Students frequently struggle when scientific instruction seems divorced from personal experience, especially in the physical sub-disciplines, like climatology, where exercise books often present historical or abstracted case studies. In contrast I present a three-phase project involving student input on experimental design, data collection, and…

Critical thinking and working together are key skills for lifelong learning, but current assessment practices do not necessarily support their acquisition, given the instrumental attitudes to learning of many higher education students. A small-scale action research project was undertaken within the context of tutoring on a research module of an…

Numerous researchers have employed functional communication training (FCT) to address both the communication and behavioral needs of children with autism. Thus, the purpose of this review is to examine FCT, particularly, the environments and individuals involved in the training and the effectiveness of FCT with children who have a diagnosis of…

Background: Almost every aspect of modern life is affected in some way by technology. Many people utilize technology from dawn to dusk to communicate; make decisions; reflect, gain, synthesize, evaluate or distribute information, among many other functions. One would be hard pressed to find a single professional, regardless of career field,…

The "2004/06 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/06)" is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to respond to the need for a national, comprehensive database concerning issues students may face in enrollment, persistence, progress, and attainment in postsecondary education and in consequent early rates of…

The Delphi method is an attractive method for graduate students completing masters and PhD level research. It is a flexible research technique that has been successfully used in our program at the University of Calgary to explore new concepts within and outside of the information systems body of knowledge. The Delphi method is an iterative process…

Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges (SPECC) was organized by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in partnership with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to increase student learning in developmental--or basic skills--classes. However, their concern was not just the success of students in classes…

A new report published by the Manhattan Institute for Education Policy, "The Effect of Special Education Vouchers on Public School Achievement: Evidence from Florida's McKay Scholarship Program," attempts to examine the complex issue of how competition introduced through school vouchers affects student outcomes in public schools. The…

Background/Context: With the growth of the small-school movement, many urban districts have restructured large underperforming high schools into new, small high schools or schools-within-a-school designed to engage adolescents in rigorous and meaningful learning along with strong teacher-student relationships. In the case of this study, the…

In 1991, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) authorized, under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), a specific grants program. The State Systems for Transitions Services for Youth with Disabilities Program made available competitive 5-year grants to individual states for establishing responsive state…

While most practitioners and researchers support the recent policy direction for increased parent involvement in their children's education, little consensus exists about what constitutes effective parent involvement. A major source of this confusion is the lack of scientific rigor in the research upon which practice and policy is based. This…

Findings of a study that determined the ways in which practicing administrative course developers utilize instructional design activities in their design projects are presented in this paper. A survey was administered to 30 participants in a training and development group within a large organization and mailed to 43 other practicing instructional…

This report explores current assumptions about the social and scientific formulations and treatments of disability that currently underlie the research agenda in the disability field. Formulations that focus on disability as residing in the individual (Individual Pathology) are discussed. Treatment strategies resulting from this definition of…

Texts and courses related to research methods generally teach students essential research designs, data analysis techniques, and interpretation guidelines. However, students are less likely to learn how research techniques function holistically. To provide this holistic understanding, a classroom activity has been developed at St. Mary's College…

Teacher research has emerged in the last decade as a potential source for improving education. Teachers, who work with students daily, have a unique perspective on educational problems. Practitioner, or action, research is defined as trying out ideas in practice to increase knowledge about curriculum, teaching, and learning. Unlike traditional…