A randomized controlled experimental pilot study was conducted in order to investigate the effect of life skills training on behavior problems in left-behind children (LBC) in rural China. Sixty-eight LBC were recruited from a middle school in rural China. The intervention group took a ten-week-long life skills training course. The Child Behavior…

Objectives: Human histology is a discipline concerning the study of microscopic structures of human tissues and organs--with the aid of light or electron microscopes. Traditional teaching of histology is composed of two separated components, theory and practice. The main disadvantage with traditional histology teaching is the detachment of theory…

Researchers have established that morphological awareness is an important skill because it contributes unique variance to word-level reading and reading comprehension; however, few studies include students with reading disorders. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate whether training morphological awareness would improve morphological…

This study sought academic staff and students' views of electronic exams (e-exams) system and the benefits and challenges of e-exams in general. The respondents provided useful feedback for future adoption of e-exams at an Australian university and elsewhere too. The key findings show that students and academic staff are optimistic about the…

Instruments designed to track student changes in higher education are essential for monitoring program development in competitive higher education markets. As part of a developmental evaluation, a student questionnaire was developed and piloted to examine attrition rates in college programs. The purpose of the questionnaire was to explore factors…

This article discusses use and modification of Lee and Bednarz's (2012) Spatial Thinking Ability Test (STAT) as a spatial thinking assessment device in Rwandan secondary schools. After piloting and modifying the STAT, 222 students total from our rural and urban test schools and one control school were tested. Statistical analysis revealed that…

The purpose of this study is to develop teachers' orientations toward teaching science scale from an instructional perspective in a Thai context. The scale consisted of nine orientations with 54 items. The pilot data were collected from 125 secondary science teachers in Thailand and analysed by using the Rasch rating scale model with WINSTEPS…

We report on a practitioner implementation of Fusion, a first-grade mathematics intervention. Studies such as this evaluation of a loose implementation under realistic conditions are important to curriculum developers' understanding of how evidence-based programs and tools work under a variety of implementation scenarios. In this…

Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate behaviors related to fruit and vegetable intake before and after implementation of a theory-based Farm to School pilot intervention in a rural school. Methods: Students in fifth grade at a rural elementary school were asked to complete pre- and post-test measures based on the Theory of…

This report describes the development and pilot evaluation of SMART Spaces. This programme aims to boost GCSE science outcomes by applying the principle that information is more easily learnt when it is repeated multiple times, with time passing between the repetitions. This approach is known as "spaced learning" and is contrasted with a…

We report on a practitioner implementation of Fusion, a first grade mathematics intervention. Studies such as this evaluation of a loose implementation under realistic conditions are important to curriculum developers' understanding of how evidence-based programs and tools work under a variety of implementation scenarios. In this…

Self-interview methods such as audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) are used to improve the accuracy of interview data on sensitive topics in large trials. Small field studies on sensitive topics would benefit from methodological alternatives. In a study on male involvement in antenatal HIV testing in a largely illiterate population…

Objective: The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the impact of a school health module on the breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes of middle school students. Method: A convenience sample of 39 middle school students received education related to breastfeeding and completed a pre-test and a post-test. The School Survey on Breastfeeding…

This study aimed to develop the Metaconceptual Awareness and Regulation Scale (MARS) -- a self-report instrument for measuring the extent to which students realise, monitor, and evaluate their ideas. MARS consists of 10 items scored on a six-point Likert scale for two factors: metaconceptual awareness and metaconceptual regulation. A pilot study…

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of an activity set developed according to the inquiry-based learning (IBL) approach in the unit "Particulate Structure of Matter" on students' critical-thinking skills in science and technology courses. The study was conducted with 90 students from the 6th grade attending four, 6th…