Educational policy frequently refers to change in some form and accountability measures are enacted to ensure the change is occurring. Yet, the most critical education decisions that alter the educational landscape are often made with static test score data and do not take into account the pattern of growth that may be occurring, even though…

This is the first report on the findings of a survey carried out on 578 students entering computing courses at seven institutes of technology in Ireland in 2001. The progress of this cohort of students is charted through the four years of their course using questionnaires and interviews. It is envisioned that the study will highlight the different…

This paper describes a school/university graduate induction program that has provided support to beginning teachers since 1994. A 10-year follow-up study of program graduates was recently conducted to examine these questions: (a) How many graduates are still in the education profession? (b) How many have remained in the classroom? and (c) What are…

Purpose: This study examined lexical-semantic organization of bilingual children in their 2 languages and in relation to monolingual age-mates. Method: Twelve Mandarin-English bilingual and 12 English monolingual children generated 3 associations to each of 36 words. Responses were coded as paradigmatic ("dog-cat") or syntagmatic ("dog-bark").…

This multimethod study generated and tested a "best evidence" model of school improvement processes (SIP) capable of improving student achievement. Initially developed through the review of a comprehensive body of previous empirical research, the model was further refined through a 2, 5-year longitudinal study in 10 schools. A quantitative test of…

This article presents an experimental study demonstrating how 120 learners use help tools in a virtual learning set-up. More specifically, several types of tutoring are investigated to find out the extent of the use of help tools in each. The effects of two independent variables which may have an impact on the behaviour of learners are studied:…

The purpose of this study was to measure and compare the extent to which three groups of stakeholders in the welfare-to-work process judge a selected list of workplace topics as important for inclusion in the curriculum. Topics were derived from the 1991 report of the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). A 45-item survey…

The study was designed to investigate the relative efficacy of the guided inquiry and the expository teaching methods on the achievement in and attitude to biology of students of different levels of scientific literacy. Four research questions and four null hypotheses were posed and formulated respectively, to guide the work. It was hypothesized…

The blueprint which the Federal Government rolled out for guiding educational technology practice which was based on the report of the Joint Consultative Committee on Educational Technology in 1991 is a relatively new innovation in educational institutions in Nigeria. However, the adoption of new innovation depends on the perception of teachers…

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to compare the performance of distance-learning students in a Small Business Management (SBM) course with that of internal (on-campus) students, and to examine students' demographics and information processing systems for their moderating effects on performance of each student group.…

The central argument is that in the presentation of workshops for teachers, presenters should focus on the principles underlying continuous professional development (CPD), since teachers are likely to be more willing to attend workshops if they are worth the time spent and the sacrifices made. In a workshop, on supporting learners with learning…

This paper presents the results of a study on the influence of blackboard assistance and lecturer's initiative on student's achievements (measured via quality of individualised surfboards). In addition it looks at student attitudes to project related issues in technology education, derived from the pre-test and post-test experiments and surveys.…

Systematic observation is a foundational skill teachers use in order to document children's reading development and plan developmentally appropriate instruction. However, a variety of challenges make it difficult for teacher educators to help preservice teachers develop systematic observation skills. The purpose of this study is to tell two…

The appropriate analysis of students' responses to an assessment is an essential step in improving the quality of the assessment itself as well as staff teaching and student learning. Many academics are unfamiliar with the formal processes used to analyze assessment results; the standard statistical methods associated with analyzing the validity…

Enjoyment and mood affection are considered to be main targets of intervention to promote physical activity (PA). Health education based on PA is seeking to explore the factors that affect children to foster and retain healthy habits. This study recognizes that the teaching methodology is crucial and attempts to investigate the effect two…