Generalist primary school teachers often have little or no training in school subjects such as science and technology. Not surprisingly, several studies show that they often experience difficulties when teaching these subjects, in fact some primary teachers even avoid teaching them. The over all aim of this study is to contribute to new…

This article includes discussion about a formative study in which inquiry was used as ESL instruction for second-grade emerging bilinguals. Drawing on the literature and research surrounding English learners, comprehension, informational text and inquiry, the teachers and researcher integrated comprehension strategy instruction with inquiry and…

The public education system in the United States continues to struggle in educating children of diverse backgrounds. Many have addressed this issue by documenting how certain practices teach children particular types of knowledge and skills. This developmental focus on what should be happening to children of diverse backgrounds tends to ignore the…

Much has happened since nine teams across New Zealand engaged in a Ministry of Education-funded participatory action research project looking at effective practice for supporting children and young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in education. Building on earlier discussions, the project ran from 2002 to 2004, and until now the story…

This article is about a small-scale research project which aimed to investigate in one local authority (LA) in England some of the outcomes of the nationwide PNS/EMA (Primary National Strategy/Ethnic Minority Achievement) pilot project, begun in 65 LAs in England in January 2004. The research project itself was conducted in the summer term of 2006…

This article discusses some of the processes and findings of a small-scale research project, which aimed to investigate how an arts education practitioner could contribute to the development of a global dimension in the Key Stage 2 (KS2) art curriculum. Through a close analysis of aspects of the project, we explore what it means to attempt to…

This paper reports on the second phase of a joint teacher/researcher project that explored teachers' understandings of the potential of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) as a tool for primary school children's collaborative group work. By examining teachers' written analyses and discussions of work carried out in their own classrooms, the paper…

This paper outlines the development of a framework--the Science in Schools (SiS) Components--that describes effective science teaching and learning and that has become a central focus for the Science in Schools Research project that is being implemented in 225 Australian schools. The description is in a form that provides a basis for monitoring…

This article describes a research study that implemented literacy methods for the purpose of promoting reading comprehension with links to student writing through the practice of integrating reader response before, during, and following teacher read-alouds, and then extending the reader response into the composing process of student-created…