This article is the first of a two-part review of research on children's and adults understanding of gravity and on how best to teach gravity concepts to students and teachers. This first article concerns free fall--how and why objects fall when they are dropped. The review begins with a brief historical sketch of how these ideas were developed in…

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are transforming the priorities of the International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to focus on preparing for the "new literacies." According to the Partnership of 21st Century Skills, "new literacy" is the ability to use ICTs to develop 21st…

How should district and school leaders improve education for students traditionally underserved by public education: by increasing control over teaching and curriculum, or by empowering groups of teachers to have more collective autonomy, responsibility, and opportunities for professional learning? The second approach--promoting multiple…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

This document consists of a workshop presentation on the development of a new engineering science core curriculum at Arizona State University (ASU). Part 1 presents an overview of the project, which was designed to return a true commonality to the engineering science core and increase understanding of fundamental concepts by reinserting design…

A case study of a student teacher shows that even under conditions of perceived and/or real constraints on their autonomy, teachers retain great power to shape enacted curriculum (defined as the outcome of interactions among teachers, students, and materials). A student teacher (Ken) was assigned to teach 12th-grade U.S. history in a New York City…

In 1985, Nebraska selected Marjorie Brown's philosophical framework as a basis for a curriculum development project. Because inservice efforts to help teachers understand this critical consciousness approach to teaching failed, attention was focused on providing inservice education to help teachers change. The strategy at the University of…

This guide offers ideas for adult literacy curriculum development using a participatory approach. Its intent is not to prescribe a curriculum but to raise issues associated with the varied needs of limited-literacy students and with development of curricula to address these needs. An introductory section discusses how the guide evolved and can be…

This volume provides an examination of the theoretical basis for preschool through elementary school multiage grouping, a realistic picture of what it looks like, some guidelines for planning and implementing a multiage model, and recommendations from practicing multiage teachers. Chapter 1 defines multiage grouping and provides a brief history of…

This guide explores using Total Quality Management/Developmental System Education (TQM/DSE) as a framework to improve educational outcomes in the classroom. Within the Total Quality paradigm, students and society are viewed as the customers of education; all programs provided at the school focus on meeting customer needs, resulting in improved…

Librarians need to be aware of the technologies involved with change and the ways in which technologies will impact the total organization and its provision of services. The library school curriculum must be restructured in order to prepare future librarians for the reality of technological change and help them become able to manage information in…

"Why are we doing this math stuff, this is social studies class?" This statement reflects the common notion by students that academic disciplines are distinct and separate. While curriculum integration seems to be gaining acceptance again, most integration is done in the traditional manner: math/science or language arts/social studies. The purpose…

Teacher education programs are rapidly changing to ensure that pre-service teachers are well prepared to successfully conquer the critical issues they will encounter in K-12 public schools. The major issue influencing teaching and learning is school violence and the lack of a sense of peace and caring in educational institutions. The educational…

A survey of 25 institutions of higher education was completed to identify strategies that are being used to prepare future teachers to help children and families of divorce. Ten individual strategies are discussed, including case studies, journal articles and reflective papers, use of children's literature, student teaching experiences, and…

This text provides a comprehensive introduction to the study of curriculum and its application in Hong Kong. The components of the school curriculum and concepts used to analyze curriculum are explored in the publication's 12 chapters. Chapter 1 looks at the scope of curriculum studies and various questions and perspectives in studying curriculum.…