Investigated the types, frequency, and utility of assessment techniques used by elementary school teachers. Found that paper and pencil tests were regularly used by third- and fourth-grade teachers, but rarely by teachers in lower grades. Other forms of assessment, such as observation, checklists and portfolios were used less frequently and…

Spring is the traditional time in Maplewood Elementary School Kindergarten when science instruction receives particular emphasis. It is also a time of promoting greater safety awareness as children increase their outdoor activities on the longer, warmer days. In May 2003, the authors planned to make a link between neuroscience and safety in a…

This article investigates the dynamic overall picture concerning the development of local curriculum in Thailand through action research conducted by 27 Thai elementary school teachers in three private schools in Fang District, Chiang Mai Province. This was the teachers' first experience with action research. The article examines the following…

The colourful, vigorous territorial display behaviour of the Siamese fighting fish, "Betta splendens", has great appeal for both pet enthusiasts and animal behaviourists. Their beauty, longevity, easy maintenance and rearing make them a popular pet and an ideal science laboratory specimen. This investigation utilises "B. splendens" to test for the…

Working from the 1970s to the early 1990s, Walter Alvarez and his research team sought the cause of the mass extinction that claimed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The present paper discusses that research in terms of eight puzzling observations, eight episodes of hypothetico-predictive reasoning, enumerative induction, and Jung's…

Using Kazemi's and Stipek's (2001) framework of classroom practice, the discourse between students enrolled in a mathematics-for-teachers course and their instructor is examined. The teacher's practice is in transition from a focus on having students share multiple strategies toward a practice that additionally includes the mathematical…

Children's early mathematical experiences play an enormous role in the development of their understanding of mathematics, and serve as a foundation for their cognitive development. In this descriptive study, we observed the naturally occurring mathematical activities engaged in by thirty-nine 3-year-olds, equally divided by race/ethnicity and…

To study elementary school principals' understandings and enactments of instructional leadership, we collected data through individual interviews, focus-group discussions, and in-school observations. Three categories captured principals' conceptualizations of instructional leadership: curriculum expertise, formal delivery of professional…

The study of personal epistemology has typically addressed the theories and beliefs that individuals hold about knowledge and knowing, and the way in which such epistemological perspectives are related to academic learning. This qualitative, exploratory case study focuses on the epistemology of instructional practices as interpreted by students in…

This study examined the discourse of teacher supervision/mentoring, specifically within the context of the post-observation meeting. The analysis of six transcripts of post-observation meetings from one semester in a small university Intensive English Program revealed a variety of politeness strategies employed by supervisors in the delivery of…

Research has shown that self-evaluation can have positive effects on children's behavior and academic performance. Components of self-evaluation that have not been fully examined include the accuracy and sensitivity of students' ratings before and after training, as well as the effects of accuracy training on performance. Four students exhibiting…

The secondary-education system in Ghana was reorganised in the early 1980s. The present study addresses one part of this reform: the attempt to introduce a more vocationally oriented curriculum in junior secondary schools. The findings on which this study is based are drawn from interviews at several levels as well as from documentary analysis and…

A functional analysis was performed on a five-year-old nonverbal Autistic female with severe self-injurious behaviors. The self-injurious behaviors (hand-to-head, hand-to-jaw, hand-to-face) and loud vocalizations were targeted. Two types of sessions, enriched environment and instructor controlled preferred stimuli, were alternated throughout the…

The purpose of this study is to direct attention inside the walls of a juvenile correctional facility to closely examine the experiences and daily lives of adolescent inmates. The ethnographic data for this study were collected through participant-observation and extended interactions in a cottage for violent male offenders in one state's…

Incidental focus on form overtly draws learners' attention to linguistic items as they arise spontaneously--without prior planning--in meaning-focused interaction. This study examined the effectiveness of incidental focus on form in promoting second language (L2) learning. Seventeen hours of naturally occurring, meaning-focused L2 lessons were…