This action research study examined the effects of professional development on teaching for conceptual understanding in Algebra I. "Conceptual knowledge refers to knowledge of the underlying structure of mathematics-the relationships and interconnections of ideas that explain and give meaning to mathematical procedures" (Eisenhart et…

Community college completion has been proven to be a ticket to a middle-class life. Moreover, we know that poverty causes educational barriers, including community college completion. Community colleges across the nation are identifying significant equity gaps between students from poor versus middle-class or affluent households. One solution to…

The concept of "acceleration" continues to pay subject to a number of controversial debates in education. Much of the controversy around the concept can be associated with the beliefs and attitudes of educators, which have little or no grounds in research (Vialle, Ashton, Carlon, & Rankin, 2001). While acceleration takes on many…

The United States is currently experiencing its most severe measles outbreak in decades, driven in part by parents' belief that vaccines cause autism. That harmful misinformation is contrary to scientific evidence (DeStefano et al. 2013). The CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest multidisciplinary…

This qualitative case study examined professional educators' beliefs and perceptions about K-12 online teaching endorsement (OTE) practices in the State of Georgia. The authors collected data from six one-on-one semi-structured interviews and the Georgia OTE Program standards (505-3-0.95) as set forth by the Georgia Professional Standards…

While some have argued that abandoning religious belief is the only way to help religious individuals accept evolution, we strongly contend that highlighting faith-evolution compatibility is much more effective. This article describes a professional development event for science teachers and religious educators highlighting ways to teach human…

Astronomy concept is regarded as one difficult topic in both teachers' and students' perspective even though it strongly appeals to the human mind. This concept requires imagination and the ability to use various skills and knowledge, for example, actual motion, relative position, and coordination of views from several points on the Earth to…

To remedy the difficulties encountered by Moroccan students in geometrical optics during the transition from secondary to higher education and for an efficient education system, we propose this study to investigate the causes of these difficulties as well as their impact on the quality of the secondary/university transition, and come up with a…

In Thailand, the new educational policy is mandated to encourage content teachers to integrate English in content classrooms. The policy has created tensions and misconceptions among content teachers, who must change the medium of instruction from Thai to English. This paper presents an attempt to foster teacher knowledge about the Content and…

Instructional coaching has been a professional learning opportunity that many school districts have employed to support teacher practice. Pairing instructional coaching with on-going workshops is a relatively new approach to professional development. Participants for this study include fourteen middle school teachers that teach either mathematics…

This study describes four secondary physics teachers' action research investigations and perceptions of the action research process. Each of the action research projects used key aspects of brain-based teaching to address students' misconceptions about physics. Foremost among these were the use of technology and collaborative work with peers;…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the effectiveness of the international volunteer programme's dance4life (D4L) in Russia. The programme aims to address taboos, stigma, discrimination, HIV/AIDS prevention and the promotion of sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and a healthy lifestyle among adolescents. The programme uses an…

It is a common view that developing teachers' competence to restructure or reframe their knowledge and beliefs is inevitably a complex challenge. This paper reports on a research project with the aim to develop science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) through their participation in a learning study. A learning study is a…

It takes a literacy leader to save some schools and districts from serious misconceptions about the nature of core reading programs as well as the nature of some reading disabilities. Well-prepared professionals can, by means of their extensive pedagogical repertoire, help districts to avoid compulsive repetition of the same fundamental types of…

The purpose of this study was to examine elementary teachers perspectives on the impact that Lesson study participation had on their knowledge and teaching of mathematics. The study explored teachers perspectives of how Lesson study participation affected their mathematical content knowledge and pedagogical-content knowledge. Lesson study is a…