As educators, synagogue rabbis frequently devote a great deal of time to teaching adults. Yet little empirical research exists about what they do. This study describes and analyzes the teaching of three congregational rabbis who have excellent reputations as teachers of adults. In particular, it focuses on how these rabbis incorporate personal…

Drawing from the phenomenographic perspective, this study investigated Chinese science teacher educators' conceptions of teaching nature of science (NOS) to preservice science teachers through two semi-structured interviews. The subjects were twenty-four science teacher educators in the developed regions in China. Five key dimensions emerged from…

This paper introduces feminist methodologies in the context of engineering education research. It builds upon other recent methodology articles in engineering education journals and presents feminist research methodologies as a concrete engineering education setting in which to explore the connections between epistemology, methodology and theory.…

In seeking to identify the processes associated with the immediate engagement of learning for students with mild special educational needs, this study examined the responses of an extraction group (n = 7) of 11- to 13-year-old students who participated in a number of lessons in which the opening episode involved the use of visualisation techniques…

In this paper, I describe ongoing research exploring ways in which young teachers' digital lives unfold inside and outside classrooms. I first interviewed teachers in 2006, and identified three different routes into digital worlds: serious solitary self-taught, serious solitary school-taught and playful social. A number of teachers agreed to be…

Adopting a qualitative case study methodology, the present study illuminates how two multilingual students enrolled in a U.S. community college ESL class negotiated the sociocultural norms valued in their multiple communities to make investment in learning English in college. Drawing on Gee's theory of Discourse and identity (1996) and Norton's…

The bulk of scholarship on multicultural education continues to focus exclusively on U.S. education. Previous studies published in this field also have focused largely on topics that are considered relevant for the United States, whereas little attention has been paid to topics that are less problematized in the United States. In this mixed-method…

This discussion examines an academic intervention designed to enhance the motivation and classroom engagement of English Language Learners (ELLs) during literacy-based activities. Stemming from a sociocultural perspective of literacy (Au, 1993; Perez, 2004) within a funds of knowledge framework (González, Moll, & Amanti , 2005), our approach…

The importance of developing the communicative needs of English language majors has been found a fundamental concern of Buraydah Community college in Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study has been to identify English language speaking skill needs of English language majors and investigate the impact of using Open Discussion…

This paper describes how improving a teacher's content knowledge changes his teaching practices and its subsequent effects on student learning during a middle school volleyball instructional unit. The study was designed to challenge teacher educators' thinking about the importance of in-depth content knowledge for effective teaching by…

Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Dewey's Theory of Experience, this phenomenological study explored the experiences of faculty who engaged in online teaching at one school of public health. Findings revealed that the experiences of public health faculty, who engaged in online teaching, are similar and…

This meta-analysis reports on the use of practitioner inquiry (PI) with early program teacher candidates in conjunction with elementary science and math methods courses using cognitive load theory as a theoretical framework. The findings suggest that the teacher candidates enhanced their knowledge of practice within practice across 5 dimensions of…

The flipped classroom is being increasingly used in a wide range of instructional situations, yet little is known about how to facilitate it. The purpose of this study is to explore what types of learning activities in a flipped classroom are perceived to be the most effective in the achievement of desired course competencies. This case study…

This qualitative study explores teachers' perspectives on learner motivation for English in Chilean secondary schools. Drawing both on motivation theories and on concepts related to teacher cognition, autonomy and agency, the analysis of 19 semi-structured interviews with Chilean English teachers sheds light on the difficulties that many teachers…

This study explores teaching experiences of educators within the virtual world of Second Life (SL) and pedagogical practices adopted. A blended approach is applied by using physical classrooms, BlackboardTM, web-based resources, and the virtual world of SL in an Information Literacy (IL) class for 1st year undergraduate students at an institution…