Each designer contributing to this special issue was asked to prepare an introductory lesson on the physics of motion aimed at eighth to eleventh graders. This article presents a brief description of how a detailed physics content was researched, edited, and refined by subject-matter experts, and then ultimately presented to the instructional…

Reports on a survey investigating what educators who teach advertising creative courses are actually doing in the classroom. Looks at areas of emphasis in entry level and advanced courses (ranking instructional goals), at instructional practices in the entry-level course (including media emphasis) and at instructional practices in the advanced…

This paper explores whether the notion of "global citizenship" is too abstract to be valuable in driving curriculum policy and active citizenship for students. The paper looks firstly at three of the key aspects of an active role: a concern for social justice; rights; and culture and cultural conflict. It then examines actual curricula and…

This article focuses on one instructor's evolution from formal lecturing to interactive teaching and learning in a statistics course. Student perception data are used to demonstrate the instructor's use of communication to align the content, students, and instructor throughout the course. Results indicate that the students learned, that…

Traditional ecological knowledge is a potentially powerful medium in which to teach environmental education and has the potential for influencing transformative learning. Although many educators agree that one of the focuses of environmental education is adult transformation, this has not been extensively explored in the context of Hawaiian…

We compared grades and course evaluations in an undergraduate social psychology course taught using 3 different instructional formats: traditional, traditional with a course guide, and multimedia with a course guide. Students' grades (N=937) and course evaluations of grading procedures (N=547) were higher when a course guide was available. The…

This study explored teacher perspectives on the use of socioscientific issues (SSI) and on dealing with ethics in the context of science instruction. Twenty-two middle and high school science teachers from three US states participated in semi-structured interviews, and researchers employed inductive analyses to explore emergent patterns relative…

This study involved 15 secondary-level teachers who taught fast-paced classes at a university based summer program and similar regularly paced classes in their local schools in order to examine how teachers differentiate or modify instructional methods and content selections for fast-paced classes. Interviews were conducted with the teachers…

In traditional science teaching, teachers expect the average student to implicitly learn and apply subtle concepts and to connect seemingly disjointed information. Teachers expect them to actively assemble the building blocks of critical thinking, often without example (Meyers 1986). The critical analysis of issues and problems is second nature to…

Traditionally, in the classroom, teachers often spend considerably more time talking than their students. While a good portion of this time is spent by the teacher covering course content, teachers also talk about themselves, tell stories, and share their personal beliefs (Nussbaum, Comadena, & Holladay, 1987). When these behaviors occur, teachers…

For several years the author has sought ways by which he can employ film in a creative and academically sound manner as a teaching device. In this article, the author describes the History and Film course he developed for his students. The author began by compiling lists of films that he felt supplemented the subject matter covered in his survey…

This article describes the increasing pressures on those who teach graduate seminars in composition pedagogy to cover a broad range of texts, topics, and techniques. It argues that in response, pedagogy instructors may need to deliberately (re)design their courses in order to continue to help new writing instructors engage in inquiry and…

This article explores the inclusion of narrative and performance theory and practice in a communication studies classroom. In using their own classroom discourse as a running narrative, students apply theoretical narratives in exploring a complex Middle East story. They deconstruct, reconstruct, and apply theoretical principles to practice using a…

This article discusses a problem teachers encounter relating to how to teach the delicate topics of 9/11 and Iraq war. Five years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and in the midst of intensifying debate over the nation's approach to battling terrorism, teachers around the country are trying to determine how, and when, to teach about…

Effective educators plan reading instruction by considering all of the contributing variables: the students' background knowledge, cultural heritages, oral language, strengths and needs, home influences, as well as the current educational environment and the type of text (expository, narrative ...). Each variable is powerful and could easily…