John Dewey, the well-known figure in progressive education, visited Turkey in 1924. Through his visit, Turkey was introduced to progressive education. Although his visit was short, the reports he prepared influenced the shape of the Turkish education system. After Dewey's visit, many foreign educators were invited to Turkey, particularly through…

Parents and policymakers have long sought to measure the quality of their public schools and to report that publicly in ways that are fair and equitable. In recent years, with a renewed focus on student outcomes, this effort has become a very public and sometimes acrimonious debate. With this project, Education Commission of the States (ECS)…

Research exploring beliefs about creativity has produced valuable findings regarding how individuals conceptualize creativity, yet, to date, there has been no systematic synthesis of this literature. As such, the purposes of this review were twofold: (a) to explore researchers' and teachers' conceptualizations of creativity; and, (b) to analyze…

Viewed by someone with no involvement, the Association for Science Education (ASE) Annual Conference will seem like an impossibly ambitious task, relying significantly on volunteers (though increasingly supported by a small permanent staff) to organise and run it. Developed from events already established in the former associations, it offers a…

The use of on-line instruction at the university level is becoming increasingly prevalent. In one Arkansas university, computer assisted instruction occurs in the form of web-based assignments through on-line courses and degree programs. Students, who are aspiring to become educational leaders, engage in weekly web discussions and activities…

The central goal of this exploratory study was to characterize the effects of experiments involving different levels of inquiry on the nature of college students' written reflections about laboratory work. Data were collected in the form of individual lab reports written using a science writing heuristic template by a subset of the students…

The Smithsonian's rich and vast collections differentiate them from every other museum on the planet, but it is their people that truly distinguish them. From astrophysics and American art to sociology and zoology, they represent a staggering breadth of knowledge and depth of commitment, yet the most exciting thing to watch is what happens when…

E-learning is a field of continuous improvement and change, and the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) institutions are constantly working to extend their offerings beyond their physical limits to meet the learning needs of students in Nevada. Without e-learning many students, especially those living in Nevada's extensive rural areas and…

This article reviews studies which apply a social network perspective to examine transfer of training. The theory behind social networks focuses on the interpersonal mechanisms and social structures that exist among interacting units such as people within an organization. A premise of this perspective is that individual's behaviors and outcomes…

In November 2010 the authors finished the writing of a manifesto for education. The manifesto was an attempt to respond to a number of issues concerning education, both in the field of educational research and in the wider socio-political environment. This is the text of that manifesto followed by two commentaries in which the authors try to…

Context: There is growing interest in the integration of meditation in higher education. Purpose: Here, we review evidence bearing on the utility of meditation to facilitate the achievement of traditional educational goals and to enhance education of the "whole person." Research Design: We examine how meditation practices may help foster important…

The 12-yearly International Conferences of Adult Education (CONFINTEA) organised by UNESCO are significant events in the ongoing global dialogues about adult learning and education (ALE) and its role within society. Thus, the latest conference held in Brazil in 2009 offered a major opportunity to consider and review developments about ALE policies…

The United States is becoming more multilingual with globalization. Public schools continue to enroll increasing numbers of students who speak a language other than English. This adds to the rich diversity of classrooms while at the same time offers challenges for educators. This collaborative-ethnographic style research study investigates the…

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is one of the world's leading educational research centres. ACER's mission is to create and promote research-based knowledge, products and services that can be used to improve learning across the life span. This annual report describes ACER's milestones and accomplishments for the 2016-2017…

In this study, we investigated gender and minority achievement gaps on 8th-grade science items employing a multilevel item response methodology. Both gaps were wider on physics and earth science items than on biology and chemistry items. Larger gender gaps were found on items with specific topics favoring male students than other items, for…