This collective case study examines the influence of 4 third-grade teachers' beliefs and knowledge on their error-handling practices during class discussion of mathematics. Study findings suggest that, although teachers' ways of handling student errors during class discussion of mathematics are clearly linked to both teacher beliefs and teacher…

This study investigated the processes used by prospective mathematics teachers as they examined middle-school students' work solving statistical problems using a computer software program. Ways in which the model may be used by other researchers and implications for the design of pedagogical tasks for prospective teachers are discussed. (Contains…

This study investigates 3 preservice secondary mathematics teachers' understandings of limits of sequences and their changing conceptions of limit during and after instruction involving interactive, dynamic sketches embodying the formal definition of the limit of a sequence. Manipulating a coherent visual representation of the formal definition in…

To test the effects of octave and timbre on tuning accuracy, four stimuli--B-flat 4 sounded by flute, oboe, and clarinet and B-flat 2 sounded by tuba--functioned as reference pitches for high school wind players (N = 72). The two stimulus octaves combined with participants' assigned tuning notes created soprano, tenor, and bass tuning groups. All…

Performance anxiety is a common experience among musicians. Recent studies have found it to be an issue not only for adult performers but also for developing musicians as early as third grade. The question as to its developed or innate nature led to the present inquiry pertaining to young children's responses to performance situations. Sixty-six…

This field-based case study documented students' (N = 256) voice use and voice health perceptions during a 3-day all-state high school chorus event through daily surveys, phonation duration data, analysis of rehearsal voice use behaviors, and field notes. Among the primary results are the following: (a) First and final day survey comparisons…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of blocked and random practice schedules on the performance accuracy, speed, temporal evenness, and attitude of beginning band students in a group instructional setting. The research assumptions were based on the contextual interference hypothesis, which predicts that a blocked practice…

This study employed a cluster randomized trial design to evaluate the effectiveness of a research-based intervention for improving the mathematics education of very young children. This intervention includes the "Building Blocks" mathematics curriculum, which is structured in research-based learning trajectories, and congruous professional…

Based in qualitative interviews and ethnographic research conducted in the remote rural town of "Golden Valley," California, this paper explores the roles of schools and education in structuring rural community life in the wake of economic devastation caused by the timber industry collapse in the region. We look in depth at the ways in which…

As a result of curriculum changes at Key Stages 3 and 4 the place and status of history and geography in the English secondary school curriculum are being progressively undermined. Using evidence derived from small-group interviews with Year 8 pupils during the summer term 2002, this article reports pupils' perceptions of their learning…

The UK Education Act 2002 furthers a sense of institutional fragmentation and scope for local enterprise. An emerging "decentralised" agenda enables schools that demonstrably meet accountability criteria to opt out of National Curriculum requirements in order to pursue individual interests, supportive technologies and new partnership arrangements.…

This study was designed to find out why secondary school students changed schools, the trends and the frequency of change of school among them. The data was collected by means of a set of questionnaires administered to 251 final-year students who had moved from one school to another in the course of their secondary education. Analysis showed that…

For many years there has been concern about whether sex bias exists in various assessments. A literature review reveals little if any sex bias in UK national assessments at GCSE. Oxford, Cambridge and RSA examiners, for three case study subjects, completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory, a self-report inventory that measures the extent to which…

Despite research into the factors that motivate prospective teachers and those already in post, relatively little attention has been paid to the perspectives of trainee teachers. This article is based on a survey of 550 undergraduate and postgraduate trainee teachers, using a Likert-type questionnaire, to discover whether particular patterns of…

This exploratory study critically examines the relation between the commonly applied social contextual variables and the assimilation of the concepts of historical time. Using new data, from a classroom-based research study of 120 nine-to ten-year-olds, it contends that extant researchers' application and investigation of the social context of…