The smallest meaningful sample of classroom transactions

In order to explore the question of the number of observations necessary to obtain a trustworthy sample of classroom transactions, the data from an existing study were reanalyzed. Sixteen teachers, all of whom were trained to use the materials and procedures of the Science Curriculum Improvement Study, were observed four times with a five-category system which classified teacher questions. In this sample, teachers were extremely variable across occasions. The reliability of a single observation was zero for four of the five variables. For the fifth variable, asking students to hypothesize, it was estimated that 11 to 20 observations would be necessary to obtain a stable mean score for each teacher.     

The bridge between the learning laboratory and the classroom: Discussion 1

This article uses theoretical concepts from self-efficacy theory, goal theory, expectancy value, and intrinsic motivation theory as a way to organize the vast and largely atheoretical literature on academic cheating. Specifically, it draws on 3 particular questions that students encounter when deciding whether to cheat: (a) What is my purpose?, (b) Can I do this task?, and (c) What are the costs associated with cheating? This article reviews both experimental and nonexperimental evidence related to each of these questions and offers suggestions for future research and instructional practices that will lessen the likelihood of cheating.     

The meaning of meaningful learning in mathematics in upper-primary education

Learning Environments Research - One of the ways in which schools try to improve students’ motivation is through making learning meaningful for students. The concept of meaningful learning,...     

让研究性学习走进课堂

作为实施素质教育主阵地的课堂教学，研究如何渗透研究性学习的理念、方式方法尤为重要。本主要探讨怎样突破传统教学模式，改变教师教学方式，评估方式及营造开放的学习环境方面的问题。     

Teacher students’ meaningful learning in widening learning worlds

ABSTRACT

This qualitative metasynthesis investigated students’ meaningful learning experiences amid andragogical teacher education programmes. The programmes catered to the specific learning needs of adult students in the context of university-based teacher education. This study aimed to provide a wider picture of the frames of students’ meaningful learning in andragogical teacher education programmes. The findings revealed three major learning worlds of adult students’ meaningful learning, which formed a common system widening from the professional awakening to the transformative community and agency in society. Based on the findings, this study argues that in andragogical teacher education, which emphasises collaboration and networking in accordance with the current trend in higher education, teacher students may become empowered participants and active agents in society. The findings can be used in planning curricula, and developing programmes of higher education in general and teacher education in particular.     

Meaningful learning in the cooperative classroom

Meaningful learning is based on more than what teachers transmit; it promotes the construction of knowledge out of learners' experience, feelings and exchanges with other learners. This educational view is based on the constructivist approach to learning and the co-operative learning approach. Researchers and practitioners in various countries and settings seek ways to incorporate these approaches to create meaningful learning in the multicultural classroom and in the co-operative learning classroom. This article presents some of the ideas, studies and methods that signal a major shift of emphasis in education from product to process.     

The continuity of learning in a translanguaging science classroom

Cultural Studies of Science Education - This article aims to explore and clarify how students’ use of first and second languages in a translanguaging science classroom (TSC) may affect the...     

Cooperative learning in the heterogeneous Israeli classroom

The group investigation method of cooperative learning (CL), and its contribution to the heterogeneous classroom, is the subject of this article. A wide range of ethnic and cultural diversity among students in the classroom, as occurs in Israel as a nation of recent immigrants, requires a differentiated approach to instruction not provided by the uniformity inherent in traditional whole-class teaching. Group investigation through positive peer interaction in small groups increases students' motivation to learn while providing for flexibility and variety in the content and pace of teaching and learning.