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Extant research is inconclusive about how student-centered learning might affect peer interactions, teacher interactions, belongingness, and academic success. This study investigates the relationships in two commonly applied types of learning environments: learning communities (LCs) and problem based learning (PBL). Survey data from 425 first-year university students, enrolled in either an LC (N = 333) or PBL (N = 92) context, provide the input for path analyses to explore two conceptual models. Belongingness appears more important in LCs, whereas for PBL, formal peer interaction seems more important for academic success, which is consistent with the main focus of the two learning environments. LCs are dominantly focused on creating a safe environment and a PBL context is mainly focused on knowledge construction.

Intercultural group work (IGW) is a promising learning strategy to enable university students to benefit from diversity among their peers. However, cultural diversity does not automatically lead to student engagement in intercultural collaboration. To explore the costs and benefits students attribute to IGW, we conducted focus groups across six universities in the Netherlands. The expectancy-value theory provided a valuable framework to gain novel insights into the nature of these costs and benefits. Identified costs are time, effort, negative psychological states, and compromising at the expense of personal values. Benefits can be categorized as attainment, intrinsic, and utility value. Results suggest that costs and benefits may be viewed as three dimensions, instead of the traditional four components featured by expectancy-value theory.

Professional interaction in the workplace is an indispensable part of professional development. We examined how teachers' teaching collaboration networks within a university department changed throughout an eight-month professional development project and how these networks influenced teachers’ observation choices in formative peer observations. Stochastic actor-oriented modeling (SAOM) shows that it was more likely that teachers started to collaborate when they were working on the same floor (propinquity), were more active in attending project meetings, and had more teaching experience. The multiple regression quadratic assignment procedure (MR-QAP) indicates that teachers were more likely to observe colleagues with whom they already collaborated.

This article focuses on improving the instructional quality of student teachers in elementary education. We developed a coaching approach involving classroom observation and appropriate lesson preparation and feedback templates. Using an untreated control group design with pre-test and posttest (n = 198), we answered the question ‘whether student teachers who learned to teach with the new coaching approach achieved a higher level of pedagogical and didactical teaching skills compared to student teachers who did not receive this approach’. The effect variable used was the observation instrument ICALT. We compared the average scores of the control group and the experimental group on the posttest (ANCOVA). The differences found on the posttest, after controlling for the confounding variables, were significant on all ICALT scales. These effect sizes are medium on the scales; ‘Safe climate’, and ‘Clear instruction’, and large on the scales; ‘Classroom management’, ‘Activating pupils’, ‘Adaptive teaching’, and ‘Teaching learning strategies’.

Previous studies in higher education have shown that the reliability of student ratings of teaching skill increases if multiple ratings by different students are aggregated. This study examines the generalizability of these findings to the context of secondary education. Also, it seeks to validate these findings by comparing reliability levels estimated by the routinely used nested design with those estimated using a more complex design. The sample consisted of 410 students from 17 classes rating 63 teachers working at eight schools across the Netherlands. Using the nested design, the study replicates findings of previous studies in higher education. The findings illustrate how the reliability level of secondary school students’ ratings increases with an increasing number of students. However, these replicated reliability levels were not validated by the more complex design which provided lower estimates. This indicates that the nested design may not provide accurate estimations of rating reliability.

Researchers have recently become interested in exploring cumulative order in teachers' use of teaching practices, which they argue may reflect stages in teacher development. However, to validly apply stage models to individuals, it is necessary to determine whether all teachers fit the stage order. This study explores whether and in how many lessons observed teaching practices do not fit the stage order and whether misfit is typical to certain teachers, which would indicate individual differences. The sample consists of 198 classroom observations of 69 teachers (two to four lessons for each teacher). Using person-fit methods, the study shows that 17% of the 198 observed lessons substantially misfit the stage order but that misfit is not characteristic to specific teachers, suggesting that it is incidental. Removing the occasional misfitting lessons allows the stage model to provide an appropriate description of teaching skill.

In this study data-feedback in a cyclic model of data-driven teaching was used to enhance the teaching behavior of students registered in a master course for teachers. Differences between pre- and post-test measures in a simple one-group pre-test post-tests design proved to be significant with effect sizes ranging from d = 0.29 to d = 0.76. Improving teaching behavior in a time span of only six weeks on average is remarkable since earlier studies indicated that it takes over 15 years to master complex teaching skills with a 'natural development' of teaching skills of about 25% of a standard deviation.

