At the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP) at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, we have developed the Electronic Portfolio Encouraging Active Reflective Learning Software (ePEARL) to promote student self-regulation and enhance student core competencies. This paper summarizes the literature on electronic portfolios…

This study describes the effectiveness of a read-aloud cross-age partnership in service learning among students of various age groups (pre K-college sophomore) attending the different schools located on a university campus. Research-based theories of read-aloud to children were used to train the reading volunteers. Multicultural story books aided…

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the perceptions and experiences of one class of sixth grade students enrolled in a Title I supplemental reading class. Qualitative research methods included observations, interviews, archived data, and Miscue Analysis. I examined the data through a Vygotsky constructivist perspective to provide…

A large proportion of American students are not psychologically connected or engaged to what is occurring in their classes; in addition, they fail to take school seriously, have lost interest in school, and do not value or seek out success (Steinberg, Brown, & Dornbusch, 1996). In addition, the relationship in a mathematics classroom between…

This study examined associations between quality of social and physical environments in preschools and children's development of academic, language, and literacy skills, and the extent to which preschool quality moderated the associations between child risk and development. Participants were a diverse sample of 540 four-year-old children in…

This nonexperimental, longitudinal field study examines the extent to which variation in observed classroom supports (quality of emotional and instructional interactions and amount of exposure to literacy and math activities) predicts trajectories of achievement in reading and math from 54 months to fifth grade. Growth mixture modeling detected…

This qualitative study examined the impact of teacher curriculum approaches (curriculum-transmitter/curriculum-developer/curriculum-maker) on student cognitive change (reading, writing, speaking, and listening abilities) and their affective change (motivation and interests). This study's conceptual framework was grounded in teacher curriculum…

Background: Two goal perspectives predominate in achievement settings such as physical education (PE), namely task involvement, focused on self-referenced effort and improvement, and ego involvement, focused on normative ability comparisons. A task (mastery) involving motivational climate is associated with adaptive motivational responses, whereas…

The authors propose a strategy for studying the effects of time-varying instructional treatments on repeatedly observed student achievement. This approach responds to three challenges: (a) The yearly reallocation of students to classrooms and teachers creates a complex structure of dependence among responses; (b) a child's learning outcome under a…

The focus of this research was to understand how a program for women in science, mathematics, and engineering (SM&E) at college level in the southeastern United States functioned to influence women's decision making in terms of participation in these fields. By employing Lave and Wenger's theory of situated learning, we explored this program…

This paper draws on the literature of transformational leadership and learning organisation with a concern to foster innovative changes in classroom practices. Based on the understanding that effective use of ICT has to be construed in the pedagogical and organisational context, this study focuses on the impact of the relevant contextual factors…

This study investigated whether providing preservice teachers with opportunities to discuss common observations would have an impact on their observations and reflections. Twelve preservice secondary mathematics teachers in the early stages of their teacher education program were divided into 3 treatment groups based on their orientation towards…

To investigate differences in mothers' interaction patterns with their neonate twins based on birth order, relative size at birth, or gender, 37 neonate twins and their mothers were observed during the first 10 minutes of a feeding in a hospital nursery. Time-sampling recordings were made of maternal behaviors related to proximal stimulation,…

In studying young children learning in inclusive environments, we designed ways to enable children to explore scientific knowledge that is usually believed to require later didactic teaching. Aspects of this design under scrutiny here are, first, the capacity of natural learning to lead to effective scientific ideas, and second, further…

Studies evaluating hypotheses about sources of differential item functioning (DIF) are classified into two categories: observational studies evaluating operational items and randomized DIF studies evaluating specially constructed items. For observational studies, advice is given for item classification, sample selection, the matching criterion,…