Design is a distinct discipline with its own practices, tools, professions, and areas of scholarship. However, practitioners from other fields often leverage aspects of design in their own work, leading to subfields like engineering design and architecture design that are neither wholly design nor wholly the intersecting discipline. Similarly,…

Engaging with materials can shape the teaching experience, teachers' practices and mindsets, and, ultimately, students' learning experiences. This issue of "Learning Professional" looks at an area of emerging interest: curriculum materials and the role they play in the daily work of educators and leaders. Educators, researchers, and…

Many states and school districts are rethinking how they do educational assessment. A few are going further: attempting to build "balanced," "comprehensive," or "next-generation" assessment systems. At the same time, practitioners and researchers have long mulled the purposes and parts such systems should have. But…

This article uses a variety of principles of cultural-historical activity theory to extend Herbert Simon's (1996) insight into the inherent linkage between the creation of artifacts and design. We argue that design research must grapple with the doubly artificial, as the classrooms in which many educational designs are implemented are themselves…

Gaming, in its many forms, is becoming a more active force in classrooms. To prepare preservice candidates for this trend, one teacher education program asked candidates (n = 60) to develop games in varied curricular fields tied to curriculum standards. This article describes the development of a model game, assignment requirements, provides a…

Training and education have evolved far beyond black boards and chalk boxes. The environment of knowledge exchange requires more than simple materials and assessments. This article is an attempt of parsing through the different aspects of e-learning, understanding the real needs, and conducting the right requirements to build the appropriate…

Supporting early career teacher (ECT) research literacy is essential in promoting research-integrated professional practice, however it remains an area in much need of development. This article discusses the importance and process of developing ECTs' research literacy, through establishing strong collaborative links between universities and…

Evaluators must employ research designs that generate compelling evidence related to the worth or value of programs, of which assessment data often play a critical role. This article focuses on assessment design in the context of evaluation. It describes the process of using the Framework for K-12 Science Education and Next Generation Science…

This article presents a simple design challenge, based on the PBS program "Design Squad's" "Watercraft" activity that will prove engaging to most technology and engineering students. In this floating boat challenge, students are to build a boat that can float and support 25 pennies for at least 10 seconds--without leaking, sinking, or tipping…

Student achievement does not depend solely on teacher competence. Students' own behavior, their motivation to achieve, and their attitudes toward others around them all contribute. These variables create conditions--an environment--that either favors or disfavors achievement. They can dictate the amount of time a teacher has to devote to…

Given the differences in social, emotional, and physiological development among elementary, middle, and high school students, it should come as no surprise that collaborative spaces should be designed differently for each age group. The needs of younger students do not necessarily mirror those of their older peers. Architect and educator Peter…

Despite the central role that well organized and structured course content plays in engaging online learners with content, the authors point to the absence of guidelines for organizing content in ways that meet course learning goals. Recognizing the need for a design solution and, perhaps, the need for a new design model, "design…

This article first describes some general criteria that can be applied to the development of any type of learning materials. Second, the article lists criteria for creating CLIL (content and language integrated learning)-specific learning materials, and provides examples of how to apply each proposed criterion whilst also providing a corresponding…

Libraries have undergone an extraordinary transformation over the last twenty years--from glorified book warehouse to interactive learning environment. For an architect they are currently amongst the most exciting projects to be commissioned to design. Innovation and "Next Generation" are the buzz words. However instead of exploring a first…

This article presents a review of existent literature that provides insight in the effectiveness of computer learning games. Based on this research, the effectiveness of games is illustrated in detail with regard to three current perspectives on games: design characteristics of games, the process of gameplay and the reflection of specific…