Greek society of the eighteenth century did not have the institutional or theoretical background for the development of an original interest in scientific pursuits. The contact with the new scientific ideas aimed basically at the assimilation of these ideas in the body of the existing contemplative philosophy and the context where such undertaking…

Background: Considerable evidence suggests that structured abstracts in scientific journal articles are more informative than traditional ones, but no one (to our knowledge) has written about asking psychology undergraduates to write structured abstracts for their laboratory reports. Aim: Our aim was to assess whether or not the quality of such…

In this paper we discuss the potential for using systematic reviews of research to inform policy in education against the background of severe criticisms of the quality and relevance of individual research studies, most recently by the Commission on the Social Sciences. The potential is set against the reality of conducting systematic reviews of…

Faculty and graduate students traditionally have conducted most research in higher education. Recently, the benefits of undergraduate research have been acknowledged. The Boyer Commission (1988) called for research-based learning including a thesis that would demonstrate a student's ability to think clearly and to communicate ideas in an…

The concept and practice of teacher leadership have gained momentum in the past two decades. Teachers are assuming more leadership functions at both instructional and organizational levels of practice. Empirical literature reveals numerous small-scale, qualitative studies that describe dimensions of teacher leadership practice, teacher leader…

This article is intended to supplement a published research report (Gersten, Baker, Smith-Johnson, Dimino, & Peterson, in press) on an instructional intervention study by discussing some of the behind-the-scenes issues that typically do not appear in a published research report. In particular, I discuss how use of design experiments helped shape…

This report presents estimates of the private rates of return for students studying for vocational education and training (VET) qualifications in Australia. Estimates of rates of return are commonly used by governments, businesses and others to compare the merits of different forms of investment where costs or benefits or both are distributed over…

The "2007 English as a Second Language (ESL) Student Outcomes Survey" interviewed students who took English language training at a British Columbia (BC) public post-secondary institution between September 1, 2005 and August 31, 2006. The survey included former students from 17 different post-secondary institutions. Survey interviews were…

This literature review was commissioned by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to draw together current and recent studies of integrated working, in order to build an overview of the theories and models of such working. The review is important for current work on evaluating the early impact of integrated children's services and…

In 2007, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges amended its Title 5 Regulations to grant conditional approval to proposals for educational centers if certain criteria were met at the time of submission. Among other requirements, a district would need to demonstrate that a proposed center would serve at least 500 full-time…

Objective: Assessing and understanding the health needs and capacities of college students is paramount to creating healthy campus communities. The American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) is a survey that ACHA developed in 1998 to assist institutions of higher education in achieving this goal. The…

This review sought to locate key themes in the literature on teaching and learning thinking and practices, by examining areas of influence and mapping ideas about the themes of practice, transfer and communities in higher education or related contexts. The findings indicate that issues of pedagogical stance, disjunction, learning spaces, agency,…

Most students in most schools today study subject matter. They and their teachers conceive of the educational task as committing to memory large numbers of facts, formulas, and figures. A far more sophisticated perspective emphasizes teaching disciplines and disciplinary thinking. The goal of this approach is to instill in students the disposition…

This report highlights student transition trends across a four-year period, with K-12 data from 2001/02 - 2004/05 and post-secondary data from 2002/03-2005/06. Reported findings include: (1) There is a consistent trend in immediate entry transition rates, with slightly more than half of all high school graduates making an immediate transition into…

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) promotes research on the civic and political engagements of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25. The following topics are covered in this issue of "Around the CIRCLE": (1) Common Social Studies Teaching Practices and their Civic Outcomes; (2) CIRCLE Jointly Hosts…