In theory, the fact that American colleges and universities tend to be liberal-leaning should not be an issue. However, several studies document that political bias in today's college classrooms causes students to avoid discussing potentially controversial topics for fear of criticism and ridicule, lowered grades, and even physical harm.…

Writing is a complex and difficult skill for many middle-level students. Therefore, teachers must invest considerable time and apply evidence-based instructional approaches when teaching writing. This article describes the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) approach to teaching writing and provides examples of each step of the approach…

Providing students with choice can be a powerful means of supporting student engagement. However, not all choice opportunities lead to improved student engagement. Teachers can increase the likelihood that students will value choice by analyzing how students associate feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness with the choice provided them.…

When the author began teaching in Paraguay, he ran into a series of classroom challenges familiar to English teachers around the world: a classroom overflowing with students, a large range of English abilities, and insufficient textbooks and traditional teaching resources. The activity described in this article is a one-size-fits-all activity that…

Why should teachers bother with student-driven discussions? Elizabeth A. City offers three reasons: (1) talking and thinking reinforce each other; (2) dialogue is a necessary skill of democracy, so schools should teach thinking, speaking, and listening as "practices of freedom"; and (3) student-driven talk is fun. Yet student-driven…

The paper delved into the issue of learner/teacher centredness in Social Studies and held that the choice of around whom Social Studies teaching would be centred should be determined by the individual differences of the learners. Adaptive teaching was explained as an approach aimed at achieving a common instructional goal with learners considering…

Hiring undergraduate lab assistants in chemistry departments is common in college. However, few studies have focused on promoting undergraduate chemistry learning and thinking skills through this work experience in chemistry teaching laboratories. This article discusses the strategy we implemented in the lab assistant program. The…

Enjoyment is an important but often overlooked element in the music classroom. In this article, we review research literature related to enjoyment in musical interactions and discuss the role of enjoyment in the general music classroom. Drawing on research literature, our experience as general music teachers, and our research on enjoyment during…

The world of infants and toddlers is a world of unflagging curiosity and discovery. They are compelled to go, with boundless energy, after the skills that they need for the future. When they are allowed to accumulate as rich and as multifaceted a bundle of formative experiences as possible, teachers expand the material that they have to construct…

In recent years, professional influences on all sides have pressed the author to put students in the driver's seat, making them more active in their own learning, giving them more voice and choice in their work, and developing skills that will benefit them well beyond the classroom. This article suggests how to introduce literary theory in high…

Over five hundred years ago, Copernicus presented findings that revolutionized the world by shifting focus away from the Earth and towards the sun as the center of the universe. Education has been encountering a similar paradigm-altering shift with the center of learning moving from the teacher to the learner. Learning-oriented assessment (LOA) is…

The use of technology to support learning is well recognised. One generation ago a major strand of human--computer interaction research focussed on the development of forms of instruction in how to interact with computers. Today, however, the advanced usability of modern technologies has all but removed the presence of many user manuals. Learners,…

Authentic learning normally focuses on a "real-world" or complex problem and solution activities that emphasize the cultivating of 'transferable skills' entry-level practitioners in any discipline require or have difficulty acquiring on their own. The learning environments created are often multidisciplinary and allow for intellectual…

Over the last century, the development of didactics (???) in China has been profoundly influenced by Kairov's theory of pedagogics. The German Didaktik tradition, which can date back to Comenius and Herbart, remains largely unknown to educational scholars in China while they possess basic knowledge of Comenius and Herbart. This article expounds…

Despite the author's initial skepticism, a classroom set of iPads has reinforced a student-directed approach to writing instruction, while also supporting an inclusive classroom. Using the iPads, students guide their writing process with access to the learning management system, electronic information resources, and an online text editor. Students…