American secondary mathematics students continue to rank below average when compared to other developed countries. The purpose of this qualitative design and development case study was to determine if mathematical proficiency would improve if students participated in learning center instruction versus traditional direct instruction. This study…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have invigorated a large push towards the expectation that students should engage in science as scientists do. This requires teachers to have the skills necessary to able to hear and engage with their students' science ideas. The current study draws from two constructs, teacher professional noticing and…

The science of learning and development demonstrates the value of positive relationships for student success and well-being. This brief describes structures that secondary schools can integrate to cultivate conditions that enable healthy attachments to grow. Specifically, it highlights structures that can foster personal teacher--student…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have invigorated a large push towards the expectation that students should engage in science as scientists do. This requires teachers to have the skills necessary to able to hear and engage with their students' science ideas. The current study draws from two constructs, teacher professional noticing and…

The deployment of Teaching Assistants (TAs) to support learning has been the subject of much critical debate, including the particular concern that TAs too often becomes a less skilled replacement for the teacher rather than acting as an additional source of support. Despite efforts to encapsulate the TA's contribution to learning within specific…

This article examines the author's interactions with the teaching strategy known as Reciprocal Teaching, sometimes also called Reciprocal Reading, which involves students learning to read collaboratively in small groups. Reciprocal Teaching typically involves students teaching each other by following a rubric of activities that are aimed at…

Life skills preparation for adulthood is a crucial, yet often overlooked concept in education. In schools across the United States, young adults graduate from high school with limited knowledge regarding how to navigate through the expectations of the real world. Although many educators feel teaching life skills in the classroom is necessary, the…

This paper replicates and extends my earlier work on productive failure in mathematical problem solving (Kapur, doi:10.1007/s11251-009-9093-x, 2009). One hundred and nine, seventh-grade mathematics students taught by the same teacher from a Singapore school experienced one of three learning designs: (a) traditional lecture and practice (LP), (b)…

We describe and analyse the action research process carried out by us as teachers in a general didactics course in the University of Malaga (Spain). The course methodology combined lectures to the whole class and small-group work. We were in charge of guiding small-group work. In the small groups, students researched on an educational innovation…

This article reports on an investigation of students learning of physics during group discussions around context-rich problems in introductory physics courses at university level. We present the results from video recordings of student groups solving three different problems. We found that group discussions around physics problems can lead to…

Describes use of Circles of Knowledge designed to generate excitement about foreign language learning as technique for individualized instruction. Includes guidelines for using, organizing, and implementing this method. (BK)

This monograph describes ways in which the small-group context can facilitate secondary-level students' composing skills through a structured writing cycle and can provide each student with individualized help during the writing process. An in-depth discussion is provided of the writing cycle, a process whereby the group provides continuous…

Maintains that the benefits of incorporating "response groups" (small groups of students which meet to discuss and respond to lesson material) into regular classroom instruction are increased student involvement, greater achievement, and more self-appraisal. Shows how response groups may be integrated into several different types of activities.…

Describes individualized instruction and its components and describes how to set up a management system that facilitates individual or small group instruction in a vocational setting. (JOW)