The scientific process is nonlinear, unpredictable, and ongoing. Assessing the nature of science is difficult with methods that rely on Likert-scale or multiple-choice questions. This study evaluated conceptions about the scientific process using student-created visual representations that we term "flowcharts." The methodology,…

This study analyses peer assessment through many facet Rasch model (MFRM). The research was performed with 91 undergraduate students and with lecturer teaching the course. The research data were collected with holistic rubric employed by 6 peers and the lecturer in rating the projects prepared by 85 students taking the course. This study analyses…

Xavier University of Louisiana leads the nation in awarding BS degrees in the biological sciences to African-American students. In this multiyear study with ~5500 participants, data-driven interventions were adopted to improve student academic performance in a freshman-level general biology course. The three hour-long exams were common and…

Recently-adopted standards call for more emphasis on writing in early elementary grades. Rubrics may assist students in attending to important characteristics of effective writing, but research data on their use in early childhood is lacking. This study explores the effects of rubric use on writing instruction of opinion paragraphs for 20 first…

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of teacher evaluation scores that are derived from an observation tool, adapted from Danielson's Framework for Teaching, designed to assess 22 teaching components from four teaching domains. The study analyzed principals' observations of 713 elementary, middle, and high school teachers in…

This study is an inquiry into the effects of reading short stories in improving foreign language writing skills through Read for Writing model, which is the adaptation of the approach called Talk for Writing (Corbett, 2013). It is a quasi-experimental 13-week field study which was implemented in a primary school. The purpose of this study is to…

Much is said about the importance of reflective practice especially in the professions. Yet much of what happens as part of reflective practice in the professions such as teaching is most of the time left to chance. Reflective practice allows practitioners to see the link between theory and practice by thoughtfully considering their own…

Think-Pair-Share (TPS) activities in classrooms provide an opportunity for students to revise, practice and reproduce previously learned knowledge. Teachers also benefit from this active learning strategy by exploiting new learning materials, saving time by minimizing presentations and using it as a formative assessment tool. This article explores…

The current study examines the performance and achievement of students in the Systematic Qualitative Analyses of Cations (SQACs). We sought answers to questions such as, "What are the students' levels of performance?" and "What is the relation between the average scores for performance and achievement?." This was done by using…

Online teaching and learning became popular with the evolution of the World Wide Web now days. Implementing online learning tools within EFL contexts will help better address the multitude of teaching and learning styles. Difficulty in academic writing can be considered one of the common problems that students face in and outside their classrooms.…

This study explored the impact of professional development workshops for online course design on faculty's pedagogical practices in online, face-to-face (f2f), and blended instructional modes. It specifically focused on trainings offered by the Quality Matters (QM) organization on a rubric for assessing quality in online course development. A…

This study investigated the effectiveness of a blended learning approach--involving the thesis, analysis, and synthesis key (TASK) procedural strategy; online Edmodo discussions; online message labels; and writing models--on student argumentative writing in a Hong Kong secondary school. It also examined whether the application of digital game…

The ability to reflect and self-assess are essential attributes for graduates to develop during their education. At many tertiary institutions, peer and lecturer-assessment contribute to summative assessment, but self-assessment, whilst recommended for development, does not. In order to make a case for the inclusion of self-assessment as a…

"The Expanded Success Initiative: Challenges and Progress in the Pursuit of College and Career Readiness for Black and Latino Young Men" synthesizes findings from the Research Alliance's four-year evaluation of Expanded Success Initiative (ESI). This report, draws on hundreds of interviews and focus groups with ESI school leaders,…

This article explains information architecture, focusing on comic arts' features for representing and structuring knowledge. Then it details information design theory and information behaviors relative to this format, also noting visual literacy. Next , applications of comic arts in education are listed. With this background, several research…