1999 marks an important milestone when the Malaysian Ministry of Education launched its 3-year pilot Smart Schools Initiative in 87 schools across the country. This study aims to compare the differential perceptions on science learning experience between a group of 383 Form 3 (Year 9 equivalent in the UK) students in two Smart schools and a group…

Recent studies in the literature on online learning highlight a constructivist approach to knowledge-building in Web-based environments. In this case study of an online course, students were introduced to a constructivist orientation toward learning, a requirement to work in a new learning environment, and a challenge to accomplish academic work…

The focus of this study was on comparing three groups of Algebra I 9th-year students: one group using linked representation software, the second group using similar software but with semi-linked representations, and the control group in order to examine the effects on students' understanding of linear relationships. Data collection methods…

A learning paradigm can transform the field of academic advising. Ten organizing principles answer the two core questions raised by a focus on learning. What should the student learn through advising? How might the learning take place? The first three organizing principles define a curriculum for academic advising and are based on the premise that…

The intent of this qualitative study is to narrate (Brodkey, (1987a). "Education Quarterly," 18, 67-76; "Written communication," 4, 25-70; Qualitative communication research methods. (1987b). Lindlof, (1995). (pp. 172-174): London Sage Publications) the master teachers as aggregate sample subjects' pedagogical understanding and…

This study explored the process and outcomes of constructivist methods of enhancing science understanding in the topic areas of light and the earth in space. The sample was drawn from a group of 41 nine-year-old children, delivered in four two-hour weekly sessions. Each session involved different combinations of interactive discussion and…

This paper discusses an exploratory study to investigate the existence, and nature, of student problem formulation and resolution processes in an undergraduate online Problem-Based Learning (PBL) course in Agricultural Sciences. We report on the use of a content analysis instrument developed to measure problem formulation and resolution (PFR)…

Can use of technology make a difference in student learning? Although a considerable literature describes its advantages in conceptual terms, research documenting its effective use in this context is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a graduate-level Web design activity on student attitudes toward learning. Students…

How do educators and instructional designers assess the effectiveness of the learning environments they design? One important means of ensuring the effectiveness of instruction in distance and face-to-face settings is through provision of learner support. Increasingly, as learners utilize the World Wide Web for collaborative learning, support…

Effective classroom discussion is improvisational, because its effectiveness derives from the fact that it is not scripted. Instead, the flow of the class is unpredictable, and emerges from the actions of both teachers and students. In this article, I apply principles from training classes for improvisational actors to provide practical…

To what extent can a large-scale national teacher-enhancement project help science teachers employ new pedagogical methods in the science classroom? In this study, data from 13 high school physics teachers who taught 23 classes with 401 students were examined to determine the extent to which a teacher-enhancement project can alter teachers'…

This paper presents a positivist quantitative case study of four rural Queensland schools implementing the Queensland Studies Authority's outcomes based education curriculum. Queensland's school-based management system means that these schools are operating at distinctly different points along their implementation phase. This research shows how…

This study examined the assumption that all caregivers have a set of beliefs which represent their own underlying theory of child development and tested one strategy for identifying the beliefs that preschool caregivers hold. In order to classify caregivers' beliefs about children's social development, an adaptation of McGillicudy-DeLisi's (1992)…

This paper focuses on issues of representation and interaction styles that are relevant considerations in the design and analysis of hypermedia learning environments. Analysis is supported by examples from the "HUGH" series of studies involving learners in reasoning about formal hypermedia representations. The representational issues include…

This study was conducted to examine how teachers' beliefs about computer-assisted instruction (CAI) relate to the types of instructional software they use with students, the types of computer related activities they provide for their students, whether they integrate computer usage with other instructional activities, and whether they had received…