This paper highlights the dynamics that led to the narrowing of the achievement gap between students in the Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking schools in Israel. Instead of looking at one point of time (Zuzovsky, 2005), this paper examines changes between 1999 to 2003 in certain school/class-level variables and relates them to the uneven increase…

Increased numbers of elementary and secondary students with learning and other disabilities are participating in inclusive science classrooms. Unfortunately, many of these students struggle to achieve at a level commensurate with their peers. As a result, few students with disabilities pursue advanced scientific coursework or enter science,…

As Sweden drew nearer to the 2006 national election, two themes emerged in the educational debate: a concern for order and discipline in schools, and the ambition to raise educational levels of achievement. The objective of this article is to locate these two themes within a broader framework of understanding by: 1) discussing examples of how the…

In the past 150 years, educational systems have expanded and become integrally linked with economic, political, and social status in modern nation-states. As the stakes for education have risen, so has the call for more and improved use of scientific evidence as a basis for educational policymaking. Evidence from averaged scores on international…

Mathematics and science achievements have been assessed in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and its repetition (TIMSS-R). Most existing reports are largely separated into the subject domains. This article is focused on an examination of the relationship between mathematics and science achievements based on student test…

Presents results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2000 Science Assessment and compares them with 1996 results. Between 1996 and 2000, there was no statistically significant difference observed in the average science scores of fourth or eighth grade students. (SLD)

Examined the role of affect and conation in the science test performance of 491 high school students. Results show differential patterns of correlations, varying with level of generality of affective and conative constructs and with different aspects of science achievement. Invokes theoretical frameworks to interpret the results. (SLD)

Building on R. Snow's two pathways to achievement outcomes (1989), examined how cognitive and motivational factors associated with the performance and commitment pathways respectively contributed to prediction of outcomes in science for 491 high school students. Results are consistent with Snow's conjecture that factors related to both pathways…

A book examining alleged American/Japanese test score divergences on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) suffers from "naive anthropology" and "adult- centric" thinking. Thicker U.S. textbooks may be the real problem. School performance is probably not linked to a nation's economic failures or…

The objective of this research was to examine the comparability of constructs assessed by English and French versions of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The differences in constructs observed in our analyses indicate serious limitations of using TIMSS results for making comparisons that use overall performance in…

As a mature trainee about to embark on a postgraduate certificate of education (PGCE) course as an early-years specialist, the author has been thinking about how she will approach her science teaching, and how it will fit with her beliefs about the importance of education for sustainable development (ESD). In researching how she could go about…

Increasingly, coordinators are undertaking a scrutiny of work in order to check standards in their subjects. This is done frequently for English and mathematics, where annual targets for attainment in year 6 have to be set, but less so for science. Carrying out a scrutiny of work can be a daunting and time-consuming process. Faced with a pile of…

Today's world is challenged by complex issues and citizens need ever-increasing scientific literacy to understand the impact of issues such as global warming, alternative energy, and genetic engineering, on their daily lives and to make informed decisions. Students need to be prepared to tackle issues such as these by being exposed to learning…

Background: This study based on Sternberg's theory of mental self-government (1997). Purpose: attempts to find out the preferred functions of thinking and scope of thinking among secondary school students and its impact on achievement in physics. Setting: secondary school students in Kerala state of India. Study Sample: A representative sample of…

Research shows that scientific knowledge develops through a process of decision-making as well as discovery, and that argumentation is a genre of discourse crucial to the practice of science. Students should therefore be supported in understanding the scientific practices of dialectical and rhetorical argumentation as part of learning about…