"Blended learning" is an educational approach that combines online and face-to-face components in the classroom, and it is becoming popular in American schools. But the quality of these programs is inconsistent; some are based on scientific findings on how children learn, while others lack such support. In fact, very little reliable…

"Core Practices for Project-Based Learning" offers a framework and essential set of strategies for successfully implementing project-based learning (PBL) in the classroom. Centering on teaching practice, this work moves beyond project planning to focus on the complex instructional demands of the student-centered PBL approach. Pam…

Blended learning combines traditional in-person learning with technology-enabled education. Its pedagogical aim is to merge the scale, asynchrony, and flexibility of online learning with the benefits of the traditional classroom--content-rich instruction and the development of learning relationships. This book offers a guide to both theory and…

Makerspaces have become very popular in education because they "provide hands-on, creative ways to encourage students to design, experiment, build, and invent as they deeply engage in science, engineering, and tinkering" (Cooper 2013). Not only do makerspaces provide a safe learning environment for students to develop their 21st century…

Improving Social and Emotional Learning in Primary Schools reviews the best available research to offer school leaders six practical recommendations to support good SEL for all children. It stresses this is especially important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and other vulnerable groups, who, on average, have weaker SEL skills at all…

The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards calls upon social studies teachers to enhance the rigor of civics, economics, geography, history and the other social studies disciplines while building the critical thinking, problem solving, and participatory skills of students to help them become actively…

This practice guide presents six evidence-based recommendations for college and university faculty, administrators, and advisors working to improve the success of students academically underprepared for college. Each recommendation includes an overview of the practice, a summary of evidence used in support of the evidence rating, guidance on how…

The current high-stakes testing environment is compelling many educators to teach reading in programmatic ways. This type of teaching contrasts research on effective literacy instruction. This article describes a Title I elementary school's effort to improve literacy instruction not by adopting a program but rather by providing professional…

Developed in cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund, "Taking Action" inspires ideas and provides models for conducting effective environmental projects--projects that dynamically engage students from start to finish. From adopting species to protecting habitats to saving energy and creating publications, this guide will help educators plan,…

Critical thinking is thought-focused on how to solve a well-defined problem when several alternatives solutions to the problem exist. Because critical thinking may help to build tolerance toward others, the author believes it is a worthwhile subject to investigate, given that people are living in an increasingly multicultural society full of…

This note describes the use of a student poster session as an innovative approach to student learning. The local context for the assignment is provided, followed by a description of the course for which the poster was prepared, details about the assignment including its evaluation, and practical considerations for planning a poster session. The…

Following the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region developed wide-ranging curriculum reforms, including project learning. A recent survey has indicated that over 80% of Hong Kong primary and secondary schools have adopted project learning as a curriculum task. Such an…

This publication describes how to conduct a high school class review game based on the television show "Jeopardy." The game is described as applied in a high school health class context but it can easily be adapted to other subjects and ages. The game might appropriately be used as a review session before a unit test. Students form…