Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformative potential to support the education of students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities (M/SID) and their teachers. Although research and evidence-based practices (EBPs) are integral to fostering positive student learning outcomes, educators face challenges in effectively implementing these…

This successful guide--now in a revised and expanded second edition--gives teachers effective strategies to support adolescents' development of relevant literacy skills in specific disciplines. Demonstrating why disciplinary literacies matter, the authors discuss ways to teach close reading of complex texts; discipline-specific argumentation,…

This case study demonstrates teaching and learning activities in the school laboratory, and employs talk moves for the direct assessment of practical task effectiveness. By adopting a sociocultural linguistic approach (SCLA), learning chemistry is understood to be a discursive process in which knowledge is constructed through social interaction…

This article explores how Ms. Ford, a first-grade teacher, integrated literary tools to engage students in higher-level thinking and meaning making. Through the use of teacher talk, eliciting responses, asking for clarity, and expanding on student responses, she utilized discourse to support students in making meaning. Ms. Ford's first-grade…

The purpose of this study was to understand how biology teachers experienced and learned from professional development (PD) in which the 5R Instructional Model was used as a framework for planning inclusive lesson for emerging multilingual learners (EML). The PD integrated biology content with the scientific practices of using mathematical…

This study evaluated the Science and Literacy Instructional Model aimed at helping primarily Hispanic bilingual/English Learners (ELs) and economically disadvantaged fifth grade students with science achievement as measured by high-stakes standardized science achievement scores. The model combined purposeful planning, innovative academic…

Computers, laptops, interactive whiteboards, and iPads make regular appearances in our daily lessons, but are they being used to their fullest potential? In an effort to use technology with students in a meaningful way, the authors incorporated a free app and online graphing resource into a second-grade lesson on the characteristics of a lake…

This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month's issue discusses planning and using interactive word walls to support science and reading instruction. Many classrooms have word walls displaying vocabulary that students have learned in class. Word walls serve as visual scaffolds to support instruction. To…

Gifted learners need opportunities for critical and creative thinking to stretch their minds and imaginations. Strategies for increasing complexity in the four core areas of language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies were addressed using the Common Core and Iowa Core Standards through several methods. Descriptive adjective object…

Vocabulary knowledge is important because it is highly correlated with content area learning. Strategies for vocabulary instruction recommend using new words in multiple contexts as key to learning. To date, the term "multiple contexts" emphasizes written contexts, not three-dimensional concrete material contexts. This article describes the…

Research Findings: This study compared the effects of content-based shared book-reading instruction versus an explicit vocabulary-only condition on the vocabulary development of preschool dual language learners (DLLs). Using shared book reading as the mode of instruction, we randomly assigned 48 bilingual preschool teachers and 281…

This article addresses the serious and growing need to improve science instruction and science achievement for all students. We will describe the results of a 3-year study that transformed science instruction and student achievement at two high-poverty ethnically diverse public elementary schools in Texas. The school-wide intervention included…

The content areas provide rich contexts for developing vocabulary. This article presents some principles and a lesson model--the learning cycle--that can be used to develop vocabulary while building understanding in science. Because science instruction and the learning cycle model promote learning in real-world contexts, they provide students with…

Designed to tap the rich collection of instructional techniques in the ERIC database, this compilation of lesson plans focuses on reading and writing activities for use in the high school science and math classroom. The 43 lesson plans in this book cover writing about science, reading about science, the vocabulary of science, short scientific…

A discussion of the use of science activities as a technique for second language instruction focuses on its application in both immersion and more traditional pull-out programs in the elementary school. First, a rationale for the use of hands-on science experiences in grade school second language classes is presented, noting the value of the…