Active-learning techniques have been advocated as a means to promote student engagement in lower-division biology courses. In this case study, mini-lectures in combination with active-learning activities were evaluated as strategies to promote a culture of learning and participation in a required botany course. These activities were designed to…

The "Ministry of Education 2013/14 Annual Service Plan Report" shares some of the significant achievements by the British Columbia ministry and government. These include the development and release of BC's Skills for Jobs Blueprint: Re-Engineering Education and Training. As well, they successfully negotiated agreements with CUPE and…

The "National Dropout Prevention Newsletter" is published quarterly by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. This issue contains the following articles: (1) At the Crossroads of Teacher Education (Nancy Cassity Dunlap); (2) School Climate--There Should Be No Debate for Teacher Educators (Terry Pickeral); (3) Call Me MISTER: A Unique…

Poverty may be the major obstacle to positive life chances in the UK. Ennals and Murphy (2005) suggest that escape from the poverty trap is more likely for those who remain in education after the age of 16. However, school life may bring problems for children from low income families, with learning assuming a lower priority than social acceptance…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of voluntary discussion forums in a higher education setting. Specifically, we examined intrinsic forum participation and investigated its relation to course performance across two experiments. In Experiment 1 (N = 1284) an online discussion forum was implemented at the beginning of an…

The paper investigates the attitudes of young people in England towards schooling and education and the relationship of these attitudes to intentions for educational participation and to various background characteristics of the young people. It provides an example of secondary data analysis through using the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in…

The Association Supporting Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) is a group of people interested in small college computing issues. It is a blend of people from all over the country who use computers in their teaching, academic support, and administrative support functions. ASCUE has a strong tradition of bringing its members together to pool their…

The Swedish school law and curriculum states that students shall be participative in their work. They should work in a participative manner and the pedagogical idea is that influence and participation has multiple benefits for students' development. In this article the relationship between student participation and school success is examined. By…

Student engagement is perhaps the key element for almost any learning context. When engaged, learners are enthusiastic and excited about the subject. Their work is informed by the enjoyment of discovery. Engaged learners work willingly, instead of by coercion, and approach their assignments as something that matters to them personally. The spirit…

This article is a call to action for elementary teacher educators. Our early childhood and middle grades colleagues made a clear case for the importance of focusing on specific developmental characteristics and family and community influences on development during the critical years they represent. A similar case has not been made for the upper…

This paper presents the analysis of two representative lessons drawn from a cross case study of K-12 classrooms in which students and their teachers engaged in a collaborative dialogic inquiry process (data-driven dialogue) to co-construct meaning from assessment results. The representative lessons illustrate a significant shift from…

This article looks at religion to ascertain the social and individual benefits that postsecondary students gain from their involvement. Focusing on public university students, this study examines the influence church participation has on the academic performance, retention, and engagement of African American college students. (Contains 2 tables…

At the Danish University School of Education we have experimented with a form of assessment called "active participation". A week before each class students are given reading guidelines and questions to help them approach the texts, and on the basis of one of those questions the students each write a two-page essay. The students are…

The research literature concerning traditionally aged college mathematics students' who require remediation, in beginning Algebra topics, states that these students lack confidence in their mathematical skills, have experienced failure and frustration in the past, have low self confidence issues with respect to mathematics and often lack…

Assurance of learning process plays a major role in higher education and has increased the accountability on the part of instructors at all levels. This paper will discuss the role of assurance processes in teaching and the ways to measure these processes of student learning. The research focus will be to determine if student engagement in problem…