This document presents contract grading as a system of evaluation for speech communication courses at the high school or college level. Contract grading can provide the means to reduce the element of threat that impedes effective interpersonal communication between teacher and student. Contract grading is a business like arrangement whereby the…

Deals with the major aspects dealt with at the Classroom Teachers National Study Conference in November 1971. Includes a statement of the basic concepts of Performance-Based teacher education, a resume of the issues identified by conference participants, and an outline of the next steps to be taken, as recommended by conference participants. (RB)

Much has been researched and written concerning the structure, attributes, and benefits of the professional learning community (PLC), yet many have found that this highly collaborative model is difficult to implement. One reason for this was that conflict among team members often limited communication and therefore halted collaboration. In an…

Within the paradigm of Sociocultural Theory, and using Activity Theory as a data-gathering and management tool, this microgenetic case study examined the processes--the growth, change, and development--engaged in by student-teachers in a foreign language education program as they worked together to complete an activity. The activity involved…

This two-phase sequential mixed methods research study examined the effects of targeted instructional craftsmanship training on the perceived self-efficacy and attitude of elementary and middle school teachers of English language learners. A sample of elementary and middle school content area teachers of English language learners (N = 132)…

The 2011 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, a joint conference with the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, focused on trends, innovations, and national programs that are picking up steam as the first decade of the twenty-first century ends. Several innovations have the potential to unify world language…

This article discusses an investigation conducted to identify challenges associated with teaching research methods in a distance education context. Constructivist learning was used as conceptual framework, in particular socio-constructivist theories, activity theory and Rich environments for active learning (REALs). Two research modules in a…

Fieldwork is generally considered an essential aspect of teaching and learning about biology, at both school and university level. However, previous research suggests that the novelty of being in an unfamiliar field environment can negatively, as well as positively, impact on the student experience and learning. This research uses the framework of…

Although technology has become so pervasive on most college campuses today, it has not been heavily infused in the activities of teaching and learning (Grabe & Grabe, 2008). Additionally, growing investments in educational technology (Cuban, 2001; Oppenheimer, 2003) implies a close examination of the way faculty and students use and integrate…

This paper describes some outcomes of a nine-month design-based research study into the professional development of 24 numeracy teachers with post-16 learners. The teachers were encouraged to integrate eight research-based teaching principles into their classroom practices as they implemented a set of discussion-based mathematics learning…

Dialogue is arguably one of the most significant elements of learning in higher education. The premise of this article is that online instructors can creatively facilitate dialogue for effectively teaching online management courses. This article presents a dialogue-focused framework for addressing significant behavioral, structural, and…

Classroom instruction may be affected by school contexts that are increasingly performance-driven because of legislative demands. Interpreting this as a need to investigate the relationships between school context and classroom practice, this study took a "top-down" approach by examining contextual elements of school goal structure and teacher…

Although the theoretical benefits of feedback are generally well established, in practice those benefits can be less than clear. This is particularly the case on shorter courses, where students have limited scope to integrate feedback into future assessment performance. If we accept that one of the key purposes of feedback is to encourage students…

One of the main goals of Environmental Education (EE) is to develop people's environmental stewardship, which includes people's capacity to take environmental action--their action competence (AC). The purposes of my study were to characterize the interactions found in an EE curriculum, science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and…

In many rural school districts in a midwestern U.S. state, special education service implementation conflicts with initiatives to improve and maintain an effective school-wide educational environment. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate how differences in levels of teacher training in special education affected the…