As children make the transition to school, many things may change for them. Among these are the ways they interact with curriculum areas such as mathematics. This paper explores some of these changes by considering examples of children's mathematical experiences in prior-to-school and school settings and analysing them in terms of the mathematical…

An important challenge in the introductory communication networks course in electrical and computer engineering curricula is to integrate emerging topics, such as wireless Internet access and network security, into the already content-intensive course. At the same time it is essential to provide students with experiences in online collaboration,…

The aims of this paper are to examine the measurement properties of the Reflection-in-Learning Scale (RLS) and to identify whether there are relationships between RLS scores early in the medical program and outcomes of the students' academic activity later on. The 14-item RLS was administered to second-year students (N=275) at start and at end of…

This article explores the mediational role of classroom discourse in the development of shared understanding in the multiethnic classroom. Successful participation in classroom discourse not only requires linguistic and cognitive competence, but also demands cultural knowledge, which often is taken for granted. Research carried out in a…

Studies show that misconceptions about psychology are pervasive. This study examined how the strength of prior beliefs and the sources of misinformation relate to conceptual change following an introductory psychology course. Ninety introductory psychology students completed a 36-item "Psychological Information" questionnaire. Testing during the…

This project was coordinated and funded by the California Partnership for Achieving Student Success (Cal-PASS). Cal-PASS is a data sharing system linking all segments of education. Its purpose is to improve student transition and success from one educational segment to the next. Cal-PASS' math deconstruction projects were initiated by the faculty…

This project was coordinated and funded by the California Partnership for Achieving Student Success (Cal-PASS). Cal-PASS is a data sharing system linking all segments of education. Its purpose is to improve student transition and success from one educational segment to the next. Cal-PASS' standards deconstruction project was initiated by the…

For the third time, ESIB has carried out a survey on the implementation of the Bologna Process. The first survey was in 2003 and the second was in 2005. Between the first two surveys the methodology developed substantially and this survey builds on the principles of the 2005 "Bologna With Student Eyes" report. This new report portrays…

Undergraduate students routinely rated science-related courses such as biopsychology as intimidating and very difficult. Identification of factors that may contribute to success in these types of courses is important in order to help increase performance and interest in these topics. To examine what variables are related to performance, we studied…

A model incorporating prerequisite mathematics performance and other variables deemed to be associated with learning elementary statistics (ES) is developed. The relationship between ES performance and the explanatory variables is well represented by the logistics form. Aptitude, effort and motivation are the only significant explanatory variables…

Concerns about students' difficulties in statistical reasoning led to a study which explored form five (14- to 16-year-olds) students' ideas in this area. The study focussed on descriptive statistics, graphical representations, and probability. This paper presents and discusses the ways in which students made sense of information in graphical…

Evidence for the superiority of guided instruction is explained in the context of our knowledge of human cognitive architecture, expert-novice differences, and cognitive load. Although unguided or minimally guided instructional approaches are very popular and intuitively appealing, the point is made that these approaches ignore both the structures…

Purpose: The paper seeks to show the relationship between organisational structure and flexibility of training has not been well researched. Focusing on the role of recognition of current competencies, this study provides evidence of the effects of the former on the latter. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper evidence was obtained by…

This study aimed to facilitate students' entrance to an introductory cell biology course for biology majors. The most prominent difficulty in this introductory course, is students' poor background-knowledge, such as a lack of understanding of very basic concepts and terms, and the huge differences in students' background knowledge. In order to…

The Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) is an instructional technique that combines inquiry, collaborative learning, and writing to change the nature of the chemistry laboratory for students and instructors. The SWH provides a format for students to guide their discussions, their thinking, and writing about how science activities relate to their own…