The tradition of Thanksgiving in America dates back to 1621 when the Pilgrims were virtually starving. Nowadays, Americans celebrate this event by eating more than they need and giving some thoughts to the blessings they had for the past year. Many of today's children are not accustomed to how it feels to be hungry, although many experience it on…

The authors examine a project that focuses on preparing special educators to mentor pre-service teachers throughout their preparation program, instead of mostly at the end of their program. Through use of classroom literacy artifacts, mentors are prepared in how to guide novices as they transition through coursework and into classroom practice.…

This review focuses on intervention studies that tested whether parent-child reading activities would enhance children's reading acquisition. The combined results for the 16 intervention studies, representing 1,340 families, were clear: Parent involvement has a positive effect on children's reading acquisition. Further analyses revealed that…

PlacesOnLine.org is a Web portal that provides easy access to high quality Web sites that focus on places from around the world. It is intended for use by a wide range of people, including professional geographers, teachers and students at all levels, and the general public. This article explores the potential uses of PlacesOnLine as an…

The decline in the popularity of physics over the period of secondary schooling and its consequent low uptake at A-level and beyond continues to cause concern on educational and economic grounds. The aim of this study is to explore whether physics might be made more attractive to students by employing an extended range of classroom and laboratory…

This article describes a hands-on activity and demonstration developed at the University of Washington and further reined at the University of New Mexico. In this activity, the authors present a real-world problem to the student: Someone has an injured finger joint, and the students in the class need to design an implant to replace it. After…

In many U.S. prisons an overuse of individualized instruction silences literacy learners and reinforces oppressive notions about what knowledge is and whose knowledge counts. In these classrooms, methods that invite learners to tap their background knowledge, reflect on their worlds, and dialogue with others to construct meaning--commonplace in…

The present study examined the capacity of 2 different theoretical models of motivation to explain why an externally provided rationale often supports students' motivation, engagement, and learning during relatively uninteresting learning activities. One hundred thirty-six undergraduates (108 women, 28 men) worked on an uninteresting 20-min lesson…

Physical models in the classroom "cannot be expected to represent the full-scale phenomenon with complete accuracy, not even in the limited set of characteristics being studied" (AAAS 1990). Therefore, by modifying a popular classroom activity called a "planet walk," teachers can explore upper elementary students' current understandings; create an…

As universities increase expectations for evidence of student learning, journals like "Teaching of Psychology (ToP)" have come to expect outcome data from authors describing teaching techniques. Our comparison of ToP articles published in 1996 and 2006 showed a significant decrease in reliance on student opinion and an increase in the use of more…

Making connections is always an important task for teachers. Science teachers are encouraged to connect new learning with students' prior knowledge, learning with student interests, learning with cultural experiences, and classroom activities across academic disciplines. Strategies that facilitate these connections help teachers enrich and enhance…

There are many mathematics teachers now who, when entering a classroom without a data projector and internet connection, feel as though they are flying on one wing--such are the amazing opportunities that these relatively new gadgets can offer. The author believes that teaching with dynamic images (from software and the web) makes mathematics…

College honors courses provide an opportunity to tackle controversial topics in an atmosphere that encourages active learning, critical thinking, and open discussion. This venue is particularly appropriate for examining the debate about teaching intelligent design (ID) in public school science classes. A one-credit honors enrichment seminar taught…

On the first day of Principles of Accounting classes, students learn the fundamental accounting equation from which all financial accounting practice emerge. The accounting equation is the criterion by which companies are valued and by which company performance is measured. This activity simplifies assets, liabilities, and owners' equity to the…

An extensive review of the literature has been conducted in the area of self-determination for youth with disabilities who are preparing for their transitions from school to post school activities. Self-determination is presented as a best practice for transition education and current instructional practices used to teach such skills are…