Whilst Productive Failure (Kapur, "Cognition and Instruction," 26:379-424, 2008, "Instructional Science," 38:523-550, 2010; Kapur & Bielaczyc, "Journal of the Learning Sciences" 21:45-83, 2012) has been shown to be efficacious in deepening students' learning of mathematics in Singapore classrooms, an action…

There has been much debate over the role of grammar instruction in the teaching of writing -- whether grammar and writing should be taught separately, or in an integrated manner in the English Language writing class. This paper describes an action research project aimed at contributing to this debate through some teachers' reflections on…

Definitions of teaching quality differ across jurisdictions and have evolved over time. Drawing on a study of five high-achieving countries with strong supports for teachers' professional learning and practice, this article describes the perspectives on good teaching rooted in standards for entry, preparation, and practice. These nations…

This paper comprises findings from three parallel case studies within the broad framework of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). These provide results from classroom-based action research conducted over two years working with Semantics, Specialisation and axiological cosmologies from Legitimation Code Theory (LCT). Each author shares how one or…

Children experience demanding changes during the transition from early childhood programs to primary school. Research shows that children's initial academic and social success at school can affect their long-term adjustment, achievement, and success. The authors, both early childhood teachers in Singapore, undertook an action research project that…

This paper explores how a learning theory enriched a collaborative teacher inquiry discourse where lesson study was adopted as the educational action research model to promote teacher professional development. Four Grade 9-10 biology teachers in Singapore drew from variation theory to collaboratively plan and teach new genetics content as part of…

Children with hyperlexia display spontaneous superior word decoding ability before the age of five but impaired listening and reading comprehension. They have direct phonological processing of any given text with apparent ease and often well beyond their vocabulary usage. Though they can recognise and read words, words appear meaningless. As a…

This study examined the effect of journal writing on mathematics achievement in high-ability students in Singapore. It assessed both the cognitive benefits of journal writing (as evidenced through gains in math test scores) and the socio-affective benefits of journal writing (as demonstrated in their personal reflections) as the students learned…

This article chronicles the coordination and better integration of existing institutional resources to support "cocurricular" themes embedded in the provision of a large enrollment, video-mediated undergraduate operations management (OM) course. The name Project Cheddarfield refers to a 2008 initiative in which two professors team-taught…

The information explosion characteristic of a knowledge-based economy is fuelled by rapid technological changes. As technology continues to permeate our lives, there will be fresh demands upon the conduct of learning and teaching to ensure that learners are equipped with new economy skills and dispositions for creating significant and relevant…

This paper reports on the results of an action research to explore the effectiveness of using cooperative learning strategies on students' academic achievement, their understanding of physics concepts and their motivation to learn in the physics classroom. The study involved a secondary four express physics class of 41 students in a neighbourhood…

Peer review has a prominent place in process-oriented writing instruction. In this paper, I share my developing use of peer review in an academic writing course for Chinese ESL learners. After reviewing the relevant literature, I describe the context in which I implemented peer review and conducted practitioner research into its productive use.…

Despite the imperatives of policy and rhetoric about their integration in formal education, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are often used as an "add-on" in many classrooms and in many lesson plans. Nevertheless, many teachers find that interesting and well-planned tasks, projects, and resources provide a key to…

The first volume of the 29th annual conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education contains plenary lecture and research forum papers as listed below. Short oral communications papers, poster presentations, brief summaries of discussion groups, and working sessions are also included in the volume. The plenary…