This article is designed for counselor educators who have an interest in teaching creative approaches in counseling. A simple format or template is provided for teaching a course on using creative approaches in counseling with children and adolescents. This course was created and taught in a 1-week institute format. Included are detailed…

Describes the challenges and rewards of teaching social work, noting mistakes and successes in his approach to the task/opportunity. Using a non-BSW class in community organization practice as the template, he assesses the adaptations needed to teach students with widely diverse academic backgrounds, emphasizing the importance of careful and…

Strategically introducing students to a controversial science case--before they read it, watch it, or listen to it--motivates them to learn from it and paves the way for successful discussion and debate. A strategic introduction also provides an opportunity for the instructor to demonstrate scientific reasoning and share guidelines for the…

Critics charge that social studies education often fails at the most rudimentary level because there is a tendency to "play it safe" by focusing on general abstractions while avoiding discussion of specific--and often times controversial--topics. In this article, the author argues that one way in which social studies teachers can overcome such…

Quality physical education offered at the elementary school level is critical for children to understand and develop healthy living. In most countries, physical education is taught by a generalist teacher (i.e., an individual who has not undertaken extensive training in physical education) particularly at the elementary school level. Inadequate…

Nowadays mass media shape the perception of social values and roles. Thus, aspects of media education that deal with various kinds of inequalities influence general sensitivity to diversity and its consequences. In this respect media and intercultural competences interrelate. Not only minorities' rights have to be secured, but also majorities…

From lesson-planning to instructional practice to classroom management, teachers must make choices constantly and consistently. Sometimes these decisions are easy, but there are some decisions that are very difficult. Such delicate decisions often arise in the world of education and may be detrimental to one's career. Thoughtful decision-making…

This report makes recommendations for the development of middle-school assessment in mathematics, based on a synthesis of scientific findings in cognitive psychology and mathematics education. The focus is on background research, rather than test specifications or example tasks. Readers interested in early development and pilot efforts associated…

How should patriotism be handled in schools? We argue that schools cannot afford to ignore the topic, but nor are they justified in either promoting or discouraging patriotic feeling in students. The only defensible policy is for schools to adopt a stance of neutrality and teach the topic as a controversial issue. We go on to show that there is…

Drawing upon recent research, this article reviews the theory underlying the use of socioscientific issues (SSI) in science education. We begin with a definition and rationale for SSI and note the importance of SSI for advancing functional scientific literacy. We then examine the various roles of context, teachers, and students in SSI lessons as…

In this article, we provide three examples of the use of socioscientific issues (SSI) in a 5th-grade classroom. Taken from Earth science (beach sand replacement), life science (the Canadian seal hunt), and physical science (speed limits), the examples show how teachers can embed scientific content in controversial social issues that engage younger…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce green chemistry experiments as laboratory-based pedagogy and to evaluate effectiveness of green chemistry experiments in delivering sustainable development concepts (SDCs) and traditional environmental concepts (TECs). Design/methodology/approach: Repeated measure design was employed to evaluate…

Bilingualism brings about many social, economic, and academic opportunities, and bilinguals certainly experience some joy in acquiring a new language. Yet, the challenge of acquiring proficiency in a second language for successful use in a mainstream university curriculum can be overwhelming. This qualitative case study explores the processes by…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the academic achievement implications for developmental community college students taking an introductory business course when instruction was differentiated in order to make course content more accessible. The research questions guiding this study looked at the relationship between…

The present work describes an experience of educational innovation in a university context. Its aim was to determine the relationship between students' frequency of use of online self-assessment with feedback and their final performance on the course, taking into account both learners' motivation and perceived usefulness of these resources for…