In 2004, the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology at the University of Tasmania undertook a project to evaluate students' information literacy skills and to get a picture of how and where information literacy is taught in the faculty. This paper outlines how relationship-building between the Science Library and faculty led to the…

This paper focuses on reconfiguring assessment processes so that they support a learning function, in addition to the more traditional measurement function. In the first half of the paper we discuss a framework for "learning-oriented assessment" derived from a project carried out in Hong Kong. We conceptualize learning-oriented…

The development of beginning teachers' practice during a school placement is a multiplicity of mediated interactions between university- and school-based systems. Both systems have the common aim of training effective teachers. However, day-to-day internal institution matters can cause tension between the learning goals set out for the beginning…

When teachers participate in professional development and learning opportunities it enables them to reconceptualise their assessment and teaching practices with the support of facilitators and researchers. National programmes of professional development and research, such as the three year Enhancing Effective Practice in Special Education (EEPiSE)…

Few research examples or discussions about successful and practical application of environmental education within teacher education programs exist (UNESCO-UNEP, 1990). Meaningful environmental education experiences for preservice teachers need to incorporate the processes of inquiry, implementation, and reflection. In this article, we describe an…

This article briefly describes a curriculum study that had two main purposes. The first purpose was to develop and reflect upon a new energy technology curriculum at the lower secondary school level using an action research method. The second purpose was to determine the effect of collaborative activities, with the families of the pupils enrolled…

This paper explores efforts by Denison University to shift its service-learning efforts from service based on a charity model toward service based on collaboration and community-based social change. The author describes the institution's process of adaptation and a series of service-learning courses that draw upon participatory action research,…

In the world of work and in the social lives of many, new technology plays an important role in establishing and maintaining relationships and exchanging information. The school system varies in its response to this new technology and particularly to the popular communication of email and mobile phone users. In schools and classrooms, policies,…

The investigators sought to design an instructional unit to enhance an understanding of the nature of science (NOS) by taking into account both instructional best practices and suggestions made by noted science philosopher Thomas Kuhn. Preservice secondary science teachers enrolled in a course, "Laboratory Techniques in the Teaching of Science,"…

Low level acts of aggression in school are associated with a host of emotional arousal, social problem-solving, peer relationship, and academic difficulties. School-wide interventions may decrease aggressive interactions and promote cooperative play and social skills among students. In the current study, the authors used a participatory-action…

The paper discusses the utility of constructing causal models in focus groups. This was experienced as a complement to an in-depth ethnographic research on the differing perceptions of caretakers and health professionals on child's growth and development in Peru and Bolivia. The rational, advantages, difficulties and necessary adaptations of…

This action research project made an attempt to increase the reading comprehension levels of special education reading resource students by raising academic efficacy through public acknowledgement of improvement, scaffolded instruction through the use of differentiated teacher created matrices, and graphic organizers to solidify the relationships…

Questioning skills are significant pedagogical strategies in science teaching and learning. This study explored the questioning skills of a trainee teacher during a 10-week practicum period. The trainee teacher was audio-taped and evaluated in the form of an action research methodology was done in the first two weeks. The quantitative data…

Children and adults in communities of color and low-income communities face disproportionately high exposures to environmental hazards and, consequently, greater risk of experiencing adverse health impacts from these exposures. Almost two thirds of children under 6 with elevated blood lead levels are children of color living in disadvantaged…

The "Out of the Box" Festival of Early Childhood is a unique public event in Australia designed to enrich the creative and cultural lives of children aged 3-8 years and their communities. The research linked to this festival is based on the premise that parents' participation in, and value of the arts, impacts engagements with, and value…