Students of all ages spend a good amount of their time in classrooms engaged in some type of academic work (e.g. worksheets, workbooks, scientific projects, essays, research papers). On average, students from elementary through high school spend approximately one-half of their classroom time working by themselves ("seatwork") or in…

We establish an interesting connection between the number of runs and the length of the first run when tossing a fair coin.

Calls for the improvement of science education in the USA continue unabated, with particular concern for the quality of learning opportunities for students from historically nondominant communities. Despite many and varied efforts, the field continues to struggle to create robust, meaningful forms of science education. We argue that "settled…

Background: A good deal of evidence indicates that students' motivational beliefs and attitudes play a critical role in their academic success. Research studies on how motivational factors may help determine whether students remain in high school or drop out, however, are relatively few. More specifically, there is a lack of research…

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in pre-school children's meaning-making and learning in education for sustainability. Young children should be recognized as "agents for change" and active participants in their own day-to-day practices. Such issues are thoroughly discussed in the early childhood education for…

Existing research has yielded evidence to indicate that the expectancy-value theoretical model predicts students' learning in various achievement contexts. Achievement values and self-efficacy expectations, for example, have been found to exert positive effects on cognitive process and academic achievement outcomes. We tested a conceptual model…

In this article, we explore how youth audiences evaluate the quality of youth-produced films. Our interest stems from a dearth of ways to measure the quality of what youth produce in artistic production processes. As a result, making art in formal learning settings devolves into either romanticized creativity or instrumental work to improve skills…

The cases presented describe two levels of struggle. One level identifies two student teachers (ST) and their mentors failing to meet one another's expectations. Another level presents school administration as it seeks to find ways of meeting STs' needs while maintaining a positive and productive school climate. Relevant research is presented to…

28% of students of any one year currently give up their studies in bachelor degree programmes at German higher education institutions. Drop-out is to be understood as the definite termination in the higher education system without obtaining an academic degree. The drop-out rate is thereby calculated with the help of statistical estimation…

Adjunct instructors are the fastest growing population of faculty in the academy; and, given the current economic condition and its impact on institutions of higher learning, the proportion of adjunct faculty is likely to increase (Gappa, Austin & Trice, 2007; NCES, 2011). Yet the adjunct population continues to remain disconnected from the…

This essay uses qualitative elements to examine characteristics of inspirational teachers through the eyes of teacher candidate autobiographical essays. Based on narratives written by 35 college students, three teacher educators examined the responses through several lenses, including: the characteristics the inspirational teachers had in common,…

Literacy is increasingly essential for Americans' health, economic well-being, civic engagement, access to higher education, and social participation. Rapid growth in technology and globalization have increased demand for both universal literacy and higher levels of literacy than in the recent past. Yet national and international assessments…

Focusing on students' attempts to explain the relative significance of different factors in Hitler's rise to power, Catherine McCrory explores the vexed question of why students who seem able to express necessary historical knowledge on one occasion cannot effectively reproduce it on another. Drawing on a detailed analysis of what it actually…

When new students arrive at university to commence their undergraduate training they bring with them a host of prior experiences, expectations and beliefs. For students whose course of study includes mathematics these experiences, expectations and beliefs can be very strongly held and somewhat negative towards mathematics. In such cases they can…

This research focuses on the predispositions that recent Chinese and Indian immigrant families bring with them to the United States and how these are reinforced by the communities in which they locate. The findings draw from 144 interviews in California. Three themes dominate: positioning through schooling, transnational family, and extended…