This study aims to advance insight into the relationship between teacher education and graduates' intended and actual entrance into the teaching profession. Moreover, it indicates how this relationship varies between teacher training for primary education (i.e., programs for class teachers-to-be) and teacher training for secondary education (i.e.,…

Wishing to explore the complexity of the conceptual, didactic and institutional aspects of learning a scientifically defined object of knowledge, we chose to study the link between the personal relation to numeration developed by six-year-old pupils in first grade ("cours preparatoire" the first level of primary school in France), and more…

In this article, we examine the construction of word meaning by students during collaborative activities in a multicultural classroom at a Dutch primary school. The analysis is based on recordings of student talk in small groups of four or five students during mathematics lessons. Difficulties with specific terms and expressions frequently arose…

What kind of developmental potential is present in elementary schoolchildren but hindered by the traditional type of education? Half a century ago Daniel El'konin and Vasili Davydov, the leaders of Russian Vygotskian educational psychology started answering this question. They suggested that reflection is a basic human ability and it can be…

The objective of this research was to compare two types of models used in problem solving: those which give priority to intermediate qualitative representations, such as the episodic situation model, and those which are centred on the activity of the participant and are of a procedural nature. Two-step distributive problems were chosen that could…

This study aimed to verify the efficacy of a strategy for science learning acquisition based on contextual, metacognitive and socio-cultural perspectives, strongly linked to the paradigm of conceptual change. The teaching model we adopted is based on co-operation for the realization of scientific experiences, and included direct observation, pair…

Examines how children, ages four to ten years old, construct conventional time by using different tools to locate events in time. Explains that the children underwent an interview task and a card arrangement task. Finds that younger children use relative locations while older children utilize absolute locations. (CMK)

Examines the relationship between phonological and cognitive tasks with beginning reading acquisition. Uses two teaching techniques for tasks given first-grade students in Cyprus (n=50) and Greece (n=50). Reports differences were revealed in word-decoding accuracy, Greek students showed a higher linguistic ability, and successive processing and…

Examines the impact of the transition from elementary to secondary school on students' motivational profile and its link to academic achievement. Focuses on sixth grade and secondary one students (girls, n=186; boys, n=150) at the end of the school year. Reports the most powerful indicator of academic performance was self-efficacy. (CMK)

Presents the results of a study that explored the management of subject-verb agreement in second -to seventh-grade children studying the French language. Examined whether agreement with imperfect tense may have a lesser cost than agreement with the present. Finds that imperfect tense is acquired more rapidly than present tense. (CMK)

Describes an investigation of student and parent attitudes towards bullying by comparing attitudes with bullying behavior. States that parents (n=747) completed the Parental Attitudes to Bullying Scale and children (n=326), aged six to eleven, in primary schools completed the Children's Attitudes to Bullying Scale. Includes references. (CMK)

Explores the characteristics of social interaction during an English language based task in the primary classroom, and the role of the computer in structuring collaboration when compared to a non-computer mode. Explains that seven and nine year old boys and girls (n=120) completed a computer and non-computer task. (CMK)

Discusses a case study that investigated situational mechanisms of peer group interaction in collaborative activity. Aims to highlight the processes and conditions for meaning-making and to characterize the relationships of social and cognitive processes in peer-mediated collaborative learning. Explains that twelve year olds (n=20) participated in…

Examines how students construct shared understanding by exploring what interactive and discursive tools students use in their collaboration. Presents observations made during a series of innovative mathematics lessons in an eighth grade Dutch primary school classroom. (CMK)

Reports on two related studies intended to explore the interactions among children's metacognitive abilities, their working memory capacity, the development and selection of strategies, and their performance on problem-solving tasks. Explains that in study 1 children performed a reclassification task, and in study 2 children performed a…