When participating in a large-scale, web-based professional development program, to what degree do teachers participate? How useful do they find the program? To what degree do they feel supported in their efforts? What are the associations between participation, evaluation of services, and the level of service teachers receive? MyTeachingPartner…

This study investigated the impact of the use of computer technology on the enactment of "inquiry" in a sixth grade science classroom. Participants were 42 students (38% female) enrolled in two sections of the classroom and taught by a technology-enthusiast instructor. Data were collected over the course of 4 months during which several "inquiry"…

This article reviews and categorizes empirical studies related to instructional technology that were published in three prominent journals: "Educational Technology Research and Development, Instructional Science," and the "Journal of Educational Computing Research" from the year 2000 through 2004. Four questions guided this review: 1) What…

Children's speed and fluency of writing has elsewhere been shown to correlate with the quality of their composition. Here, we compared speed and fluency of text production when children aged between 6 and 11 used either a pen or a computer keyboard. Younger children were reliably slower and less fluent when writing at a keyboard. All children were…

Principle of duality and numerical calculation of income and substitution effects under Hicksian Compensation are often left out of intermediate microeconomics courses because they require a rigorous calculus based analysis. But these topics are critically important for understanding consumer behavior. In this paper we use excel solver--a…

Systems for computer based assessment as well as learning management systems offer a number of innovative closed question types, which are used more and more in higher education. These closed questions are used in computer based summative exams, in diagnostic tests, and in computer based activating learning material. Guidelines focusing on the…

In 2005 the European particle physics masterclasses attracted 3000 students from 18 European countries to visit one of 58 universities and education centres. The participants worked with data from real high energy particle collisions, learned about particle physics, and experienced research and education environments at European universities. In…

Most people have at least secondhand knowledge about Second Life, a virtual-reality world created by Linden Lab, in which avatars (digital characters) lease "islands" for real-life purposes--to sell products, conduct classes, do research, hold conferences, and even recruit for admissions. About nine million avatars reportedly interact on this…

As a veteran teacher at a NCSSSMST (National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology) high school, the author takes pride in allowing her students to stretch their minds. But as a teacher of gifted juniors and seniors, it has always been a challenge to keep her students up to date with key events in…

This article addresses the need for systematic and replicable research methods for the examination of student learning using so called interactive whiteboard technologies. As a basis for these methods a model is developed of the cognitive concomitants evident in students' use of these technologies. While interactive whiteboards are shared spaces,…

The concern that educational research is often divorced from the problems and issues of everyday teaching practice, is strongly influenced by the chosen paradigm in which the research is framed. Modelled on design-based research methods, this paper presents the development of a theoretical research framework that accommodates complex…

A study conducted shows that if digital photography is combined with regular thin-layer chromatography (TLC), it could perform highly improved qualitative analysis as well as make accurate quantitative analysis possible for a much lower cost than commercial equipment. The findings suggest that digitally enhanced TLC (DE-TLC) is low-cost and easy…

In the UK, there is great concern about the perceived increase in plagiarized work being submitted by students in higher educations. Although there is much debate, the reasons for the perceived change are not completely clear. Here we present the results of a 2-year trial of the JISC Plagiarism Detection Service (PDS) involving hundreds of…

Teachers are hungry for strategies that will motivate their students to engage in reading and writing. One promising method is the Authoring With Video (AWV) approach, which encourages teachers to use captioning software and digital video in writing assignments. AWV builds on students' fascination with television and video but removes the audio…

Online education is particularly well suited to the needs of community college students. Although community colleges have lower per-unit fees than four-year colleges and universities, many community college students still experience economic hardship. Even with fee waivers, students may have problems finding the money for textbooks,…