Extra classes are increasingly observed in both developed and developing countries. In Vietnam, a country where education reforms are at their height, extra classes are proliferating and have become a concern to society and the government. Although the government has banned extra classes that are independent of school administration, teachers…

Since its introduction to the education arena in the 1960s, computers have both intrigued and frustrated teachers and researchers alike. The many promising prospects of computers and its applications did not materialise, and research into their effectiveness in learning has left many unanswered questions. The methods used in educational research…

This paper traces some of the ways that IT has changed and continues to change our lives, and how information and communication technologies or ICT are changing learning in schools. The real potential of ICT is the way it changes learners and the major focus of the paper is on e-learning, a term that combines pedagogy and technology. For this…

The call for quality research into the effectiveness of learning technologies is a common feature in much of the related literature and the broad question of how schools use technology to transform and improve the quality of student learning is one main area of concern. Projects like DECStech have flagged the need for research into student…

This paper discusses the potential of applying computer-animated instruction (CAnI) as an effective conceptual change strategy in teaching electrochemistry in comparison to conventional lecture-based instruction (CLI). The core assumption in this study is that conceptual change in learners is an active, constructive process that is enhanced by the…

Innovation and enterprise depend for their success on the development of new ideas. But from where do new ideas come? How do they arise? Finding solutions to such questions is at the heart of creativity research and the solving of novel problems. Reflection, not only in cognitive processes but also in the non-cognitive ones used in solving novel…

A range of factors has impinged on the provision of teacher education programs in the last decade. Largely emanating from governmental demands for increased accountability, these have included the setting of standards for student achievement, proof of program impact, and state and national testing. These legislative reforms and school district…

A Partial Least Squares Path Analysis technique was used to test the effect of students' prior experience with computers, statistical self-efficacy, and computer anxiety on their achievement in an introductory statistics course. Computer Anxiety Rating Scale and Current Statistics Self-Efficacy Scale were administered to a sample of 64 first-year…

The English article system presents many problems for non-native speakers of English, particularly when they do not have an equivalent structure in their first language. Different approaches to the teaching of articles have attempted to overcome this problem. By encouraging students to address the notion of countability and to identify specific…

Originally a series of local initiatives, Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Schools is now largely driven by policy makers and politicians who, too frequently, fail to appreciate the challenges the reform poses to teachers, school managers and workplace coordinators. Research has identified perceptions of poor quality in training,…

Professional socialisation refers to the acquisition of values, attitudes, skills and knowledge pertaining to a professional subculture. This paper reviews the literature about professional socialisation and the dimensions that contribute to the process and definition of professional socialisation. This literature analysis is undertaken of cognate…

Over the past two decades in Australia, the field of gifted education has expanded considerably. The term "giftedness" has effectively entered mainstream discourse. The field of gifted education, which nowadays operates as a compensatory function of mass education, is comprised of groups of people who broadly share in the concept of giftedness but…

This article reports a case study about the process experienced by Japanese International students (JIs) in a suburban high school. The study examined the relation between schooling, multiculturalism and cultural identity. The research explored cultural identity as the outcome of contest: an ideological struggle over values, practices and cultural…

This paper relates a teacher's story about a classroom-based research project undertaken with a Year 3 to 7 Special Area Resource class, located in a Mainstream Primary School in the south west of Adelaide. The class consisted of 11 students verified as students with disabilities under the DECS disability criteria. The students' age range (from 8…

Because children and young teenagers usually associate in same-sex groups, psychological research concerned with adolescent aggression has often concentrated on within-sex relationships. However, during adolescence, boys and girls increasingly interact socially. This paper reports a study of boy-to-girl aggression as perceived by girls, boys and…