Encouraging students with learning challenges to actively participate in the learning process can be difficult, especially when they are tentative about their knowledge level as compared to their peers. This article outlines three steps teachers can take to incorporate cooperative learning strategies that ensure active participation by all…

A key role in the successful implementation of any learning approach is played by teachers, so how well blended learning works will depend largely on how well teachers make the transition from their traditional face-to-face classroom roles to the wider more complex role that blended learning requires. The additional skills and the forging of a new…

The purpose of this phenomenographic study was to: (a) gain an understanding of the meaning of inquiry held by beginning science teachers and their instructors in an Alternative Teacher Certification Program (ATCP); and (b) compare science teachers' views of inquiry with what they learned in their ATCP. Participants were four beginning science…

This article examines how two new teachers, with varied content knowledge and preparation as teachers in mathematics education, improved their use of whole-class discourse in their mathematics classes with a mentor's assistance. Discourse has long been shown to be influential in supporting students' learning of mathematics, but the implementation…

The first years of teaching can be demanding, as the novice works to gain familiarity with many aspects of professional work. Often, what they have been prepared to do in teacher education programs is not aligned with what is expected at them in schools. As a consequence, many teachers leave the profession or move away from the reform-minded…

The purpose of this study was to examine prospective physical education teachers' conceptions of caring during their student teaching experiences. This study was conducted through a qualitative research design that included semi-structured interviews, field observations, and document analysis. Four student teachers (1 male and 3 females) from…

This article presents one part of a wider study which looks at the space afforded to MFL teachers to make decisions about their teaching at the planning stage and in the classroom. The article focuses on the classroom observations which were one of the sources for the collection of rich data. In an attempt to quantify the space available, the…

Disproportionate placement of African American and Hispanic students into disability and special education categories may result from true behavioral and cognitive differences, bias in assessment and referral, or some combination of the two. Studies of commonly used ADHD rating scales suggest teacher bias may contribute to placement discrepancies.…

Many state and federal governments have mandated in such documents as the National Science Education Standards that inquiry strategies should be the focus of the teaching of science within school classrooms. The difficult part for success is changing teacher practices from perceived traditional ways of teaching to more inquiry-based approaches.…

Leal Filho, MacDermot, and Padgam (1996) contended that post-secondary institutions are well suited to take on leadership responsibilities for society's environmental protection. Higher education has the unique academic freedom to engage in critical thinking and bold experimentation in environmental sustainability (Cortese, 2003). Although…

We describe research carried out with a prospective secondary biology teacher, whom we shall call Miguel. The teacher's conceptions of the nature of science and of learning and teaching science were analyzed and compared with his classroom practice when teaching science lessons. The data gathering procedures were interviews analyzed by means of…

Performance assessment is the assessment of students engaged in an activity. It is the on-the-spot evaluation of a performance, behavior, or interaction. Ordinarily, there is no concrete product that can be judged at a later date. In Developmental Assessment, teachers monitor student progress against a preconstructed map of developing skills,…

This book will help teachers examine and choose reading assessment in relation to current understandings of the reading process, students' development, and the culture of schooling. Each chapter focuses on a particular type of reading assessment to familiarize teachers with the broad array of assessments available; uses the CURRV framework as an…

Describes a case study that was designed to discover how seventh-grade students felt about writing when composed using a word processing program compared to using pen and paper. Student and teacher interviews are discussed, classroom observations are reported, and factors students found important to enjoyment of writing assignments are described.…

This standard lesson on identifying salt and sugar crystals expands into an opportunity for students to develop their observation, questioning, and modeling skills. Although sugar and salt may look similar, students discovered that they looked very different under a magnifying glass and behaved differently when dissolved in water. In addition,…