Recent work has shown the importance of identity in language learning and how the desire to belong to an imagined community drives individuals to invest in their learning (Norton, 2000). This work has documented that a mismatch between students' imagined community and the community envisioned by the teacher can have negative outcomes on students'…

High schools in the United States have been the focus of reform efforts for the past decade, and the business community has been quite vocal in the debate about how to improve public education. Business representatives are concerned that while the demands in the workplace have changed significantly, with most jobs requiring some education beyond…

Decades of studies show that children's behavior is shaped by relationships in the "social ecology" of family, peers, school, and community. But in recent decades the prevailing scientific dogma was that genes determine destiny. Now it is clear that experience changes genes. For better or worse, environmental experiences including nutrition,…

Fifty-one sixth graders participated in three rounds of online literature circles and three face-to-face literature circles. The authors describe how the online literature circles were introduced and organized in the classroom and discuss the tensions, struggles, and successes from their implementation. An analysis of qualitative data yielded…

This study examined the effectiveness of a multicomponent psychoeducational prevention program ("EQUIP for Educators") Two aspects were examined: (1) if there was a significant relationship among the three psychometric measures: Social Skills Rating System (SSRS), Children's Inventory of Anger (ChIA), Sociomoral Reflection and…

One of the concerns foreign language teachers may have about using small group (and pair) work is that students will use their shared first language (L1) instead of the target language. This study investigated the effect of learner proficiency pairing and task type on the amount of L1 used by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in pair…

Researchers from outside the European Union represent an increasing proportion of the UK doctoral student body. However, relatively little research exists on their experience from their own perspective. This research, based on interviews with students from a range of countries and scientific and engineering disciplines, seeks to address that…

This qualitative case study examines the initial implementation of a problem-based version of an undergraduate course in materials science for the purpose of identifying areas of improvement to the curriculum prior to a planned second implementation. The course was designed around problems that students work in small teams to solve under the…

Interactive relationships in online learning communities can influence the process and quality of knowledge building. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationships between network structures and social knowledge building in an asynchronous writing environment through discussion forums in a learning management system. The…

Massively Multiuser On-line Learning (MMOL) Platforms, often called "virtual learning worlds", constitute a still unexplored context for communication-enhanced learning, where synchronous communication skills in an explicit social setting enhance the potential of effective collaboration. In this paper, we report on an experimental study of…

The purpose of this study was to use a systems approach to examine informal communications, meaning those occurring outside of scheduled meetings, among stakeholders in a preschool early intervention program. This investigation expands the discussion of how occupational therapy treatment decisions are made in educational settings by using a…

Background: While school-based mental health professionals obviously must provide mental health services to students directly, the literature is increasingly identifying an empowerment role for these professionals, whereby they support teachers as primary service providers. The purpose of this study was to identify subtypes of school social…

Guided by theories of institutions, organizations, and sense-making, this manuscript examines how public, charter, and Catholic school staff in a large urban area organize for instruction and respond to educational change. To build theory about institutional processes of "organizing" from participants' perspectives, data included a…

This report offers suggestions for starting and supporting faculty inquiry groups on individual campuses. Topics include: (1) The Power of Inquiry; Challenging Questions and Powerful Evidence; (2) The Power of Community: Inquiry as a Collaborative Process of Improvement; (3) Suggestions for Starting and Supporting a Faculty Inquiry Group; and (4)…

The purpose of our two-year follow-up study was to examine the effect of the social components of the work group, such as group absence norms and cohesion, on sickness absence behavior among individuals with varying attitudes toward work attendance. The social components were measured using a questionnaire survey, and data on sickness absence…