This paper represents the second of two papers written as part of the National Standards and Accreditation of Career Practitioners project. The first, a scoping paper titled Shaping a career development culture: Quality standards, quality practice, quality outcomes (McMahon, 2004), provided information for and guided discussion at the National…

This project on national standards and accreditation of career practitioners is set against a background of unprecedented interest by governments nationally and internationally in the provision of career guidance services. Currently more is known about the policy and delivery of career guidance than at any other time in history. There is growing…

This document presents a revised set of principles for school drug education. The principles for drug education in schools comprise an evolving framework that has proved useful over a number of decades in guiding the development of effective drug education. The first edition of "Principles for Drug Education in Schools" (Ballard et al. 1994) has…

This study examines the effects of teaching Linkage and Problem Translating Skills on students' problem-solving performance and their learning of the five cognitive variables namely, Concept Relatedness, Idea Association, Problem Translating Skill, Non-Specific but Relevant Knowledge and Specific Knowledge. Seventy three Grade 9 (Secondary 3)…

This study makes use of an action research paradigm to improve primary students' analyzing skills. It was conducted at the San Esteban Elementary School, Region I, Philippines, during the 6-week off campus practice teaching of one of the researchers. Sources of data include a thinking skills checklist, a set of Curriculum Support Materials (CSM),…

This study explores the problem-solving frameworks of twenty prospective secondary mathematics teachers. Twenty prospective secondary mathematics teachers were asked to complete in writing the statement "When I am given a mathematics problem to solve, this is what I do...." Prospective secondary mathematics teachers were found to rely on…

Science is at heart a rational activity. Reasoning, being an important component of critical thinking has been successfully taught using Socratic methods. As an approach, the instructor or designer of instruction models an inquiring and probing mind focusing on providing questions and not answers. The main aim has been to allow learners to…

1999 marks an important milestone when the Malaysian Ministry of Education launched its 3-year pilot Smart Schools Initiative in 87 schools across the country. This study aims to compare the differential perceptions on science learning experience between a group of 383 Form 3 (Year 9 equivalent in the UK) students in two Smart schools and a group…

This study investigates whether or not (a) 252 Jamaican high school students (168 boys, 84 girls, 171 grade 10 and 81 grade 11 students) had favourable attitudes to biology, (b) their level of biology performance was satisfactory, (c) there were significant differences in their performance based on their gender, grade level, school-type,…

This study reports research findings on assessment of the science classroom learning environment and its association with two student outcomes--attitudes toward science and national examination scores. Modified versions of the WIHIC and TOSRA questionnaires in the Indonesian language were administered to 1400 students and their teachers. This…

The present study discusses the findings from a research that was conducted involving fourteen teachers in a primary school. In the study, the teachers' classroom practices of teaching and learning science were observed and analysed. The data gathering procedures included 23 classroom observations and analysed by means of qualitative data…

This study sought to find out if (a) the performance of 113 Jamaican 11th-graders on a mole concept test was satisfactory or not; (b) there were significant differences in their performance linked to their chemical and mathematical abilities, gender and socioeconomic background (SEB); and, (c) there were significant relationships among the four…

This paper will reflect on the experiences of an educator who had supervised students in a number of science projects entered for competitions organised regionally and internationally. Personal experiences and difficulties faced are shared and possible solutions are discussed. Various factors that affected the progress of the science projects and…

This study has two parallel research agenda: (1) the development of social skills and pedagogical content knowledge in teacher candidates as they work collaboratively in pairs, and (2) the development of conceptual understanding and social skills in elementary school students who are taught by teacher candidates with cooperative learning…

This study assessed the level of integrated science performance of 200 Jamaican ninth-graders (100 boys, 100 girls), and determined if there were significant differences in their performance linked to their gender, attitudes to science, school location and student-type. A science achievement test and attitudes to science questionnaire were used…