In this paper an evaluation study of a public programme financing a regional network of 157 youth centres in the South of Italy is presented. A theory-based evaluation model was adopted to explore the causal links between different types of participation experience. Evaluation questions focused on three main issues are: the perception of…

Design-thinking is an inductive and participatory process in which designers are required to manage constraints, generate solutions, and follow project timelines in order to complete project goals. The researchers used this exploration study to look at how designers in various disciplinary fields approach design projects. Designers were asked to…

This study compared the impact of three types of instructional methods (case-based learning, worked example and faded worked example) on preservice teachers' (n?=?72) decision-making about classroom management. A quasi-experimental study was conducted to investigate both the outcomes and the processes of preservice teachers'…

This study was conducted at colleges in three countries (United States, Venezuela, and Spain) and across three academic disciplines (engineering, education, and business), to examine how experienced faculty define competencies for their discipline, and design instructional interaction for online courses. A qualitative research design employing…

Larry Palinkas advances the developing science of social work by providing an explanation of how social science research methods, both qualitative and quantitative, can improve our capacity to draw casual inferences. Understanding causal relations and making causal inferences--with the promise of being able to predict and control outcomes--is…

This study examines the impact of the recent financial crisis on co-occurring patterns of change in financial strain and financial coping behaviors of college students (N = 748) using two-timed, longitudinal data collected prior to the 2008 financial crisis and again one year later. Using a stress and coping framework, we found that different…

Recent reflection on the professional knowledge of teachers has been marked by a shift away from more reductive competence and skill-focused models of teaching towards a view of teacher expertise as involving complex context-sensitive deliberation and judgement. Much of this shift has been inspired by an Aristotelian conception of practical wisdom…

This study employed qualitative research methodology to explore the experiences of mothers who self-directed their learning following their child's stroke diagnosis. Paediatric stroke, although rare, is among the top 10 causes of death in children in the USA, but information about the cause, treatment and long-term impact are difficult to…

This article examines critical issues related to teacher decision-making in early childhood music classrooms. Through the story of one teacher's experience, we take a closer look at specific criteria to guide decision-making, and strategies to deepen awareness of young children's needs in the music classroom and guide instructional…

The global trend of the declining interest in chemistry education is a major concern. Over the last few decades, significant efforts and improvements have been made in various areas of chemistry education research to increase student motivation and engagement based on classroom and laboratory practices. However, little research has been conducted…

Accreditation agencies have outlined professional skills that should be possessed by engineering graduates. The question this paper addresses is "What professional skills do our recent graduates actually use and value as being important?" Young engineering professionals, as well as professionals in many different professions, were asked…

General scientific literacy includes understanding the grounds on which scientific claims are based. The measurements scientists make and the data that they produce from them generally constitute these grounds. However, the nature of data generation has received relatively little attention from those interested in teaching science through inquiry.…

With the advent of school-based management, citizen committees in low-income countries or areas are often expected to oversee the functioning of schools, health centres, and other community resources. However, studies of their effectiveness show mixed results. Though members of such committees may be able to repair buildings, they often cannot…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of energy literacy among 276 Form 2 (Grade 8) Malaysian students as no similar study has been previously conducted in the country, as well as the contribution of students' energy-related knowledge and attitudes on their energy-related behaviors. This was a non-experimental quantitative…

Additive integration of information is ubiquitous in judgment and has been shown to be effective even when multiplicative rules of probability theory are prescribed. We explore the generality of these findings in the context of estimating probabilities of success in contests. We first define a normative model of these probabilities that takes…