In this article we present a model of content-area specific technology preparation. This approach was premised on the fact that even if preservice teachers know how to operate technology, they need help to understand how to flexibly incorporate new technology resources into their knowledge of a content area in ways that enhance student learning.…

Parents of children in a large primary school in New South Wales were asked questions related to their attitudes towards and beliefs about composite (multigrade) classes. Parental concerns about composite classes are commonly reported as negative and this study confirmed this concern. Issues identified as causing concern for parents were a belief…

When most teachers hear the phrase "professional development," skepticism clouds their faces. But research-based professional development can provide interesting experiences and valuable content knowledge. The Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program, funded by the National Science Foundation, helps "facilitate professional development of…

This paper describes a participatory research (PR) project encompassing a capacity-development programme and advocacy skill-building initiative for rural women. The project actively engaged four prominent women's non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Sri Lanka: Agromart Foundation, Centre for Women's Research (CENWOR), Sarvodaya Women's…

This article describes a training program, Self-Regulation Empowerment Program (SREP), that school professionals can use to empower adolescent students to engage in more positive, self-motivating cycles of learning. It is a two-part approach whereby self-regulated learning coaches (SRC) (a) use microanalytic assessment procedures to assess…

This chapter describes how an action research framework facilitates using evaluation and assessment results to improve programs and demonstrate institutional effectiveness. (Contains 1 table.)

There is little research on English language learners (ELLs) in relation to learning disability (LD) assessment and identification. More important, there is a scarcity of research on models and strategies that enhance learning opportunities and outcomes for ELLs prior to an LD diagnosis. We describe in this article an innovative language…

Guided by Self-Determination and associated theories, we examined whether adolescent (N=324, Mage=15, 52% female) competence (academic engagement and achievement) were supported by relationships at school and school fit. Aspects of relationships and school fit that were measured included adolescents' perceptions of each context as promoting…

Romanticism's valuing of love and the life of the imagination, combined with its belief in human potential taken heroically to and beyond its limits, provides a way of addressing differently and fruitfully certain issues to do with pedagogy in schools, making in particular better sense of what it means to be an effective teacher and a productive…

This study investigated the effects of personality and career decision-making self-efficacy on progress in career choice commitment in a sample of 184 college students. It was hypothesized that self-efficacy would mediate the relationship between neuroticism and extraversion and career choice commitment. Results revealed significant differences…

This article seeks on strategies to help low achievers persist with learning mathematics. The author discusses an 11-week teaching project with six primary school children who struggle in learning mathematics. It begins with the introduction of affective (emotional) strategies, and followed by a period of consolidation of affective work and ends…

This study examines relational health, parental attachment, and psychological distress in college men and women from the perspective of the relational-cultural model (Jordan, Kaplan, Miller, Stiver, & Surrey, 1991; Miller, 1984). Peer, mentor, and community relationships, as well as secure parental attachment and year in school, were hypothesized…

This paper describes structural equation modeling (SEM) and possibilities for using SEM to address problems specific to workforce education and career development. A sample of adolescents identified as work-bound (i.e., transition directly from secondary school to work) from the National Education Longitudinal Study 1988-1996 database (NELS:…

In the present study, we used a model of motivation grounded in self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 1991; Ryan & Deci, 2000a, 2000b, 2002) to examine the relationship between physical education (PE) students' motivational processes and ratings of their effort and persistence as provided by their PE teacher. Data were obtained…

Troubleshooting is a common form of problem solving. Technicians (e.g., automotive mechanics, electricians) and professionals (physician, therapists, ombudspersons) diagnose faulty systems and take direct, corrective action to eliminate any faults in order to return the systems to their normal states. Traditional approaches to troubleshooting…