The purpose of this study is to review and analyse historical research related to changes brought on by globalisation in Australian academic libraries. Using relevant literature, this study examines the role of academic librarians in internationalising their own experiences and perspectives for the purpose of improving library, instructional and…

There is widespread concern for the situation of school physics regarding recruitment, contents, teaching methods, etc. In this study based on questionnaire and focus group data, we explore how upper secondary pupils and teachers perceive physics as a subject, how they experience physics instruction, and how physics compares to other subjects. Our…

This investigation compared quantitative outcomes associated with class-wide peer tutoring using differentiated hands-on activities vs. teacher-directed instruction for students with mild disabilities in inclusive 8th-grade science classes. Thirteen classes of 213 students (109 males; 104 females), of whom 44 were classified with disabilities,…

The issue of underachievement among the gifted has captured the interest of educators sporadically over the past thirty years. In the most basic definition, an underachiever is a student who does not achieve in the academic areas at a level consistent with his or her capability. When underachievement is applied to the gifted, it becomes a more…

We study the benefits of junior kindergarten for linguistic-minority 4-year-olds compared to their linguistic-majority classmates from the same low-income neighborhoods. At the end of the school year, linguistic-minority children made significantly greater improvements in language skills than their host society classmates. At the mid-year point,…

This paper provides a process evaluation of a 6-day teacher training programme which forms part of a sexuality education project. The training aimed at providing teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively teach a 16-lesson Grade 8 (14 year olds) life skills curriculum consisting of participatory exercises on sexual…

This chapter will address questions centered on the integration of new telecommunications technology in the classroom by responding to concerns over Internet access and content through media literacy initiatives. While much research about online computer technology focuses on the communication "end"-goal of accessing the "Information…

I use a quasi-experiment and follow-up questionnaire to ascertain the effects of PowerPoint multimedia presentations and a Blackboard course website on the course grades and perceptions of teaching effectiveness of introductory sociology students. Results of t-tests showed no statistically significant difference in course grades between…

In March 2002, members of the National Technology Leadership Initiative (NTLI) met in Charlottesville, Virginia to discuss the potential effects of ubiquitous computing on the field of education. Ubiquitous computing, or "on-demand availability of task-necessary computing power," involves providing every student with a handheld computer--a…

Development of post-secondary curriculum in emerging interdisciplinary fields presents particular challenges in course design and resource utilization, especially when the field is interdisciplinary by nature of its inherent breadth. A new course at the University of Calgary, designed to introduce undergraduate students to the methods and…

In many organizations, collaborating with peers, sharing resources, and codifying know-how are not typical facets of work activity. For such organizations, knowledge management support must help people identify and orient to opportunities for collaboration and sharing, articulate values and best practices, and assimilate sharing knowledge as an…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is the use of a "real world" problem or situation as a context for learning. The present study explores the use of PBL in an online biotechnology course. In the PBL unit, student groups dealt with the ethical, legal, social, and human issues surrounding pre-symptomatic DNA testing for a genetic disease. Issues…

The need for an environment conducive to achievement for diverse learners is especially challenging at the middle and high school levels, where more students with learning challenges are included in the general education program, but teachers tend to be less tolerant of disruptive and distractible behaviors. Thus, students who do not conform to…

Although scientific and technological developments are mathematics-based, many students continue to perform poorly in mathematics. This study investigated how students' mathematics self-concept (MSC) is related to their motivation to learn mathematics (SMOT) and gender differences in the two constructs. Out of 165,900 students in 256 secondary…

There are now many CALL authoring packages that can create interactive websites and a large number of language teachers are writing materials for the whole range of such packages. Currently, each product stores its data in different formats thus hindering interoperability, pooling of digital resources and moving between software packages based in…