The debate between cooperative group learning and individual instruction has long been a focal point in educational discourse. This research study explored these two instructional methodologies' comparative efficacy and benefits in fostering learning outcomes and skill development. This research study was conducted using fifth-grade classes from…

Many teachers reported improved skills in using technology as a direct result of teaching virtually during the pandemic (Bushweller, 2020). The authors wondered which uses of technology would continue as teachers transitioned back into face-to-face classrooms. Recognizing that mere incorporation of technology into instruction does not guarantee…

A growing body of research documents the positive impacts of teacher coaching, but research contrasting the effectiveness of different coaching approaches is limited. This study contrasted paired coaching -- delivered to two teachers simultaneously -- with traditional coaching for individual in-service teachers. We examined the effects of these…

The perceptions of Tennessee educators who successfully implemented blended learning in their classrooms were the main focus of this phenomenological study. Blended learning is a modality that uses stations which consist of a teacher-led station, an online station, and an off-line station. Teachers work in small groups with students while others…

Research on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) has provided significant insights into why collaborative learning is effective and how we can effectively provide support for it. Building on this knowledge, we can investigate when collaboration is beneficial to support learning. Specifically, collaborative and individual learning are…

This paper describes the development of the BE COOL! learning environment that gives all children, gifted and non-gifted, the opportunity to learn at a level matching their specific needs and abilities within the social context of regular education. BE COOL! uses the ability-adjusted jigsaw method, in which children of varying ability levels work…

Reforms to support and expand personalized learning increasingly are being introduced in middle schools across the United States. Personalization, as enacted in response to these reforms, encourages teachers to implement many practices that long have been recommended by advocates of middle grades philosophy. To better understand the practices of…

Rolling Hills Middle School has begun the implementation of a personalized learning model with one house of 50 8th grade students. This personalized learning (PL) model promotes collaborative work among groups of students and supports student choice and agency as it fosters learner independence. This qualitative, interpretive case study used…

The middle level classroom presents unique challenges to educators who strive to provide opportunities that acknowledge learner diversity in terms of social, cognitive, physical, and emotional development. This is confounded even further within inclusive middle-school classrooms where the responsibility to differentiate instruction is even more…

A diverse, urban district's Personalized Learning Initiative (PLI), committed to transforming instructional tasks through integration of technology, created spaces for collaboration, voice, and choice for the PLI teachers and students. The teachers and students used various web-based technologies for collaboration with their peers, had more…

Worked examples and collaborative learning have both been shown to facilitate learning. However, the testing of both strategies almost exclusively has been conducted independently of each other. The main aim of the current study was to examine interactions between these 2 strategies. Two experiments (N = 182 and N = 122) were conducted with…

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to examine the perceived obstacles that contribute to the achievement gap between White and Black middle school mathematics students and the instructional strategies that help combat these obstacles of middle school mathematics teachers. The study investigated how middle-school educators…

The purpose of this study was to determine if one-to-one Chromebook use has an effect on student engagement and how one-to-one Chromebooks are used as an instructional tool. Specifically, what are the perceptions of middle school administrators and middle school core content-area teachers on one-to-one Chromebook use as an instructional tool and…

This study investigated the effect of class practices on students' learning gains in reading comprehension in the 5th grade. A sample of 4,344 students in 283 classes in 176 schools was studied. Several class practices that have previously been demonstrated to be effective were tested while controlling for student characteristics and socioeconomic…

Using socio-ecological theory, this study explores best practice (educational practices correlated with higher student performance) in middle-school science. Seven schools with consistently higher student performance were compared with three demographically similar, average-performing schools. Best practice included instructional approaches…