Neuroscience is a subject that can motivate, excite, and stimulate the curiosity of everyone However, the study of the brain is made difficult by an abundance of new vocabulary words and abstract concepts. Although neuroscience has the potential to inspire students, many teachers find it difficult to include a study of the brain in their…

As community college faculty become more involved with online courses, questions are emerging about pedagogy, workload, intellectual property, and a number of other issues. This chapter examines how the online environment has affected faculty work life.

Talbot Hill Elementary School in Renton, Washington, uses the MicroSociety model to make learning relevant and engaging for its diverse student population. Three afternoons each week, every student participates in a for-profit business, a governmental agency, or a nonprofit organization. Teachers prepare students to participate in the school's…

Children who speak different home languages and dialects in a monolingual classroom often carry the challenge of having to develop literacy in a different language. This article presents a qualitative study of five first graders who speak different home languages in an inner city mainstream English classroom. Through interviews, classroom writing,…

In this article, Kieran Egan contests the scientific foundations of Piaget's developmental theories and the scientific basis of much educational research. In so doing, he pushes researchers and practitioners alike to rethink the centrality of Piaget's tenets to teaching and learning. Egan traces the history of the developmental literature that…

A within-subjects design was used to compare two instructional methods--explicit timing and interspersing--with 187 second-grade students. Students completed two mathematics word problem assignments under differing conditions. In the explicit timing condition, students were told they would be timed while working long mathematics word problems. In…

This article presents essential principles for mathematics instruction for students with disabilities and those who are at risk for school failure. These students have great difficulty in applying algorithmic knowledge to solve problems and even greater difficulty with abstract problem solving associated with higher level mathematics. A procedural…

The purpose of this article is to question the amount of time that beginning readers should spend reading connected text in school. Based on a study of 66 children in 26 classrooms, the authors found that children in first-grade classrooms with "less" reading of connected text achieved more in their phonics learning than children in classrooms…

At Queensborough Community College, the City University of New York, 60% of incoming freshmen were placed into remedial-writing classes in 2001, and 43.9% of these incoming freshmen were from foreign, non-English speaking countries. Before these students could advance into credit courses, they were required to pass both their remedial-writing…

"simSchool" is a classroom simulation program funded by the Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Teach with Technology (PT3) program of the U.S. Department of Education. Just as a flight-simulator immerses a player in the complexities of flying a plane, "simSchool" immerses novice teachers in some of the complexities of teaching 7th-12th grade…

This article describes how online discussion groups and visual collaboration can be used in combination to build and support a virtual community of learners. Data derived from several online discussion groups are presented, and the support needs of learners are highlighted as a key factor of success. (Contains 1 figure.)

In powerful learning environments, rich contexts and authentic tasks are presented to pupils. Active, autonomous and co-operative learning is stimulated, and the curriculum is adapted to the needs and capabilities of individual pupils. In this study, the characteristics of learning environments and the contribution of ICT to learning environments…

Recent science and teacher education reports continue to stress the need for radical changes in the way teachers are prepared to teach science to diverse learners. In response, a three-year intervention project was developed to help teachers in culturally diverse schools transform their science teaching practices using learning technologies. Many…

Distance education has evolved through many delivery formats, conforming in varying degrees to an Information Age definition of "distance education" that emphasizes two-way electronic communication. The technological characteristics and limitations of each format have implications for pedagogical choices in designing distance education courses for…

Few issues on the educational scene have proven as vexatious as the achievement gap between the "haves" and "have nots" in society. The achievement gap has proved both substantial and persistent, despite the good intentions and considerable efforts of thousands of educators and notwithstanding the "No Child Left Behind" Act and other reform…