Quality is high on the education agendas of developing countries. Much time, effort, and finance have been poured into various initiatives and reforms in an effort to improve quality in these countries. However, so far success has been limited and the quality of education in many developing countries remains poor. Efforts to explore the reasons…

Purpose: We explored self-rated health by using a meaning-centered theoretical foundation. Self-appraisals, such as self-rated health, reflect a cultural process of identity formation, whereby identities are multiple, simultaneously individual and collective, and produced by specific historical formations. Anthropological research in Philadelphia…

Child-staff ratios are an important quality indicator. They are often collected by observing one randomly selected classroom several times during a 2-h period on a single day. However, it is unclear whether these measures represent the ratios that children actually experience during most of their time in care. This study compared ratio data…

This study examined Vygotsky's theoretical notion that play creates the zone of proximal development by investigating the effects of peer interaction within the context of constructive play with blocks. The authors used the Play Observation Scale (Rubin, 1989) to observe 100 four-year-olds in naturalistic settings. Forty-eight children were…

We examined the challenges faced by 4 high-need urban schools when trying to implement Success for All (SFA). We wanted to understand SFA instruction as well as how SFA fit into the larger school context. Over a span of almost 2 years, we observed 45 SFA lessons (21 complete and 24 partial) across the 4 schools, taught by 30 teachers. We analyzed…

This paper addresses the difficulty of transferring conceptual knowledge of chemical processes to students, and how it can be aided through the use of analogies. Common everyday observations and objects are used to illustrate how a physical or chemical change takes place. It was found that this approach greatly assisted the understanding of…

The changes in post-apartheid South Africa have been accompanied by considerable changes in the education system. The most notable include desegregation of schools, development of a National Qualifications Framework, adoption of new language policies for education, and introduction of outcomes-based curricula. However entrenched assessment…

This study describes three teachers and their experiences of an arts-integration reform model amidst the high-stakes accountability movement. Their struggle to practice arts integration within their school district, a culture in which high-stakes testing is prioritized is described by way of a circus metaphor. Through the theoretical lens of Self…

Study groups and learning circles can offer a systematic way for early childhood teachers to interact about their work and create a culture of professional development. This paper describes how faculty systematically followed a collaborative co-inquiry process in order to improve a new early childhood interdisciplinary teacher preparation program.…

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative research study designed to investigate the opportunities and obstacles presented by a digital library for supporting teaching and learning in an inquiry-based undergraduate geology course. Data for this study included classroom observations and field-notes of classroom practices, questionnaires, and…

The purpose of this study was to discover and successfully implement multiple strategies for differentiation that would engage and motivate Talented and Gifted (TAG) learners. Six TAG students from a third grade general education classroom setting participated in this study. Differentiation strategies of a learning style inventory, a project…

The purpose of this study was mainly to explore how theories of learning applied at English classes at Anatolian High Schools. It has been prepared through the findings of a 9th class English course implemented at an Anatolia High School under the control of Ministry of National Education and it involves four parts: Firstly, some brief explanation…

This study examined the effects of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy (DAT) as a reinforcer for verbal operant production in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Three children who attended a dolphin therapy program participated in this single subject research study. Baseline data was collected for each child via a video tape provided by parents and…

Analysis of Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) End-of-Grade (EOG) performance results indicates that WCPSS students with the most difficulty reaching accountability standards are those with more than one of the following characteristics: are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRL), have disabilities (students with disabilities, or…

In this study, the authors used two methods for analyzing expert data: verbal protocol analysis (VPA) and narrative analysis. VPA has been effectively used to describe the design processes employed by engineering students, expert designers, and expert-novice comparative research. VPA involves asking participants to "think aloud" while…