The science teacher education community plays a prominent role in teacher preparation programs. Particularly, science methods courses emphasize modeling instructional strategies to promote inquiry-based practices. Integrating appropriate educational technology to enhance and support classroom practices should be embedded in these courses. The…

One challenge in STEM education is the learning of technical terms. In order to reason about higher-order scientific concepts, knowledge of technical vocabulary is often a prerequisite. Improving this knowledge may enhance the learning of higher-order concepts because it reduces cognitive load students experience while learning. To that end, we…

In previous research, gamified classroom management has been found to improve high school students' classroom participation. This study applied gamification classroom management through a "Class of Oz" in an elementary school to cultivate students' learning. Two classes were randomly assigned to the experimental group, and the other two…

This introduction presents Active Learning Methodology, surveying its history, main existing tools and supporting evidence, with an emphasis on mathematics and higher education, in particular engineering studies. This work is part of the DrIVE-Math project, developing innovative mathematical teaching strategies in engineering studies.

Do you sense that some students have mentally "checked out" of your classroom? Look closely and you will probably find that these students are bored by lessons that they view as unchallenging and uninteresting. In this follow-up to "The Highly Effective Teacher: 7 Classroom-Tested Practices That Foster Student Success," Jeff…

How do you introduce the science of learning to your faculty? How do you leverage professional development to ensure that teachers continually apply that science within their classrooms? How can you maximize learning in your classroom through the use of researched and evidence-informed strategies? These are the questions Patrice Bain sets out to…

Although making errors in the learning process is common, it is usually perceived by students as something negative and a potential threat to self-esteem. Such perception often prevents students from considering errors as learning opportunities. By using errors as integral elements of the learning process within the science classrooms, and…

In this article, critical community building (CCB) is posed as a promising practice for teacher education. The authors engaged in action research in order to investigate the usefulness of the tenets of CCB for shaping experiences in a classroom management course. The overarching goal was to inform a teacher educator's practices in establishing…

Background: Data-driven educational technology solutions have the potential to support teachers in different tasks, such as the designing and orchestration of collaborative learning activities. When designing, such solutions can improve teacher understanding of how learning designs impact student learning and behaviour; and guide them to refine…

Phoneme discrimination is the ability to detect subtle similarities and differences between phonemes. Phoneme discrimination is a strong predictor of reading development and poor phoneme discrimination may predict reading disabilities (Lyytinen et al., 2004). The ability to discriminate phonemes may be an even more critical skill for Emergent…

Demonstration lessons are used in China to provide models of quality music instruction. However, to date, no research has been done on the quality of demonstration lessons and how this relates to the improvement of school music education in China. This content analysis provides an insight into China's music demonstration lesson implementation and…

The debate over whether class size matters for teaching and learning is one of the most enduring, and aggressive, in education research. Teachers often insist that small classes benefit their work. But many experts argue that evidence from research shows class size has little impact on pupil outcomes, so does not matter, and this dominant view has…

Background: It is well-established that traditional approaches to initial teacher education do not adequately prepare physical education (PE) teachers for teaching pupils with disabilities. Consequently, pupils with disabilities participate less frequently and in fewer PE activities than their age peers. School-based placements, which form a…

When students walk into a classroom, often the first question is, "What are we going to do today?" It is easy for educators to fall into the trap of using activities exclusively without considering the value or intent of the content. After all, the students are engaged, and if they are busy they must be learning. Simply being busy,…

Early experiences with planning and guiding children's learning can be exciting for preservice teachers in undergraduate teacher training programs. In this article, observations of a preschool play session guide four preservice teachers to design a series of play-centered lessons addressing serious science concepts (Hall 2010). While the concepts…