Courses: Introduction to Communication Behavior, Health Communication, Public Communication Campaigns, Persuasion, Public Relations. Objectives: Students gain practice determining various components of a health communication campaign (e.g. selecting appropriate target population(s), media channels), while noting the need for synergy across key…

A pedagogical technique, named the Bridge activity, has been developed to assist students' transition from preclass preparation to in-class learning within a flipped organic chemistry course. Bridge activities form the basis of an initial interactive discussion to activate students' prior knowledge and encourage meaningful learning. This paper…

This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month's issue discusses using the 5E learning cycle to create coherent storylines. The 5E learning cycle provides an important framework to help teachers organize activities. To realize the full potential of the 5E framework for student learning, lessons must also…

Early childhood teachers promote literacy learning through intentional instructional practices and the establishment of classroom environments that encourage and support the work, interest, and curiosity of young learners. They provide opportunities for children to engage with their teacher and peers and consider this an important component of…

With the pervasiveness of digital technology, elementary students almost instinctively begin inquiry-based instruction with a bias. Visual information from digital devices competes with elementary science inquiry. To counteract this effect, teachers can use advance organizers. The advance organizer is a tool or a mental learning aid to help…

In this article, the authors endorse a model that uses themes as springboards for language improvement, accompanied by the added benefit of content learning, though to differing degrees depending on the instructional setting. The themes that teachers choose to integrate into their language classrooms may reflect serious issues (e.g., elections,…

This booklet is a synthesis of research on social sciences teaching that has been shown to have a positive effect on a range of desirable student outcomes: cognitive, skills, participatory and affective outcomes. Education in the social sciences plays an important role in developing students' sense of identity and influencing the ways in which…

For the past five summers, the authors have taught summer school to recent immigrants and refugees. Their experiences with these fourth-grade English language learners (ELL) have taught them the value of using models to build scientific and mathematical concepts. In this article, they describe the use of different forms of 2- and 3-D models to…

The U.S. Department of Education (2000) reported that approximately 80% of students identified with learning disabilities (LD) received half of their instruction within the general education classroom setting. Therefore, it is important that general education teachers implement teaching strategies and practices that meet the distinct educational…

Given a 5-peg by 5-peg geoboard, how many different lengths can be made by stretching a rubber band to form an oblique segment between any two pegs? This investigation requires students to make connections to the Pythagorean theorem, congruence, and combinations. With its use of visual representation and a range of mathematical ideas that can be…

"Working Smarter, Not Harder: Reaching the Tough to Teach" is the topic of an exclusive four-part series by Sylvia Rockwell for the "Kappa Delta Pi Record." Part I describes the characteristics of students at risk of school failure, provides an overview of research-based principles found to be effective with all students and essential for students…

Neurologist and middle school teacher Judy Willis connects what you do in the classroom to what happens in the brain when students learn how to read, including: (1) Why a classroom has to be safe and supportive in order to overcome barriers to reading fluency; (2) How to jumpstart students who are not well prepared for reading with activities that…

Discusses List-Group-Preview, an activity that combines eliciting prior knowledge with guiding students through a new textbook chapter. (FL)

Content area reading instruction includes two elements: the information presented in subject matter text, and the plan that teachers use to help students understand the content. According to research and interviews with social studies teachers, there is a high failure rate in the social studies content area because children have problems…

This course is designed to assist adults in documenting their prior experience, gaining an understanding of the policy and practices of recognition of prior learning (RPL), and then applying for RPL in either further education or employment. The 30-hour course is designed to be delivered over a series of weeks to allow time for students to reflect…