One can easily identify the United States of America by the Statue of Liberty, France by the Eiffel Tower, Egypt by its Great Sphinx, and China by its Great Wall. What do these landmarks tell people about these places? What are the characteristics of the place and culture that are symbolized by these landmarks? These questions can serve as the…

This paper describes the conceptualizations, or mental models, of the nature of the bonding and structure of metals of a group of U.K. college students. It is suggested that these mental models may be understood in terms of the students' prior learning about covalent and ionic bonding, and the prevalence of a common alternative conceptual…

NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics advises that school mathematics experiences at all levels should include opportunities to learn about mathematics by working on problems arising in contexts outside of mathematics. Students should be given the opportunity to learn mathematics by building on their understandings of how the…

This report compares the provision of vocational education and training (VET) in Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom. It finds that training policies are increasingly based on similar general principles which promote the improvement and reform of vocational education and training, although the implementation of these principles tends to…

The RAFT technique (Santa 1988) is a writing strategy that helps students understand their "Role" as a writer, the "Audience" they will address, various "Formats" for writing, and the expected "Topic" or content. This article discusses the RAFT writing strategy used by the students to address land development issues. The authors facilitated…

The internet has become an indispensable tool in the twenty first century. However, the development may be slowed by a lack of appropriate facilities in less developed nations. A study of existing facilities in Burkina Faso was undertaken to answer five questions on the participants' perspectives on internet usage: (a) how do the participants…

Entering an "English Impromptu Speech Contest" intimidates many students who do not have a good command of the English language. Some choose to give up before the contest date while others stand speechless on the stage. This paper identifies a range of problems confronted by contestants from my college, the Yuanpei Institute of Science…

A well-designed professional development (PD) program serves to deepen and extend teachers' subject matter knowledge and extend and refine their teaching practices. However, professional development programs often fail to achieve sustained change in teacher practices and improvement in student learning. In this study the authors attempt to find…

Taking advantage of the convergence of technology and new insights of teaching and learning, the Ministry of Education of Malaysia has implemented a new educational reform primarily to revise the current curriculum, establish new learning standards, and incorporate the use of technology as an integral part of the learning process. This new…

This research investigated the extent to which potential barriers to educational attainment and campus adjustment prompted 138 nontraditional students (25-63 years of age) to use more academic and social services. In four models tested, the younger, the unemployed, and those stressed by increased tuition used more services. Most of the barriers…

This study investigated factors affecting second/foreign language (L2) reading comprehension in a hypermedia environment within the theoretical framework of dual coding and cognitive load theories, and interactive models of L2 reading. The independent variables were reading ability, topic interest, prior topical knowledge, and the number of times…

This study examined the relationship between level of experience and application of prior financial knowledge on the ability of auditing students and professionals to answer questions about financial statements. This study answers the following questions: (1) Is there a positive relationship between experience and the number of causal relations…

This study sought to determine the effects of prior knowledge and other personal variables on the achievement of undergraduates in an economics course at the Open University of the Netherlands (OuN). A total of 100 law and 100 economics students enrolled in "Economics and Money" were tested on subject mastery at the end of the course.…

The purpose of this manual, which accompanies a video program, is to provide general background information for foreign language teachers who are, or soon will be, teaching in total, partial, or two-way immersion classrooms. Part of a series of video programs, this manual highlights techniques, strategies, and special considerations that immersion…

The technology, symbol systems, and processing capabilities of a medium interact to provide unique opportunities for information access. This exploratory study examines the way that learners process videotaped materials on a familiar or unfamiliar topic as informed by text-based research. A variation of the think-aloud method of assessing…