Critical consciousness (CC) is the ability to understand, critique, and act against oppressive social structures and systemic forces. To assist educators in understanding and enacting strategies that foster CC, the authors identified examples of CC in third through fifth grade virtual classes of a 2020 "Children's Defense Fund's" Freedom…

In this article, we describe student-centered routines that prepare students for success on ambitious text-based writing assignments. Based on research showing the important role that peer collaboration and classroom discussion play in developing students' thinking, these routines support students to 'try out' their ideas, learn from the…

The author's classroom today is nothing like what she remem­bers from her own school years. Now a teacher herself, she sees these opposites as opportunities. The Future Classroom is the author's attempt to disrupt the stagnant nature of learning, and it is working. Pre-pandemic, the author had been searching for a frontier space--somewhere she…

Given the present need for biochemistry and molecular biology educators to transform their courses into an online format, novel methods aimed at promoting student learning and engagement must be considered. Herein, we describe the integration of graphical systems modeling as a tool for introducing biochemistry to secondary-level students. We…

In this article, the authors discuss the possibilities and benefits of inquiry-based learning at National Park Service (NPS) parks, historic sites, and their companion websites. They also stress that you can extend the guidance and resources that may be provided by any historic monument or park close to your school, whether it is a part of the NPS…

Peek into a math classroom, virtual or physical. What are students doing and saying about their math learning? Are they engaged? Are they thinking critically -- evaluating solutions, assessing their understanding, revising their strategies, explaining concepts, and connecting mathematics to real life? Helping all students become more self-directed…

Students with learning disabilities (LD) often face significant difficulties in reading. Research has found a variety of different evidence-based practices to support the reading development of students with LD in areas such as word work, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. However, these practices are most often intended for use in traditional…

Betsy DeVos, the new U.S. Secretary of Education, has a reform agenda to advance school choice. Her track record includes enabling charter school growth in Michigan at taxpayers' expense with little oversight or accountability. Although an effective advocate, DeVos represents a broader policy movement to privatize American education, much of it…

Centering social justice into social work practice is vital to the profession, but both "what" and "how" to accomplish this task are pedagogical challenges in social work education. This teaching note introduces an elective course open to both Master of Social Work and doctoral students to develop holistic competence for…

This article will discuss the importance of conscientious and purposeful establishment of positive culture and climate within online courses, particularly those offered within higher education and graduate programs. School culture and climate have been linked to student and faculty performance, satisfaction, efficacy, and overall learning and…

Online learning is growing rapidly and shows no signs of slowing down. This growth requires strategies to make online teaching as efficient and effective as possible in order to provide students with a quality education. One of the important factors that help support student learning is timely, quality feedback on assignments and in discussion…

Students are doing less hand-raising and more clicking as online classes become increasingly popular in K12 instruction, both in combination with brick-and-mortar classrooms and in independent full-time virtual schools. With online instruction comes a change in the nature of teaching, communicating with, and assessing students. As schools move to…

The proliferation of Internet-based networks linking small schools in rural communities in some countries challenges the appropriateness of teaching exclusively in the closed environments of traditional classrooms. The development of Internet-based school networks, facilitating the creation of virtual classes, has implications for the professional…

The rise in interactive digital media has catapulted faculty-student contact abilities from the traditional Web 1.0 model to a post-Web 2.0 world where students and faculty can have much more interaction in classroom exchanges. Since business cases have long been a pedagogy of choice among professors concerned with training the next generation of…

Each year, third graders in a rural Missouri intermediate elementary school are presented with a challenge--to collaborate on a virtual adventure to the nation's capital to find answers to these questions: (1) What were the main purposes of the Declaration of Independence?; (2) What is the purpose of the United States Constitution?; and (3) Why is…