Students typically find research methods and statistics classes intimidating. In particular, learning different types of data measurement and operationalization can take significant time and practice to understand. Utilizing a pedagogical approach that turns a party game into a fun exercise, students collaboratively learn to operationalize…

This toolkit, developed by Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Central in collaboration with York Public Schools in Nebraska, provides a process and tools to help teachers use data from their classroom assessments to evaluate promising practices. The toolkit provides teachers with guidance on how to deliberately apply and study one classroom…

This article examines secondary students' design of experiments after engagement in an innovative and inquiry-oriented module on heat transfer. The module consists of an integration of hands-on experiments, simulated experiments and microscopic model simulations, includes a structured series of guided investigative tasks and was implemented for a…

This publication presents changes and modifications for 2007-2008 to the "International Rules for Precollege Science Research: Guidelines for Science and Engineering Fairs." It is written to guide fair directors, teachers, scientists, parents, and adult volunteers as they pursue their work of encouraging students to explore and investigate their…

The Research in Dance Education (RDE) project grew out of a long-term national need to know what researchers in dance and allied fields have studied over 80 years, what they learned, and how existing research impacted teaching and learning. The project set out to answer the following questions: (1) What research exists in dance education?; (2)…

This manual, the second part of a guide to assist colleges in field-testing the survey instrument "Student Goals Exploration" (SGE), is a technical treatment for use by researchers. The SGE is a survey designed to measure student goals for attending college and for enrolling in specific courses. Section I, "About the Student Goals…

This document includes a 3-page brochure describing the main report and the main report. The report explores competency-based models in postsecondary institutions and other learning environments. It is intended primarily as a guide for postsecondary educators who are interested in establishing such efforts at their institutions. The following…

This manual, the first part of a guide to assist colleges in field-testing the survey instrument, "Student Goals Exploration" (SGE), is a non-technical treatment for use by faculty members in their classes. The SGE is a comprehensive survey instrument designed to measure student goals for attending college and for enrolling in specific…

This paper reports on research carried out at the Contemporary Music-making for Amateurs (COMA) Summer School. A range of qualitative research methods were used to investigate participants' reasons for making music, and from these data a number of educational themes emerged: (i) general interactions between tutors and participants; (ii) evaluation…

This manual is a guide to the "Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire" (MSLQ) for assessing college students' motivational orientations and their use of different learning strategies for a college course. The MSLQ, based on a general cognitive view of motivation and learning strategies, contains two sections. The motivation…

The Self-Knowledge Inventory of Lifelong Learning Strategies (SKILLS) was developed to measure adult learning strategies in real-life learning situations. SKILLS consists of a series of 12 scenarios from real-world situations that reflect Shirk's (1990) nine general categories of learning for real-life situations and that necessitate various types…

The National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) was appointed in 2002 and carried out its work under the auspices of the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). NELP's primary goal was to identify interventions, parenting activities, and instructional practices that promote the development of children's early literacy skills. The National Institute…

A discussion of a particular problem in an individual teacher's second language classroom leads to a definition of "action research", examines the issues to be addressed before undertaking it, and results in suggestions for designing and implementing the study. Action research is defined as a process designed to improve teaching and facilitate…

Nearly 20 years ago, the first national assessment of student achievement in U.S. history yielded disappointing results. Although policy-makers and researchers expressed great concern about the low scores, the federal government did not undertake large-scale efforts to address poor student performance, and few research dollars were dedicated to…

This document is a guide for use in self-study by groups of college faculty using the Course Planning Exploration (CPE) survey. The CPE is designed to uncover approaches to course planning and thereby stimulate discussion, collegial learning, and development among faculty members. Section I describes the CPE including the history of its…