This case study examines the role of playful talk in negotiating the "how" of collaborative group work in a 6th-grade science classroom. Here we develop and test a Vygotsky-derived hypothesis that postulates playful talk as a mechanism for identity exploration and group status negotiation. Our findings indicate that students utilized the…

The purpose of this study was to determine preservice teachers' beliefs about the curriculum content and skills that should be available and taught during high school, and the contextual variables (experiences, locations, individuals) that promote access to the high school curriculum. Participants included 79 secondary and 21 special education…

An experiment compared the impact of more and less semantically connected sentence contexts on vocabulary learning. Third graders (N = 40) were taught the definitions and meanings of six unfamiliar verbs: "anticipate," "attain," "devise," "restrain," "wield," and "persist." The verbs were…

This paper explores factors contributing to the willingness to communicate (WTC) in English as a foreign language (L2) in a Thai university setting. The study uses multiple methods within a qualitative research approach. Data were collected through interviews, stimulated recall, and classroom observations. Relevant contextually-related variables…

The vast majority of special education teacher preparation programs in the United States incorporate the IRIS Center's "STAR Legacy" modules into their coursework. Given the diversity of module content and ways in which the modules are employed, the purpose of this study was to explore the potential mediating effects of instructional…

This article reports an investigation of the musical and extra-musical outcomes of participation in a music programme for students in four socio-economically disadvantaged school settings. Drawing on the theory of Positive Youth Development, which provides a focus on the positive assets young people bring to their engagement rather than perceived…

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine differences in the development of conflict management strategies, focusing on 3- and 5-year-olds, through a comparison of 3 neighboring Asian cultures, those of China (n = 114), Japan (n = 98), and Korea (n = 90). The dual concern model of conflict management was adopted to probe which…

Participating in a research-oriented teacher education program, 20 university graduates from China were invited to teach Chinese as a foreign language in western Sydney schools and conducted teacher research for one and half years. By analysing their research on their own teaching through a qualitative approach, this study attempted to identify…

Most research on mental health in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) has focused on deficits. We examined individual (i.e., sociocommunicative skills, adaptive behavior, functional cognitive skills) and contextual (i.e., home, school, and community participation) correlates of thriving in 330 youth…

English as a second language (ESL) teaching is partly a thinking process in which teacher knowledge plays a pivotal role in making instructional choices (Breen, Hird, Milton, Oliver, & Thwaite, 2001). The present study contributes to understandings of teacher knowledge by exploring the types of knowledge, which practicing teachers value in…

In recent years, the issue of early childhood staff professionalisation has been taking an increasingly prominent position in policy-making and academic debates at the international level. Despite this growing interest, studies investigating the content and delivery of professional preparation programmes for early childhood practitioners are still…

First five years are identified as a critical period of child growth in scientific literature. In 1998, California voters passed Proposition 10 that appropriated a 50 cent per pack tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products to support early childhood development. As a result, Kern County Children and Families Commission administered over $10…

Principals who are strong, effective, responsive leaders help to inspire and enhance the abilities of their teachers and other school staff to do excellent work. Such principals also tend to retain great teachers and create opportunities for them to take on new leadership roles. This leads to the following key question: What can state policymakers…

Accounting is a practical discipline, existing to satisfy particular human needs which are usually depicted in terms of decision-making processes and accountability evaluations. Proposals for how accounting education may be infused with learning from the "real-world" contexts in which it operates are always welcome. However, as the…

As preservice elementary teachers (PSTs) examine their personal readiness, instructional practices, and their agency in enacting those practices, a ubiquitous question is "What can I do?" to support all students in learning mathematics amidst social, political and institutional dynamics present in today's classrooms. This paper explores…