The benefits of play for children's learning are well-documented and well-researched. The evidence for its positive impact on brain development, social interactions, emotional wellbeing, and motor skills is widespread. So, why should this practice stop after the early years? "A Practical Guide to Play in Education" encourages teachers to…

Lesson planning is of central importance to the teaching of all subjects in school. However, despite its high relevance, there is still a substantial need for a comprehensive review of factors affecting lesson planning. Empirical evidence on how teachers' competence in lesson planning can be developed, what challenges may be encountered during the…

Purpose: This study examined how physical education preservice teachers (PSTs) developed adaptive skills in the planning of the lessons in the 5 weeks of an introductory physical education method course using the practice-based teacher education framework. Method: Twenty-two PSTs edited three lesson plans over the 5 weeks. A total of 150 lesson…

The ability to compose music must be taught and practiced. Students need purposeful opportunities to develop their musical thinking. This article presents a number of games and playful work that teachers can use to develop musical thought and lead toward intentional composition.

THE FUSED health education series was developed as a one-stop guide for developing a quality curriculum for teaching health education. This first, two-part article introduces a new approach to teaching health education called THE FUSED Technique. THE stands for Teaching Health Education and FUSED stands for Functional (data driven) information,…

Approximations of practice are opportunities for preservice teachers (PSTs) to engage in components of teaching. However, how the varying levels of complexity or authenticity of teaching create different learning opportunities for PSTs is underexplored. Forty-one studies related to approximations of mathematics teaching were reviewed to explore…

The purpose of this study is to explore special education teacher and teacher educator perceptions of the Standard Outcome Lesson and Reflection (SOLAR) Guide. Even though research shows that special education teachers need the skill of curriculum mapping in their roles in the classroom, a dearth of research has identified effective ways to help…

The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of the Self-Regulatory Instructional Planning Approach (SR-IPA) on the lesson planning and self-regulatory development of a group of six preservice secondary social studies teachers (PSSST). Even though the benefits of self-regulated learning and inquiry-based instruction are well…

Jeffrey Benson draws from his 40-plus years of experience as a teacher and an administrator to provide explicit, step-by-step guidance on how to incorporate social and emotional learning (SEL) into K-12 lesson planning--without imposing a separate SEL curriculum. The book identifies SEL skills in three broad categories: skills for self,…

Part 1 of this article described THE FUSED Technique (Ford & Knutson, 2024) as a new pedagogical approach to teaching K-12 health education, blending or fusing the best aspects from the standards-based and skill-based health education teaching models. THE stands for teaching health education and FUSED stands for functional (data driven)…

Careful lesson planning is essential in elementary STEM education because the crucial role of STEM education at the elementary level is to help students develop fundamental skills employed in real life as a foundation for future learning. This study examined how elementary STEM teachers curate digital resources for lesson planning and the relevant…

Bebras tasks are considered to develop Computational Thinking (CT) and are currently used for this purpose in many studies. However, the relationship between Bebras tasks and CT is recent and, given the scarcity of validated instruments for assessing CT that are not associated with a specific learning environment, the expected development of CT…

Before taking full responsibility for a real classroom, pre-service teachers (PTs) can safely experience a rich learning atmosphere in a simulated virtual classroom environment and receive feedback on their lesson planning and teaching performance. This research aims to support and examine the process of structuring PTs' teaching skills with a…

The present study explored strategies teachers use to help people with ASD develop sociosexual skills for empathy expression. Previous research found the curriculum for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) does not always include strategies to teach the socio-sexual skills required for empathy expression. This qualitative descriptive study…

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is a topic of growing interest and relevance to music educators, particularly those who teach elementary general music. While there are natural connections between music education and SEL, the incorporation of SEL into a music curriculum must be done with purpose and intent. Many elementary general music teachers…