In this study, we analyze in-depth interviews conducted with 26 Dutch third-graders as well as interviews with one of each child's parents. The children attended one of six schools, each with a relatively large population of families with a low socioeconomic status, where home-based literacy assignments aimed at increasing children's enjoyment of…

This research aims to describe the mathematical problems posed by prospective elementary school pre-service teachers in differentiated learning. This research uses a qualitative approach and uses problem-posing tasks and interviews as tools for collecting data. In the problem-posing task, information on learning conditions is provided, which…

Many elementary education programs have only one mathematics methods course designed for preservice teachers (PTs). Such courses typically cover a range of content and present a challenge for mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) who strive to prepare their PTs to teach mathematics in equitable and humane ways. Due to the "stand-alone"…

Moreover, the cross-curricular integrative writing approach implemented by the instructors of these courses (the authors) provided students enrolled in the Colleges of Education and the College of Social Sciences, Arts, & Humanities a unique opportunity to become actively engaged in a multidisciplinary approach to learning. The assignment not…

This paper links Systemic Functional-based multimodal discourse analysis and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher education through the workshop "Multimodal Literacy in the EFL classroom" (MLEFL). Drawing upon 'multimodal analysis for critical thinking' (MACT) pedagogy (O'Halloran et al., 2017) and the Systemic Approach to…

While research shows that learners differ in many ways, this work must be translated into actionable strategies to benefit students. We describe the results of our partnership with ReadWorks, a widely-used literacy edtech platform, to help them implement research-based pedagogical features that support learners with diverse needs. In a national…

This exploratory case study involved the development and enactment of a multicultural unit. As the population of the school continues to become more diverse there became a need to educate students to become more culturally aware. The main purpose of the study was to raise students' awareness and appreciation for cultural diversity through…

Human-centered design is of growing importance for professional designers and in the past two decades a series of techniques for designers to develop understanding of and empathy with a diversity of users has been developed within this field. In the second half of the twentieth century, intended users were involved late in the design process, i.e.…

One of the definitions of mathematics is that it is "a science of patterns and themes". Within the scope of this definition, the current software technology facilitates the creation of visuals and patterns. Thus, GeoGebra software was used. The study was carried out in two stages. In the first stage, the Dynamic Geometry Software and the…

The present study investigated the differences in learning gain when performing a WebQuest with a well-defined versus an ill-defined assignment. Twenty boys and twenty girls (mean age 11; 10), attending a special primary education school, performed two WebQuests. In each WebQuest, they performed either a well-defined or an ill-defined assignment.…

There are many barriers to the implementation of new practice standards. To implement practices that both prepare and inspire their students, preservice teachers need opportunities to enact reform practices: to prepare and be inspired themselves. These opportunities are found in students' content courses, methods courses, and field placements. In…

This paper describes the author's attempt to design assignments that engage preservice elementary teachers in original mathematical thinking. In particular, the choice of integer operations as the focus of a structured writing assignment that takes students two weeks to complete is explained and justified. Exemplary student work is quoted.…

This article describes how two instructors used assessment data to improve an undergraduate course, Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary Classroom. This entailed revising the core assignment for the course--the creation of a thematic unit of instruction--and developing a scoring guide to assess teacher candidates' performance. Data collected…

These proceedings contain the papers of the IADIS International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2013), October 22-24, 2013, which has been organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS), co-organized by The University of North Texas (UNT), sponsored by the…