Our study capitalized on a unique natural experiment rather than a researcher-designed, randomized experiment whereby, thanks to the Australian Government's Digital Education Revolution, half of grade 9 students in 2008 received laptops and half did not. Consequently in late 2011, when these students sat for their grade 12 external examinations…

One of the most serious problems facing our planet is the biodiversity crisis. As a solution to this problem, both scientists and educators have emphasised the need for educating people about how to conserve the Earth's biodiversity. As a small contribution to this effort, we have designed a learning unit about biodiversity, "Nature in a…

Two experiments investigated primary and secondary school students' Web menu selection strategies using simulated Web search tasks. It was hypothesized that students' selections of websites depend on their perception and integration of multiple relevance cues. More specifically, students should be able to disentangle superficial cues (e.g.,…

Disparities emanating from South Africa's apartheid history still pose a number of challenges to the country, especially in education. Since the transition to democracy in 1994, the prescribed government school curriculum has undergone several revisions in an endeavour to set standards and provide instruction of a high quality. On the language…

The purpose of this study is to determine the difference in the mathematics academic achievement of students when teachers engage in Data Teams, a continuous improvement process, and when they do not. Additionally, this study will examine differences in mathematics academic achievement of students by ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic status…

The purpose of the study was to update previous meta-analytic findings on the effectiveness of using similarities and differences as an instructional strategy. The strategy includes facilitating student comparison, classification, use of analogies, and use of metaphors. Previously, Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock reported a mean effect size of…

This article discusses how sixth through twelfth grade science teachers can engage their students in the design and implementation of sustainable energy projects as part of a unit of study on energy. The project challenges students to engage in an energy project that gives them the opportunity to make a difference in their local community and the…

Most students think animals are more interesting than plants as a study topic believing that plants are inferior to animals because they are passive and unable to respond to external challenges, particularly biological invaders such as microorganisms and insect herbivores. The purpose of this study was to develop an inquiry-based learning unit,…

This classroom narrative describes the transformation of one beginning English/language arts (ELA) teacher's perspective and practice as the teacher enacted multimodal inquiry activities that were the focus of both traditional and action research projects. Drawing on field notes, transcripts of classroom discourse, and student-produced artefacts,…

This article reports the development, validation and use of an instrument designed to provide teachers with feedback information, based on students' perceptions, about their classroom environments. The instrument was developed to provide teachers with feedback that they could use to reflect on their teaching practices and, in turn, guide the…

The purpose of this paper is to identify motivators that support educational success, as perceived by Aboriginal high school students enrolled in two urban Saskatchewan schools. Twelve semi-structured individual interviews revealed that students were motivated by a hospitable school culture, relevant learning opportunities, and positive personal…

The aim of this thesis is to investigate and present the status of student synthesis with color coded formula writing for grade level six through twelve, and to make recommendations for educators to teach writing structure through a color coded formula system in order to increase classroom engagement and lower students' affect. The thesis first…

Teachers often have difficulty implementing inquiry-based activities, leading to the arousal of negative emotions. In this multicase study of beginning physics teachers in Australia, we were interested in the extent to which their expectations were realized and how their classroom experiences while implementing extended experimental investigations…

This article describes a project conducted with Year 12 English students. It was based on the model of "Teaching as Inquiry" (Ministry of Education, 2007) and aimed to develop students' self-efficacy in relation to their literature-response essay writing. Self-efficacy was measured using Bandura's (2006) self-efficacy scale and an…

This paper reflects one cycle of an action research project that investigated how integrating activity, competition, and visual learning strategies through IWB/ Smart Response technology could engage a lower level Year 12 Advanced English class in NSW--a group of boys who felt disconnected from the course of study. After my initial reconnaissance…