Describes the assessment of students' problem-solving skills through the use of short case scenarios about which students are asked to make essential decisions. Discusses strategies for selecting essential decisions, writing cases carefully, and selecting appropriate question formats. (Contains 12 references.) (Author/WRM)

Believes that there are connections among the study of the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights that support a vision of democratic citizenship. Provides three themes that focus on human rights issues by exploring the Holocaust: (1) constructing the other; (2) rationalizing injustice; and (3) courage and resistance to patterns of oppression. (CMK)

This article presents specific instructional approaches and examples to develop the algebraic reasoning skills of middle and secondary students with mild disabilities. Discussion of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards identifies general principles, content standards, and process standards. Discussion of effective instruction…

We present a methodology for designing better learning environments. In Phase 1, 6th-grade students' (n = 223) prior knowledge was assessed using a difficulty factors assessment (DFA). The assessment revealed that scaffolds designed to elicit contextual, conceptual, or procedural knowledge each improved students' ability to add and subtract…

Exploratory Practice (EP) has been developed over the last 15 or so years as an approach to practitioner research that is devoted to understanding the quality of language classroom life. It started in reaction both to academic classroom research and to Action Research, the practitioner research model most in vogue at that time in our field. At…

To meet the challenge to reform mathematics education, effective opportunities to learn are needed to promote prospective elementary school teachers' development of the knowledge base that supports teaching, for mathematical proficiency. This article describes three professional development interventions and their influence on prospective…

Every educator has a handful of students who perpetually push his or her buttons. The challenge of creating a strong, nurturing classroom community is especially difficult if you are an urban school teacher. Not because children in an urban area are inherently more wild or difficult to teach. Rather, there is a mythology about how to best…

The aim of this paper is to report on a three-year follow-up evaluation of an experimental problem-based learning (PBL) integrated curriculum directed to second-year engineering students. The PBL curriculum brought together the contents of physics, mathematics and computer science courses into a single course. Instead of the students having to…

This article describes geometry-oriented problem-solving tasks that can encourage students to develop a positive attitude toward mathematics. The tasks concern working with polyominoes, two-dimensional shapes that consist of squares joined fully at the edges. (Contains 7 figures.)

This article describes the use of commercial games in mathematics to help teach algebraic reasoning, spatial sense, and multistep problem solving. It also provides a description of how one teacher implemented the use of games.

The importance of visual representation, usually a geometric figure presented in words and in mathematical symbols that is frequently found on high-stakes standardized tests is evaluated. The study shows that mathematics teachers can help prepare students to solve mathematical problems containing a figure not drawn to scale by looking for and…

This paper explores case study research of the group process for teachers as learners in an Online Learning Module delivered in a blended problem-based learning (PBL) environment. Blended learning, as the name suggests, consists of a blend of at least two pedagogical approaches: within the context of this research, blended learning is the…

Students must be able to interpret, relate, and incorporate new information with existing knowledge and apply the new information to solve novel problems. Peer instruction is a cooperative learning technique that promotes critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making skills. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that peer instruction…

In today's world where great value is placed on global understanding, the acquisition of languages is essential. Academics would agree that the study of other languages provides students access to the cultural and intellectual heritage of cultures other than their own. Additionally, such study gives new and different perspectives on the structure…

The objective in this paper is the implementation of the highly structured seven-step problem-based learning (PBL) procedure as part of the learning process in a human-computer interaction (HCI) design course at the Technical University of Denmark, taking into account the common learning processes in PBL and the interaction design process. These…