The core idea of the PROFILES project is to support science teachers' continuous professional development. The instructional innovation of the PROFILES is the so called Three Stage Model (TSM) which aims to arouse students' intrinsic motivation, to offer a meaningful inquiry-based learning environment and to use the science learning in…

Successful aging and lifelong learning are value-laden concepts that are culturally determined. To this effect, people with different value systems and cultural backgrounds may perceive and understand these two concepts differently, resulting in different definitions and conceptualizations by people in diverse cultural contexts. There have been…

Teacher ownership is crucial for the sustainability of science education reform efforts. This paper discusses participatory design as a bottom-up approach for promoting teachers' sense of ownership of inquiry-based learning and teaching approach as put forward by the PROFILES project. According to the prevalent argument in favor of…

This study examined whether attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration (Physician-Nurse, Physician-Social Worker, Nurse-Social Worker) held by medical, social work, and nursing students changed after completing an interprofessional curriculum consisting of (a) Interprofessional Education Development Session and (b) the Senior Aging and…

Letter position dyslexia (LPD) is a peripheral dyslexia that causes errors of letter position within words, such as reading "cloud" as "could." In this study, we assessed the effect of various display manipulations and reading methods on the reading of 10 Hebrew readers with developmental LPD. These manipulations included…

School subjects can provide a good context for learning a second language. This is especially true for science as it can involve a range of student centred activities, which involve students in collaborative communication related to a range of different competences. This paper reflects on one approach to learning in a second language, using the…

Recent literacy research shows an increasing interest in the influence of prosody on literacy acquisition. The current study examines the relationship of nonspeech rhythmic skills to children's reading acquisition, and their possible relation to stress assignment in Spanish, a syllable-timed language. Sixty-six third graders with no reading…

This paper explores the effectiveness of networking in promoting inquiry-based science education (IBSE) through raising the self-efficacy of science teachers to take ownership of more effective ways of teaching students, supported by stakeholders (Holbrook & Rannikmae, 2010). As PROFILES project (Professional Reflection Oriented Focus on…

In this study, we examined texting behaviours, text message characteristics (textese) of actual sent text messages and the relationships between texting, textese and literacy abilities in a sample of 183 American undergraduates. As compared to previous naturalistic and experimental studies with English-speaking adults, both texting frequency and…

Electromagnetic induction is probably one of the most challenging subjects for students in the introductory physics sequence, especially in algebra-based courses. Yet it is at the heart of many of the devices we rely on today. To help students grasp and retain the concept, we have put together a simple and dramatic classroom demonstration that…

In 1879, in the midst of the debate between English and continental scientists about the nature of cathode rays, William Crookes conducted an experiment in which a small mill or "paddle wheel" was pushed along tracks inside a cathode ray tube (CRT) (similar to that shown in Fig. 1) when connected to a high-voltage induction coil. Crookes…

This review of research explores characteristics associated with massive open online courses (MOOCs). Three key characteristics are revealed: varied definitions of openness, barriers to persistence, and a distinct structure that takes the form as one of two pedagogical approaches. The concept of openness shifts among different MOOCs, models,…

Vortex cannons have been used by physics teachers for years, mostly to teach the continuity principle. In its simplest form, a vortex cannon is an empty coffee can with a hole cut in the bottom and the lid replaced. More elaborate models can be purchased through various scientific suppliers under names such as "Air Cannon" and…

This article reports on the pioneering use in education of Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs) to assess teachers' decisions regarding deployment of rich tasks. The incorporation of this quantitative method into what is usually considered the domain of qualitative researchers is an innovative feature of this study. The DCEs enabled rigorous,…

The effect of the aerodynamic drag force on an object in flight is well known and has been described in this and other journals many times. At speeds less than about 1 m/s, the drag force on a sphere is proportional to the speed and is given by Stokes' law. At higher speeds, the drag force is proportional to the velocity squared and is…