Teacher candidates in secondary social studies education come to their methods course eager to share their passion for the subject. Enthusiasm often turns to confusion and frustration when they are confronted with unforeseen decisions about the content they will teach before they determine the instructional strategies for teaching that material.…

As the nation's schools continue to increase in diversity, teachers are faced with numerous challenges regarding how to meet the needs and strengths of diverse student populations. In addition, small, rural schools tend not only to lack in resources, but may not be adequately prepared to understand student backgrounds, unable to support diverse…

In 2006 and 2007, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) awarded $478 million in grants from the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) to support the development of innovative teacher compensation strategies. New Leaders for New Schools (NLNS), together with five partners--Memphis City Schools (MCS), the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), Denver…

Zoo and aquarium educators are increasingly providing educationally rigorous programs that connect their animal collections with curriculum standards in mathematics as well as science. Partnering with zoos and aquariums is a powerful way for teachers to provide students with more opportunities to observe, collect, and analyze scientific data. This…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of using renewable energy data, obtained from a comprehensive data acquisition system, on improving students' learning and developing their higher-order learning skills. This study used renewable energy data available through a data acquisition system installed and tested by the Green Research…

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a highly effective, rigorously researched intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders--but most teachers don't get the training they need to put it to work in their inclusive classroom. That's why every K-12 educator needs this practical guidebook, packed with teaching plans and plain-English…

The purpose of this study was to replicate previous findings indicating a moderate association between teacher perceptions of behavior as measured by direct behavior ratings (DBRs) and systematic direct observation (SDO) conducted by an external observer. In this study, data regarding student on-task and disruptive behavior were collected via SDO…

Both the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) recommend appropriately incorporating mathematics into other disciplines (NRC 1996; NRC 2003; NCTM 2000). With this in mind, an interdisciplinary, inquiry-based project was undertaken to incorporate mathematical analysis of data into a…

On a routine basis, educators collect data on their students' academic and social performance to make informed decisions regarding curricular and social instruction. The authors conducted a case study for a student with emotional and behavioral disorders. The student's teacher provided oral and visual feedback during reading instruction. Data…

Literacy skills are fundamental for all learners. For students who require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), strong literacy skills provide a gateway to generative communication, genuine social networking, improved access to academic opportunities, access to information technology and future employment opportunities. However, many…

Conventional data collection and analyses to evaluate opportunity to learn (OTL) is time and energy intensive. We propose an extension of an alternative approach suggested by Winfield (1993) by using a method to detect differential item functioning (DIF) to select items. These items are then used as initial indicators of possible difference in OTL…

In contrast to the increasing diversity of students, the implementation and consequences of federal and state policies such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Comprehensive School Reform Act, have created a push for standardization in pedagogy and curriculum that serve culturally and linguistically diverse students. Effects of NCLB policies…

For the past years, the academic IT profession through various professional society curriculum committees and accreditation bodies has made considerable progress to revise and update IT curricula to meet the changing needs of the profession. In particular, learning techniques, beyond classroom teaching activities, have been recognized as essential…

This set of botany demonstrations is a continuation of the inquiry-based lecture activities that provide realistic connections to the history and nature of science and employ technology in data collection. The demonstrations also provide examples of inquiry-based teaching practices in the life sciences. (Contains 5 figures.) [For Part 1, see…

This article presents results of a study of 229 kindergarten teachers who completed a survey designed to gather information about the current state of Michigan kindergartens. In addition to detailed data that reveals teachers' literacy instructional practices, teachers provided written responses to the following open-ended questions: What are the…