Background: Teacher-related factors such as gender, experience, conceptions related to mathematics, instructional practices have effects with various magnitudes on students' mathematics achievement. Classroom related factors such as class size, class climate and limitations to teaching and their relation to mathematics achievement have also been…

Background: Social circus has long been the folklore in the Chinese culture. Recently, initiatives have been undergoing to introduce it in the school physical education curriculum in Hong Kong. Aims: This article reports a study on 38 PE teachers' professional learning experiences while attending two 2-day workshops respectively concerning…

Background: The effect of note-taking has been well-recognized by EFL educators. However, little empirical research has been done to investigate combined effects of note-taking instruction and note-taking language (whether in L1 or L2) in an acquisition-poor environment, where English is used as an instructional language yet the audience is…

Background: The international science competitions show that students from different countries perform differently in subjects such as mathematics, physics and chemistry. In the literature comparative empirical studies tried to address the reasons for cross-national students' differences in performance from different perspectives such as teaching…

Background: The Education Commission (EC) of Hong Kong, the advisory body set up by the government on the overall development of education in Hong Kong, began developing a policy of education reform in 1998 and published its blueprint in 2000. In 2006, the EC published its fourth official report on the progress of the reform--"Progress Report on…

Background: For healthy development, children need positive relationships with adults. Due to changes in family systems and shifting social norms, many children may be receiving less parental support than in the past and may be discouraged from forming natural mentoring relationships with other adults. Mentoring programs are designed to facilitate…

Background: A school-wide program known as Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) that systematically reinforces positive behaviours in schools based on the USA model of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) but also emphasizes learning processes and outcomes was implemented in the Western Sydney Region (WSR) of Australia. Aim: The…

Background: In Hong Kong, secondary school students face high levels of stress due to the examination oriented curricula. According to Sun (2006), some secondary school students cannot bear the pressure when facing the examinations, and some of them may exhibit destructive behaviors such as suicide and bullying. Therefore, cases of school bullying…

Background: A federally-funded program at the University of Texas at San Antonio adopted a holistic problem solving mentoring approach for novice teachers participating in an accelerated teacher certification program. Aims/focus of discussion: To investigate a novice teacher's problem-solving activity through self-expression of challenges and…

Background: Trigonometry is an area of mathematics that students believe to be particularly difficult and abstract compared with the other subjects of mathematics. Trigonometry is often introduced early in year 8 with most textbooks traditionally starting with naming sides of right-angled triangles. Students need to see and understand why their…

Background: Entrepreneurship has become an emerging field of research in America, Europe and Asia. It has contributed a lot in uplifting the socioeconomic status of the countries. Well reputed International Journals are widely publishing on a variety of entrepreneurial issues. A little research in the area has so far been reported from Pakistan.…

Background: Research on teacher perceptions of student behavior problems is relatively recent in the People's Republic of China. Although some findings are consistent with research in Western settings, interesting differences have emerged. A question that has yet to be examined is the role of teacher and student gender in teachers' perceptions of…

Background: Because of the educational reform and decreasing birth rate in Taiwan over the past 20 years, higher technological and vocational Education (TVE) in Taiwan faces a severe student recruitment competition. Dailey (2007) indicates the need to develop marketing strategies in higher education is evident. TVE institutes are beginning to…

Background: Over the last decade, several factors have placed faculty workloads in higher education under scrutiny. Improvements in technology and increases in the numbers of participants in higher education have lead to increased costs, which have largely been absorbed by the taxpayer. The increase in the diversity among students attending…

Background: In line with the increase of using value-added assessment information to evaluate learning gain made by learners in different parts of the world, the Education Bureau in Hong Kong has recently introduced a system that provides value-added information of secondary school students. However, not many teachers have a clear knowledge and…