This narrative inquiry study explored the transformational learning experiences of students who attended Christian colleges and universities in the United States. The problem addressed in this study is the need for Christian colleges and universities to identify what constitutes and contributes to the transformative experiences conveyed by…

This qualitative cross-case study explores gifted adolescents' perspectives on motivation in learning as a means to better understand their complex motivational and academic needs. Participants consisted of 6 students, ranging in age from 11 to 16, identified as gifted through holistic measures including cognition scores, interviews, and other…

This study investigates how students experience and describe group work in an online course in international business (IB) after being introduced to Barnes' exploratory talk ground rules (ETGRs) which promote norms for dialog that encourage participants to share ideas and information and to think together. This study examines the dialog in groups…

"Place, Self, Community: City as Text™ in the Twenty-First Century" focuses on the power of structured explorations (reflective practices ranging from debriefs and discussions to reflective writing and discussions) and on forms of immersion in place. This monograph explores the inherent integrative learning capacity to generate a sense…

This paper examines the nature of academic classroom tasks middle school teachers are designing and using that integrate one-to-one technological devices/computers: technology integration (substitution/augmentation/modification/redefinition-SAMR); 21st century skill (4Cs) integration; task complexity (DOK); and student work aspects (work product,…

When games are approached as a pedagogical methodology, the homologies between games and technical communication are highlighted: pedagogy that teaches people to play and succeed within certain confines; classroom assessment that provides meaningful feedback to encourage self-improvement; instructional design that incorporates gaming theory and…

This article describes 10 recommendations for creativity, higher-order thinking, and meaningful learning activities that can be used to guide teachers in constructing an engaging AP course: (1) Be on the committee that decides how students will be selected for AP; (2) Maximize time and connections through blocks of time with an English colleague;…

This article outlines how home and school working together supported the writing of lower-achieving boys. It describes an activity in which parents and children selected artefacts at home to inspire writing in school. This model of home-school partnership permitted different levels of parental involvement and also allowed the child to take a key…

Faculty in higher education may find themselves reading student work or hearing students' voices in class or in online course discussion boards that reveal a lot of personal information, information that they think might be better kept private, information that may be concerning or even threatening. In their attempts to create richer learning…

This newsletter of best practices in implementing the High Schools That Work (HSTW), Making Middle Grades Work (MMGW) and Technology Centers That Work (TCTW) school improvement models is based on presentations at the 27th Annual HSTW Staff Development Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the summer of 2013. The newsletter is divided up into…

In a statistics course for bachelor students in econometrics a new format was adopted in which students were encouraged to study more actively and in which cooperative learning and peer teaching was implemented. Students had to work in groups of two or three students where each group had to perform certain tasks. One of these tasks was: explaining…

The reading and writing abilities of children work together from the inception of thought to produce literacy. Children can read and write for learning and enjoyment. Each activity enhances the other's development at all levels, thus, writing should not be held back until reading is accomplished at a set level. Children come to school rich in…

Shares an account of efforts by a teacher to try and involve 7- to 11-year-old children in a book investigation which would provide them with investigative strategies applicable to subsequent works. (MG)

This paper examines various issues surrounding the use of writing in the teaching and learning of mathematics using the voice and experiences of a licensed High School teacher instructing introductory college mathematics as a graduate teaching assistant. In general, we detail the journey taken by this teacher to explore the push for writing by…

This collection of 45 lesson plans contributed by English language arts scholars and practitioners provides activities that have been tested and proven effective with all levels of learners in middle school and high school classrooms. The activities in the collection advocate using unconventional strategies, competitive games, art and multimedia,…