Dispels myths about Chinese-speaking students in U.S. schools, including myths about where Chinese students come from and what language they speak; difficulties they face when learning English; cultural influences on education; learning behavior and attitudes toward education; and parents' attitudes toward education. Emphasizes that Chinese…

Reports on an investigation of young children's (n=15) spontaneously constructed or naive understanding of the particulate nature of matter to any formal instruction in the domain. Speculates that children first develop local frameworks particular to different classes of substances, then slowly expand those frameworks to include a wide range of…

Goodlad believes that schools and leadership training should stress renewal, not reform. The workplace cannot survive unless people are educated for democracy and its responsibilities. Vouchers should supplement a child's education, not subsidize private schools. Improving family resources is the best way to address poverty and raise achievement.…

The magic of the marketplace is insufficient to guarantee a school voucher system's success or a public-school turnaround. Educators and policymakers must address practical issues such as accountability and instructional space needs. Vouchers may provide a life preserver for a few poor students, but open-market competition does nothing for…

Despite politicians' claims to the contrary, public schools are not holding back the economy, and most future jobs will require only modest skill growth. Economists attribute today's economic growth not to improved schools, but to greater efficiency, downward price pressure, and experimentation with lower interest rates. (MLH)

Most science teachers are amazed when grading tests and quizzes, often wondering how and why students have reached a conclusion, particularly when students fail to provide a detailed account of their logic. Ideally, a variety of assessments should be used to identify alternate student conceptions or gaps in understanding, particularly when…

Because the National Science Education Standards (1996) outline specific things K-8 students should know about plants, and previous data indicated that elementary students had difficulty understanding some major ideas about plants and plant growth, the authors of this article thought it appropriate to initiate an investigation to determine the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of small group discussion on students' conceptual understanding of chemical equilibrium. Students' understanding of chemical equilibrium concepts was measured using the Misconception Identification Test. The test consisted of 30 items and administered as pre-posttests to a total of 81…

This article presents the author's response to the article "The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning--Done by Sociologists: Let's Make That The Sociology of Higher Education" by Chad Hanson. The author says that Hanson points to critical limitations of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) in sociology, including insufficient attention…

Nutritional needs for peak athletic performance include sufficient calorie intake, adequate hydration, and attention to timing of meals. Student athletes and their advisors often are misinformed or have misconceptions about sports nutrition. This paper identifies nutritional needs of young athletes, reviews common misconceptions, and examines the…

This study examined HIV/AIDS knowledge and beliefs in Haitian adolescents in an HIV epicenter, Miami-Dade Florida. This study examined survey data from 300 Haitian adolescents, aged 13 through 18, from both low- and middle-income neighborhoods. A sub-sample of 80 adolescents was selected for in-depth interviews and continuous observations with…

While other research has begun to contribute to our understanding of how pre-college students reason about variation, little has been published regarding pre-service teachers' statistical conceptions. This paper summarizes a framework useful in examining elementary pre-service teachers' conceptions of variation, and investigates the question of…

The knowledge and attitudes of practicing teachers regarding ADHD were compared with those of undergraduate education students. Key elements of studies of American and Canadian teachers by Jerome, Gordon, and Hustler (1994) and Jerome, Washington, Laine, and Segal (1999) were replicated. Information was gathered about participants' demographic…

This paper examines current official discourses on school discipline in Britain. It analyses New Labour's recent documents in education, such as the party's manifestos, Green and White papers, and official guidelines, to understand which particular understandings of discipline are being promoted. In spite of a political commitment to social…

The results of previous educational research raise some questions about the efficacy of conventional teaching strategies and point to a need for using teaching strategies that explicitly take into account misconceptions students bring to the classes or acquire during the teaching-learning process. Accordingly, this article presents efforts to…