Two-thirds of U.S. citizens do not understand the scientific process. There is a clear misunderstanding about what science is--and is not--both in our society and in the classroom. Furthermore, students below basic proficiency are locked into an achievement gap. In response, the No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2001. Since then, there has…

Purpose: To assess how the use of games contributes to students' science learning, interests, and attitudes about science. Methodology: The study sample was middle and high-school students in a large urban school district in 2012. A total of 1191 students participated in the game. The majority of students were Hispanic females of low…

Teaching has long been considered an isolated profession with little opportunity for collaboration. A major task for school leaders is to create improvement from within the school. Teachers are a valuable resource and each one possesses expertise in strategies and methodologies that can be a benefit to others. This action research explored the…

In this report, the authors describe the value-added models used as part of teacher evaluation systems in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and in eligible DC charter schools participating in Race to the Top. They estimated (1) teacher effectiveness in DCPS and eligible DC charter schools during the 2011-2012 school year; and (2)…

In spring 2010, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) began planning a pilot of an application for the Apple iPad, "HMH Fuse: Algebra 1," which was then in development. The application was to be piloted in four California school districts during the 2010-2011 school year. HMH contracted with Empirical Education Inc. to conduct a one-year…

Teachable agent is a type of pedagogical agent which instantiates Learning-by-Teaching theory through simulating a "naive" learner in order to motivate students to teach it. This paper discusses the limitation of existing teachable agents and incorporates intrinsic motivation to the agent model to enable teachable agents with initiative…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of using learner-generated and instructor-provided multimedia annotations on foreign language reading comprehension and attitudes. The four research questions are: (1) what are the effects of using different multimedia annotations on reading comprehension for learners of different…

Despite the ever-increasing number of online professional development (OPD) programs, relatively few studies have been conducted to examine the efficacy of such programs for teachers and students. This manuscript presents findings from an impact study of OPD courses in fractions, algebraic thinking, and measurement on 79 fifth grade teachers'…

Because of a shortage of physical exercise, concerns about adolescents have recently been raised in Taiwan. In educational environments where student exercise has been limited by scheduling constraints and the lack of physical exercise has become a vital problem, "learning while exercising" may be part of a possible solution. This study…

Purpose: This study examined the efficacy of a professional development program for early childhood educators that facilitated emergent literacy skills in preschoolers. The program, led by a speech-language pathologist, focused on teaching alphabet knowledge, print concepts, sound awareness, and decontextualized oral language within naturally…

Engineering education, like many fields, has started to explore the benefits of concept maps as an assessment technique for knowledge integration. Because they allow students to graphically link topics and represent complex interconnections among diverse concepts, we argue that concept maps are particularly appropriate for assessing…

A formative intervention was employed to expose children to a variety of words to increase the breadth, or size of their vocabularies, and to repeatedly and supportively expose children to words to increase the depth, or semantic understanding of vocabulary. Science content words were selected since they are less likely to be included in an…

Fluency instruction has had limited effects on reading comprehension relative to reading rate and prosodic reading (Dowhower, 1987; Herman, 1985; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000a). More specific components (i.e., error detection) of comprehension may yield larger effects through exposure to a wider range of materials…

As the importance of mathematics continues to grow in our society, so does the question of how to effectively teach mathematics. Although the claim that teaching does make a difference seems obvious, the question of what makes mathematics teachers effective is not easily answered. Evidence from research shows that students' mathematics learning is…

Rigorous research provides information that will allow ECE (Early Childhood Educator) programs to select interventions that have a scientifically based track record of effectiveness in increasing teachers' skills and teaching quality. This paper shares implementation and impact results as well as the lessons learned in conducting an evaluation of…