Educational practices that purposely seek to tie the realities of place to instruction, particularly for the purpose of student engagement, are typically referred to as place-based education. This study investigates how one teacher considered place in making instructional choices for eighth grade English students in a rural high school, and…

In recent years there has been an unprecedented increase in support staff in schools in England and Wales. There were widespread expectations that this will be of benefit to teachers and pupils but there has been little systematic research to address the impact of support staff. This study used a naturalistic longitudinal design to investigate the…

An issue for many mathematics departments is the success rate of precalculus students. In an effort to increase the success rate, this quantitative study investigated how class size and teaching approach influenced student achievement and students' attitudes towards learning mathematics. Students' achievement and their attitudes toward learning…

The confluence of technology convergence, market forces, and student demand for greater access is reshaping higher education institutions. Indeed, the convergence of technological innovations in hardware, software, and telecommunications, combined with the ubiquity of learning management systems, is reconfiguring and strengthening traditional…

This paper describes how a cluster of nine secondary science teachers and lecturers from five schools and colleges in the United Kingdom designed and undertook small-scale action research projects as an approach to their own continuing professional development. The participating teachers identified a range of topics for investigation such as:…

One of the most persistent barriers to student achievement resides in the collective mindset of the students we teach. Too many students have become compliant workers instead of engaged learners. This is due, in part, to nine misunderstandings about what it means to learn. These include such misconceptions as "What the teacher wants me to say is…

This article presents findings from a qualitative case study of informal peer groups (colloquia) in a Law programme at a major Norwegian university. The research question focused on how students perceived and experienced participation in peer colloquia, and the learning potential of such groupings is discussed in light of the formal study…

The International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) studied the ways in which countries prepare their young people to undertake their roles as citizens. ICCS was based on the premise that preparing students for citizenship involves helping them develop relevant knowledge and understanding and form positive attitudes toward being a…

Activities and services that improve student engagement and retention in the higher education sector are important not only to individual students' success but also to university planning and funding. This paper reports on a study carried out to explore whether use of the library by new university students is associated with continued enrolment.…

The poor attitude of pupils towards science continues to be a topic of concern within secondary schools. This article considers research and highlights what we can learn as teachers to persevere in tackling the problem. Alongside this review, a case study was undertaken with a sample of year 7 pupils (ages 11-12) in English schools who reported…

This study explores blending virtual and physical learning environments to enhance the experience of first year by immersing students into university culture through social and academic interaction between peers. It reports on the progress made from 2008 to 2009 using an existing academic platform, the first year design elective course…

As the dropout problem has grown--and as increasing numbers of students have started to see dropping out as a viable option for expressing their disaffection with school--practitioners, policymakers, and researchers have looked more closely at the factors that lead students to disengage from school and have attempted to find ways to create…

There has been a rapid increase in the use of technology in university classrooms. Many university classrooms and laboratories include an overhead projection unit, computer, and connections for laptops. More recently, tablet PCs have been investigated as another way to effectively engage students in a classroom environment. This study summarizes…

In this article, we explore the association between students' value of reading and their behavior during a sustained silent reading (SSR) period, and their attitudes toward SSR and reading leisure books. 362 secondary students participated in this study and data were collected by means of a questionnaire. The results showed that more students in…

Constraints in resourcing and student dissatisfaction with assessment feedback mean that the effectiveness of our feedback practices has never been so important. Drawing on findings from a three-year study focused on student engagement with feedback, this paper reveals the limited extent to which effectiveness can be accurately measured and…