Given that the primary task of teaching is to teach the content of physical education, attention to how instructional tasks operationalize the curriculum and progress learning is essential knowledge for teachers. Task progression in physical education occurs when tasks are designed to successively and incrementally present physical education…

Supporting elementary student understandings of ideas related to Earth's Place in the Universe (ESS1) can be challenging, especially given the large time and distance scales involved with many of the concepts. However, with effective use of crosscutting concepts and science and engineering practices, important concepts within this content domain…

Space has fascinated and intrigued humans of all ages since time immemorial, and continues to do so today. The natural curiosity is engaged when looking up into the sky, notice patterns among celestial objects such as the Sun, Moon, and stars, and wonder. Scientific understanding of those patterns has progressed immensely over the span of human…

Middle school is a crucial transition period for students as they move from concrete to algebraic ways of thinking. This article describes a sequence of instruction geared toward helping prospective middle school instructors teach the topic of percentages.

This article describes several stages in the integration of assistive technology (AT) into and across the curriculum of a teacher education program. The multi-year initiative included several projects and strategies that differentially affected faculty ability to integrate training and evaluation in using AT in their coursework. All strategies…

Although supplemental reading services are meant to improve reading achievement of struggling readers and students with reading disabilities, without concerted effort to ensure communication and coordination with in-school instruction, they may fall short of their desired mark. To promote learning, it is critical that any services provided outside…

Organizing the work of instructional improvement around a process that has specific, manageable steps helps educators build confidence and skill in using data. A process that includes eight distinct steps can take school leaders to use their assessment data effectively, and organized these steps into three phases: Prepare, Inquire, and Act. The…

This manuscript seeks to share the continuous improvement endeavors by the College of Education faculty and administration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte from initial preparation and planning through their successful national and state accreditation achieved in November 2005. Beginning with the unit's revision of their conceptual…

Faced with uncertain budgets and increasing pressure from high-stakes testing, among other challenges, educators easily can fall into the trap of equating teaching with the presentation of information and then blaming students when outcomes are inadequate. To move beyond this simplistic approach, educators must continue developing as teachers who…

A project was designed to develop a curriculum model based on salient, sequenced occupational tasks. After an extensive literature review and staff discussions, a modified Q-Sort procedure was formulated to select and sequence tasks. The procedure made it possible to readily utilize a catalogue of tasks compiled by the Vocational-Technical…