared in various homework situations, from no graded homework to graded homework online. Results show that there are no significant differences in…

This paper analyzes a study designed to determine if students understand the concept of democracy and can apply democratic principles. It also compares the study with related investigations conducted in Europe and calls for improved teaching to make the concept of democracy comprehensible. In 1974, 1,000 high school seniors in Pennsylvania…

This instructional guide contains guidelines and course outlines for a two- and three-year course in agricultural science and mechanics for students in grades 8, 9, and 10. Provided in the first 4 sections are course outlines for Agricultural Science and Mechanics I and II and references for use in each course. Each course outline contains an…

As the global economy becomes more integrated, incorporating international experiences into college curricula becomes increasingly desirable for American students and their counterparts abroad. This paper describes one model for creating an international, Web-based, distance-learning classroom that can be used as a guide for those who might wish…

There is a strong relationship between students' socioeconomic status and their levels of academic achievement. Although educators should be held accountable for improving the performance of all students, including those living in poverty, schools alone can't eliminate the negative factors associated with poverty that lead to a large achievement…

Purpose: The application of a new technology (YouTube) can help lecturers in solving some of the issues related to workload and shifts support to students by giving them more responsibilities in their assessment. The purpose of this paper is to re-characterize the role of the students in the assessment process. Design/methodology/approach:…

With the advent of new technologies, more convenient and effective ways of learning are being adopted. However, despite the growing advancements there remains a lack of literature in applications of using these technology teaching approaches. This book offers in-depth analysis of new technologies in blended learning that promote creativity,…

"Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups" examines the educational progress and challenges of students in the United States by race/ethnicity. This report shows that over time, the numbers of students of each race/ethnicity who have completed high school and continued their education in college have increased.…

This paper describes an experimental exploration of special procedures used in a game-like online expository writing experience that was designed to help preservice language arts teachers develop descriptive writing skills. Participants were asked to describe a target picture within a picture set to their cohorts in an online discussion in order…

Past studies have identified the impact of situational and enduring variables on second language (L2) learners' willingness to communicate (WTC) in the L2. This qualitative study triangulates data from two classroom observations, semi-structured interviews with four students and class instructor, and personal experiences including communication…