This dissertation investigates the following research question within an informal games-based learning environment: "How do students construct scientific ideas within a games-based learning environment?" In this study, middle school youth role-played as scientists recruited by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to stop the Raven Virus…

Like most states, Georgia until recently depended on an assessment of content knowledge to award teaching licenses, along with a licensure recommendation from candidates' educator preparation programs. While the content assessment reflected candidates' grasp of subject matter, licensure decisions did not hinge on direct, statewide assessment of…

Background: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) were used to assess translational pharmacotherapeutic skills of a Gulf-region representative academic institution. Aim: The aim of the current study was to assess the clinical skills of students enrolled within the third year Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) programme within Ras Al…

At the same time that creativity, play, and inquiry are receiving special focus in academic, professional, and educational settings, mandated assessments have never been more prominent, despite public debates that question the value of such testing. In the context of these apparently contradictory developments in literacy education, as a…

Dominant discourses on professional development for teachers internationally are increasingly geared to the priority of ensuring individual teachers are meeting prescribed standards-based performance benchmarks which we call "performativities" in this paper. While this intent is invariably played out in individualised performance…

The paper introduces Teacher Interactive Electronic Continuous Professional Development (TIE-CPD), an online interactive training system. The framework and methodology of TIE-CPD are designed with functionalities comparable with existing e-training systems. The system design and development literature offers several methodology and framework…

Sensory processing abnormalities in autism have largely been described by parent report. This study used a multi-method (parent-report and measurement), multi-trait (tactile sensitivity and attention) design to evaluate somatosensory processing in ASD. Results showed multiple significant within-method (e.g., parent report of different…

The edTPA has recently emerged within the past few years as an innovative Teacher Performance Assessment and is currently adopted to some extent in 34 states. Researchers conducted four focus groups with 16 teacher candidates during and immediately after completion of the edTPA at North Carolina State University. When asked to articulate about…

This paper is written by faculty, staff, and graduate students responsible for preparing a group of 100 elementary/middle school licensure students for the edTPA portfolio assessment. It is a narrative self-study analysis of our experiences doing so during the pilot year. The edTPA is a performance assessment that requires future teachers to plan,…

The dramatic eruption of information and communication technology has had a remarkable effect on modern life, including the capacity to help older adults improve their quality of life and remain independent longer. However, while technology use is generally widespread, there is an observable underutilization by older people. There is sound…

This research explores the question of how students in a social studies methods course improve skills in analyzing and critiquing pre-existing lesson plans. It utilizes a pre-post authentic assessment tool to measure student growth in key skills of lesson plan critique over the course of one semester's methods instruction. The results support the…

This study integrated the Spiral Curriculum approach into the Robust Learning Model as part of a continuous improvement process that was designed to improve educational effectiveness and then assessed the differences between the initial and integrated models as well as the predictability of the first course in the integrated learning model on a…

Kenya has seen a paradigm shift in nursing education sector recording high rates of enrolment of students to training while their performance in Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK) examination remained variable and unpredictable. This study evaluated performance of BSc nursing students in NCK examinations by examining institutional characteristics in…

Increased graduate employment is an aspiration of Australian universities who are adopting new and innovative approaches to ensure that all students have opportunities to develop the employability skills much sought after by employers. Placements have been a traditional means for developing such skills but because these are not available to all…

Building on earlier work that explored within-student variation in hours of instruction across school subjects, we investigate the impact of instruction time on student test scores in Switzerland, as measured by the PISA 2009 test. Our results confirm the results of previous studies of a positive effect of instruction time on student performance.…