Every student has mathematical strengths beyond knowing basic facts, solving problems quickly, or showing work clearly. In this article, the author presents Smiles as an "on-ramp" task that supports students working together by unveiling and leveraging mathematical strengths. Nielsen describes on-ramp mathematics tasks as scaffolds that…

In this article, the author describes strategies to support students in conjecturing in ways that promote their agency. Conjecturing involves justifying (i.e., a practice that promotes epistemic agency and engages students in mathematical reasoning to defend their claims; Bieda & Staples, 2020) by which a conjecture becomes proven, modified,…

Students enter classrooms equipped with a rich foundation of skills and knowledge from their everyday experiences. High-quality science education builds on students' wealth of experience in making sense of the world. In science classrooms, "sensemaking" is a collaborative practice that includes students sharing initial ideas with peers…

This article discusses transformative learning in secondary general music (SGM), while considering students' transitions from elementary to secondary music classes. SGM is uniquely situated for expanded pedagogies and musicianship, yet a gap in music activities persists between elementary and secondary classes and between home and school. The…

Purpose: Process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) is a series of learning activities building on student prior knowledge guiding them to construct their own understanding of new concepts in collaborative roles. This paper aims to illustrate how POGIL worksheets can be adapted for low bandwidth and low-computing environments to accommodate…

In this article, the contributions of cognitive psychology to research and development of medical education are assessed. The cognitive psychology of learning consists of activation of prior knowledge while processing new information and elaboration on the resulting new knowledge to facilitate storing in long-term memory. This process is limited…

It is commonly discussed that a key challenge for online collaboration is to promote group awareness. Although this challenge has gained intensified consideration by scholars, scarce attempt has been devoted into development of a reasonable hypothetical comprehension of what group awareness really is and how it can be studied empirically. This…

This article offers a critical interpretation of the current trends in instructional models for English language learners in California. We review key instructional models and analyze them from traditional (teacher-centered), progressive (student-centered), and critical orientations (society- and power-centered). These instructional models share…

This essay is addressed to astronomers and astronomy students who will go into a school, college, or other educational setting and want to think more deeply about what happens in the learning process. These are seven key ideas for improving our teaching that those of us working in science education at all levels have found especially useful. These…

Real world mathematical modeling activities can develop needed and valuable 21st century skills. The knowledge and skills to become adept at mathematical modeling need to develop over time and students in the elementary grades should have experiences with mathematical modeling. For this to occur elementary teachers need to have positive…

It is essential to support bilingual learners' language and academic development; however, teaching second language learners English has taken precedence over teaching content area knowledge and vocabulary, specifically for language arts. The focus has shifted from content area instruction to primarily second language instruction due to an…

It is essential to support bilingual learners' language and academic development; however, teaching second language learners English has taken precedence over teaching content area knowledge and vocabulary, specifically for language arts. The focus has shifted from content area instruction to primarily second language instruction due to an…

Learning through meaningful problem solving is integral in any successful mathematics program (Carpenter et al. 1999). The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) promotes the use of problem solving as a means to deepen understanding of all content areas within mathematics (NCTM 2000). This article describes a first-grade lesson that…

What happens in the first week of school could very well set the stage for the rest of the school year. Setting high standards for science activities based in inquiry can start on the first day of science class and develop as the year unfolds. With the use of simple, readily available, inexpensive materials, an efficient mystery box lesson can be…

Students are using the tools of scientists when keeping a science notebook. They are also keeping track of their thinking and the changes to their original ideas. To bring students' existing ideas out for examination, the author implemented a "quick-write," which entails asking an open-ended question and having the students write all they know in…