We studied the improvement of the quality of student teachers’ lessons in interactive (story)book reading through the use of data-feedback on observed lessons. Variables regarding the optimal time use, the quality of instruction and the student teachers’ pedagogical relation with pupils were included in a one group pre-test post-test design. The student teachers were able to improve the quality of their lessons on four of the five variables within a period of five weeks. The application of data-feedback is a promising activity in the training of student teachers. Further research is needed to see whether the same results can be obtained in other topic areas of reading and to draw vast conclusions on the effects of the application of data-feedback.

This study explored the content and structure of physics teachers' beliefs on teaching and learning in general in relation to their domain-specific beliefs. A questionnaire was administered to secondary school teachers in physics (N = 126) in the Netherlands. The results showed that beliefs about the general and domain-specific goals of physics education formed an interrelated belief system consisting of content-oriented and student-oriented beliefs. Moreover, teachers agreed with the importance of both teacher-regulated and student-regulated learning. Therefore, research on teachers' beliefs should go beyond the often used dichotomy between 'teacher-focused' versus 'student-focused' education by focusing on the rationale behind 'appropriate' teaching behavior. (c) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Attention to the role of pre-service teacher research in teacher education is growing worldwide. This study compares the perceptions of teacher educators and pre-service teachers about the purposes, learning outcomes, and value of pre-service teacher research in different contexts. Questionnaires and interview data from participants in the Netherlands and Australia, identify an inquiry habit of mind as the most important, valuable outcome of pre-service teacher research. Although pre-service teachers consider research frustrating and stressful, they also acknowledge its value as a communication tool and contributor to teacher identity. Yet few of them expect to conduct research in their future jobs. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

To deepen the understanding of the long-term impact of study abroad, this qualitative, exploratory study examines the self-reported relationship between study abroad and professional teacher behaviour. Findings illustrate an enduring impact of study abroad on personal and professional development of the interviewed teachers, even after twenty years of teaching experience. This suggests that the impact of study abroad may continue throughout a teacher's career. The applicability of the outcomes, however, is dependent on the primary school as working environment. Influential factors such as high workload and beginning teachers' dilemmas lead to fewer opportunities to utilise the study abroad experience. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Background: While temperamental characteristics have been related to the onset of cannabis use, it is not clear at what point(s) along the trajectory from early onset of tobacco use (EOT) to early onset of cannabis use (EOC) these characteristics exert their impact. This study examined if (1) temperamental characteristics predispose to EOT that on its turn predisposes to EOC, and (2) temperament moderates the importance of EOT on the progression to EOC.Methods: Data from 1848 (833) participants in the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a prospective population study of Dutch adolescents, were analyzed. We used parent-reports on the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire to assess the dimensions of high-intensity pleasure, frustration, effortful control, shyness and fearfulness at age 10-12. EOT and EOC were defined as use at least once before the ages of 12 and 13 years, respectively, assessed by means of self-reports. We performed mediation and moderation analyses in Mplus.Results: High levels of high-intensity pleasure predisposed to entrance in the trajectory from EOT to EOC. Once tobacco use had been initiated at early age, low levels of shyness and high levels of high-intensity pleasure increased the risk of progression to EOC.Conclusions: Besides a common liability for EOT and EOC based on temperament, the risk of transition from tobacco to cannabis use is modified by temperamental characteristics. Differences in interplay with other risk factors may explain the impact of temperament on distinct points along the substance use trajectory. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a student controlled computer program for high school mathematics based on instruction principles derived from Schoenfeld's theory of problem solving. The computer program allows students to choose problems and to make use of hints during different episodes of solving problems. Crucial episodes are: analyzing the problem, selecting appropriate mathematical knowledge, making a plan, carrying it out, and checking the answer against the question asked.The effectiveness of the computer program was evaluated by means of a pre-test-post-test quasi experimental design study. Four classes worked with the computer program in three periods of two consecutive weeks each, whereas five classes received only traditional mathematics education. These classes served as a control group. The results show evidence of intervention effectiveness. The students who worked with the computer program showed increased problem-solving ability compared to the students in traditional mathematics instruction. The use of hints could explain an essential part of the increase in students' problem solving skills. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.