Tasks are viewed as a principled foundation for classroom teaching, social interaction, and language development. This special issue sheds new light on how task-based classroom practices are supported by a diverse range of principles. This introduction describes current trends in classroom practice and pedagogic research in relation to task-based…

This article examines recent educational research on the effectiveness of homework in improving achievement. The definition we have chosen to use for homework is any assignment intended to be completed during nonschool hours.

The need for a shared vision concerning exemplary curricula for academically advanced learners must be a priority in the field of education. With the advent of the Common Core State Standards adoption in many states, a new conversation has been ignited over meeting the needs of students with gifts and talents for whom the "standard"…

Within the context of the telecom industry, this teaching case is an active learning analytics exercise to help students build hands-on expertise on how to utilize Big Data to solve a business problem. Particularly, the case utilizes an analytics method to help develop a customer retention strategy to mitigate against an increasing customer churn…

The undergraduate computer science curriculum is generally focused on skills and tools; most students are not exposed to much research in the field, and do not learn how to navigate the research literature. We describe how fiction reviews (and specifically science fiction) are used as a gateway to research reviews. Students learn a little about…

After completing the Multidimensional Work-Ethic Profile (MWEP), 98 college students were given a 20-problem math computation assignment and instructed to stop working on the assignment after completing 10 problems. Next, they were allowed to choose to finish either the partially completed assignment that had 10 problems remaining or a new…

The "Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School" practice guide was developed by the What Works Clearinghouse™ (WWC) in conjunction with an expert panel to support teachers in providing language instruction. The practice guide provides teachers with guidelines and examples of ways to…

This article describes an approach to general music where assignments in music improvisation and composition are embedded into the curriculum, that is, creative assignments are given as an outgrowth of curriculum content and directly related to instruction and activities in conceptual learning and skill development in the classroom. Such an…

A collaborative, statistics education research project (Lovett, 2001) is discussed. Some results of the project were applied in the computer lab sessions of my elementary statistics course. I detail the process of applying these research results, as well as the use of knowledge surveys. Furthermore, I give general suggestions to teachers who want…

This paper describes a complete lab work management framework designed and developed in the authors' department to help teachers to manage the small projects that students are expected to complete as lab assignments during their graduate-level computer engineering studies. The paper focuses on an application example of the framework to a specific…

Discusses seven issues affecting assessment: (1) selection of texts, (2) use of oral and written assignments, (3) characteristics of grades and evaluation, (4) opportunities for self-assessment, (5) retention of learning, (6) psychology of students, and (7) the development of new tests. Suggests ways that economics faculty can improve assessment…

Describes a system that involves randomly administered quizzes and offers suggestions for its implementation in classes of any size. Presents data in support of the effectiveness of this technique stating that students completed their assigned reading at impressive rates when motivated by randomly administered quizzes. (CMK)

Research indicates that the quality of classroom assignments makes a difference in student learning. Moreover, assignment quality varies between teachers even within the same school and there is room for improvement in many of the assignments that teachers provide to students. Assignment quality, as described in this book, puts into practice…

Examines whether introductory educational psychology undergraduate students (n=83) read assigned articles if they knew in advance about a quiz or whether they read the articles because they were beneficial to their profession or to class discussion. Finds that students read articles more thoroughly if they knew there would be a quiz. (CMK)

Produced as part of a collaborative research project in which classroom teachers teamed with university-based research assistants to explore questions raised by the teachers in the course of their work with students, this monograph deals with the issue of "occasion." Following a review of theory and research about aspects of occasion…