Statistics reveal that students spend more time on electronic games than on any other recreational activity and 32% admit to playing them during class. The gaming revolution contains lessons for teachers, and understanding the pedagogical potential of computer and video games and developing curriculum that supports the educational use of…

The Classroom Assessment Project to Improve Teaching and Learning (CAPITAL) set out to understand how teachers attempt to modify their classroom practices as they grapple with new ideas about using assessment in their own classrooms to improve learning. CAPITAL documented the classroom activities and discussions among groups of middle school…

In the United States, the likelihood that an art teacher may teach a child with autism in an inclusive classroom is high, since one out of every 166 children in the country is diagnosed with autism. Federal law mandates that every child has the right to a free and appropriate education. Some children with autism have exceptional artistic abilities…

This opening article of the Special Issue makes an argument for parallel definitions of scientific literacy and mathematical literacy that have shared features: importance of general cognitive and metacognitive abilities and reasoning/thinking and discipline-specific language, habits-of-mind/emotional dispositions, and information communication…

This paper reports on a formative evaluation study of 10 practitioner research projects linked together under the title "Better Communication Skills as a Means of Reducing the Barriers to Learning", which aimed to identify conditions through which practitioner research could help teachers to improve the quality of pupils' classroom talk.…

Peer tutoring is essentially peers teaching each other. Many teachers already incorporate this idea into their classrooms in other curricular areas and appreciate the benefits that come from this type of teaching. Teachers can implement peer tutoring by teaching a small group of students a subject, or using a group that already understands the…

This article discusses the authors' effort in tailoring instruction to meet student needs. The authors began by talking to students and asking them specific questions about what they wanted and needed for an instruction setting to be successful. Sometimes educational solutions offered to faculty and students are not needed, welcomed, or wanted.…

This article draws upon the history of teacher education to provide an introduction to four competing pedagogical philosophies. These four philosophies battled for control over curriculum for teachers during the period from 1890 to 1930. I begin by defining curriculum for teachers to include the liberal, the professional, and the experiential…

With the advent of the 2nd wave of the women's movement, numerous voices within social work academia called for the inclusion of gendered content in the curriculum. The subsequent addition of content on women was a pivotal achievement for the social work profession. However, gender is an increasingly slippery concept. A current call for…

This article reports a 2-year case study (2003-2005) on teachers' instructional practices, and the impact of teacher understandings and training upon the teachers' implementation of the Communicative Oriented Curriculum (COC) initiative in the context of a major curriculum innovation in teaching English to young learners in Turkish state schools.…

Reform efforts in science education emphasize the importance of rigorous treatment of science standards and use of innovative pedagogical approaches to make science more meaningful and successful. In this paper, we present a learning-goals-driven design model for developing curriculum materials, which combines national standards and a…

Overcome budget cuts, lack of leadership, top-down mandates, and other obstacles to professional development by using this book's take-charge approach. Joseph H. Semadeni guides you through a systemic method to professional development that: (1) Motivates teachers to continuously learn and apply best practices; (2) Makes adult learning activities…

This paper presents the results of a small-scale study of codeswitching (CS) between Chinese and English in primary English classrooms with a view to informing classroom interaction with young learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). It analyzes CS of two teachers participating in the Primary English Curriculum Innovation (PECI) project in…

This appendix accompanies "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades: Why Some Schools Do Better. A Large-Scale Study of Middle Grades Practices and Student Outcomes. Initial Research Report." This appendix contains the full bibliography of all research and policy documents consulted during the development of the ten research domains and three…

This article systematically reviews research on the achievement outcomes of four types of approaches to improving the reading success of children in the elementary grades: reading curricula, instructional technology, instructional process programs, and combinations of curricula and instructional process. Study inclusion criteria included use of…