I present a brief overview of the key elements of personalized learning and Montessori education, a related pedagogical approach, aiming to examine common theoretical principles and key elements. I discuss the common features of personalized instruction and the Montessori approach of education. Both personalized instruction and the Montessori…

The opening pages of the first PIRPOSAL (Problem Identification, Ideation, Research, Potential Solutions, Optimization, Solution Evaluation, Alterations, and Learned Outcomes) article make the case that the instructional models currently used in K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education fall short of conveying their…

Students are active in shaping the implementation of any curricular intervention. At Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVUSD), more than 1,500 students in Grades 1 to 6 were recipients of the William & Mary English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum units. In this article, we share students' perceptions related to the following three…

In this article we investigate the systems that need to be in place for students to learn from increasingly complex texts. Our concept, drawn from past research, includes clear learning targets, teacher modeling, collaborative conversations, close reading, small group reading, and wide reading. Using a "proof of concept" model, we follow…

Formative assessments are an important part of the teaching and learning cycle. Instructors need to monitor student learning and check for understanding throughout the instructional phase of teaching to confirm that students understand the objective before embarking on the summative assessment. Typically, online classrooms are developed with…

Model-based instruction has been increasingly used in physical education for the past two decades. Metzler (2011) identified eight instructional models that are commonly used in physical education today. Each model is designed to promote certain kinds of learning outcomes for students and to address different combinations of the national…

Elementary school English teachers in Taiwan face classes of students with differing levels of English proficiency, to the point where about one-third of the students may have never learned English before, and another third may already have read Harry Potter in English. A successful teacher recognizes that diversity may affect learning and works…

Models-Based Instruction (MBI) is a comprehensive approach to teaching and learning. In MBI, a teacher becomes familiar with multiple ways (called models) to plan, implement and assess instruction, and then selects the model that can best promote specific kinds of student learning in each unit. By using several models within the same curriculum, a…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered learning model used heavily in the natural sciences. By supplying students with contextualized problems and stopping short of handing them the tools to solve the problems, instructors take on the role of facilitator rather than expert. Use of PBL in political science, and more generally the social…

In this study, the actual position of collaborative learning (CL) in teacher education is examined. One hundred and twenty teacher educators and 369 student teachers are surveyed on general educational beliefs, mental models and conceptions related to CL. The self-efficacy and the implementation of CL are also taken under scrutiny. The results…

The "Multiple Intelligences, Curriculum and Assessment Project" at University College Cork was a collaborative project carried out between 1995 and 1999. The key research question focused on whether Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences could be applied to, and enhance, aspects of curriculum and assessment at primary and…