Even in online and distance formats, multimodal composition can be a means of sustaining culture and engaging children. The Teach Us project combines multimodal composition, family cultural resources, and student voice.

Achieving an in-depth understanding of unfamiliar science concepts has been found to be difficult when learners can not index science language to relevant sensorimotor experiences. Ongoing research in embodied cognition highlights the importance of relevant sensorimotor experiences in understanding and learning new information. Aiming to foster…

In online and blended learning environments, students may experience learning barriers that are more pronounced than in the traditional classroom. When designing online instruction, teachers can use digital tools along with instructional strategies to reduce those barriers. Digital tools have various instructional and assistive features, which can…

With the proliferation of digital media and other forms of technologically mediated communication, this article argues that critical multimodal pedagogical approaches to public writing--particularly through interrogating mundane, everyday texts--have the potential to engage students with advocacy and its role in shaping public discourse. In this…

Educators need to delve further into effective ways to spark student interest, motivation, and curiosity both in the middle school classroom and in the online environment. A thoughtfully crafted blended learning process, infused with inquiry learning, can provide students with opportunities to collaborate, think critically, and pose questions,…

We used a grounded theory approach to investigate and describe the learning of middle school students when they carry out mathematical activities (in the classroom or out of it) and explore mathematical objects and relations using mobile phones. We found that a web of conditions and consequences could be related to the students' learning when they…

Can public schools learn to embrace innovation and employ cutting edge technology to solve students' most persistent learning problems? In 2010, New York City's Department of Education (NYCDOE) created the Innovation Zone (iZone) to try to accomplish just that. This report reflects the findings of a CRPE study of the iZone, its goals and…

In order to collaborate effectively in group discourse on a topic like mathematical patterns, group participants must organize their activities in ways that share the significance of their utterances, inscriptions, and behaviors. Here, we report the results of a ethnomethodological case study of collaborative math problem-solving activities…

Theme-based learning (TBL) refers to learning modes which adopt the following sequence: (a) finding the theme; (b) finding a focus of interest based on the theme; (c) finding materials based on the focus of interest; (d) integrating the materials to establish shared knowledge; (e) publishing and sharing the integrated knowledge. We have created an…