Both No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act require educators to use research-validated practices in classrooms. And yet education, special education, and the field of emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) continue to show large gaps in the consistent use of best practices. The authors propose that the…

This teacher development study closely examined a teacher's practice for the purpose of understanding how she selected and implemented instructional materials, and correspondingly how these processes changed as she developed her problem-based practice throughout a school year. Data sources included over 20 hours of planning and analysis meetings…

Adults and children often encounter situations where they have to make judgments about "how much" or "how long" or "how many." The significance of estimation as an ordinary, everyday, and natural aspect of measurement needs to be conveyed to students through their mathematical experiences. Many students, however, tend…

The authors discuss potential shortfalls of assistantships and internships in preparing students for practical career application of professional degrees and describe the benefits to overall development of courses eliciting performance in authentic scenarios. This article explores what is necessary, not only to teach, but also to learn, human…

Performing inquiry should enhance the intellectual development of students on numerous levels. We evaluate whether inquiry-based activities elicit inquiry behaviors by comparing these activities with traditional review sessions. We find that both inquiry-learning and teaching behaviors increase during inquiry-based activities, but that teachers…

The application of technology to educational settings has always been an interesting phenomenon. Each new technological advance is described as a panacea for whatever ails education at that moment. As people move closer to more current times, the influence of personal computers and the rise of the internet has affected the educational setting in…

The students of a Mathematical Modeling and Problem Solving class investigate and explore the mathematics involved in fitting a box spring mattress up a stairwell by solving various optimization problems and by using The Geometer's Sketchpad. The results show that a very small fraction of the class was actually able to solve the problem without…

The author used a discourse analytic framework to examine the "voice" of a middle school mathematics unit. The aim of the analysis was to see whether the authors of the unit achieved the ideological goal (i.e., the intended curriculum) put forth by the NCTM's "Standards" (1991) to shift the locus of authority away from the teacher and the textbook…

Research on Problem-Based Learning in medical education has undergone an evolutionary process from initial proof of concept studies through critiques of the original methods and beyond. Initial studies focused on whether or not the instructional method was effective for medical students and the goals of medical education. Despite much movement…

This article reports the findings of a research project that investigated the nature of the teaching and learning process in music composition. Over the period of one semester, the formal interactions in one-on-one study sessions between an eminent composer-teacher and an experienced graduate student-composer were videotaped. Following the…

Modeling has been shown to correct weaknesses of traditional instruction by engaging students in the design of physical models to describe, explain, and predict phenomena. Although the modeling method can be used without computers, the use of computers allows students to study problems that are difficult and time consuming, to visualize their…

Process Improvement (PI) is an approach for helping organizations to identify and resolve inefficient and ineffective processes through problem solving and pilot testing change. Use of PI in improving client access, retention and outcomes in addiction treatment is on the rise through the teaching of the Network for the Improvement of Addiction…

Three-tiered models have been embraced by many schools to prevent and respond to antisocial behavior. However, many of these three-tiered models are incomplete or underdeveloped. Specifically, little attention has been devoted to studying how to (a) systematically identify students who require more focused secondary interventions and (b) build…

North American higher education finds itself on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, it accepts droves of freshmen who equate learning with rote memorization and who correlate achievement with the ability to pass narrowly focused standardized tests. On the other hand, it is expected to contribute to the country's cultural and economic vibrancy…

Genetic algorithms (GAs) are a problem solving strategy that uses stochastic search. Since their introduction (Holland, 1975), GAs have proven to be particularly useful for solving problems that are "intractable" using classical methods. The language of genetic algorithms (GAs) is heavily laced with biological metaphors from evolutionary…