This study examines how a project-based civics curriculum emphasizing locally relevant issues developed students' civic perspective-taking by creating discursive spaces for students to make connections with content. The underlying aim of the curriculum was to foster deliberative social studies classrooms by developing students' civic…

This study identifies the various functions of open questions in whole-class teaching in language arts classrooms in primary school, and it explores how these questions may work as a mediating tool. Open questions are considered a valuable tool in classroom discourse, enhancing dialogue and students' learning by giving the students an opportunity…

Identifying effective and time-efficient approaches to teaching students how to write from scholarly sources benefits students and instructors. Students in a general psychology course learned a concrete method to improve this type of synthesis writing. The intervention was brief, consisting of viewing an online tutorial outside of class and…

It is commonly accepted in the academy that developing a critical thinking capacity and related capabilities will make students more effective thinkers and writers, and that these are desirable traits for graduates to have no matter what path they take after graduation. While most academics agree that critical thinking is an essential component of…

This research is a self-study of a university required diversity course taught with a queer literacies framework. My research examines student writing, class discussion, and course planning material for one section of a required diversity course at a 4-year university in the Mountain West. The research questions for this study are "What…

Although reflection has been characterised as a personal process, increased attention has been given to how the social context can enhance it. The present article examines how different levels of collaborative reflection influence learning processes and outcomes in higher education. We used a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative research…

This article provides and reflects on an original lesson plan for engaging high school, undergraduate, or graduate students in learning fundamental concepts of environmental ethics. Implementation of this lesson plan effectively promoted critical analysis, reflection, and communication of environmental ethics issues in a seminar for second-year…

This study examined student perceptions of an online case study development experience where students wrote their own case studies about workplace communication processes and created accompanying pedagogical materials. Students then shared their cases in small groups and engaged in dialogue. Students from organizational communication classes at…

As an instructional framework, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can guide science teachers to purposefully apply evidence-based instructional practices to increase engagement and learning of students with disabilities (Israel, Ribuffo, and Smith 2014; Marino et al. 2014; Ok et al. 2016). This article describes how to use the Universal Design…

In 2007, Jake, the author's 14-year-old son, died. Though he had a known heart condition, Jake was vibrant and lived a life with no restrictions. The heart attack that killed him was unexpected. As a teacher, the author was left with the question of how to return to the classroom and what she would share with the students. This article explores…

To understand complex disciplinary texts, students need to possess a rich store of background knowledge. But what happens if students don't have that knowledge? In this article, Doug Buehl explores frontloading strategies that can bridge the gap between what students know and what they need to know to comprehend a disciplinary text. He outlines…

This follow-up report provides a revised Literacy Assignment Analysis Framework that incorporates discussion and teacher scaffolding. This new framework serves as a guidepost for studying sets of assignments across multiple days or weeks within a single classroom, school, or district. A closer look at more assignments from real classrooms provides…

The purpose of the study is to explore the use of a mobile application called Flipboard, which facilitates the curation of digital content into a magazine-like product, to engage students in class discussion and participation in a college course. Research questions include: (1) What were students' beliefs and attitudes regarding the use of…

Write first, talk second--it's a simple strategy, but one that's underused in literature classes, writes Paul Bambrick-Santoyo. The author describes a lesson on Shakespeare's Sonnet 65 conducted by a middle school English teacher, who incorporates writing as an important precursor to classroom discussion. By having students write about the poem…

This article describes a literature circle of seven pre-service teacher education students who read "Al Capone Shines My Shoes" (G. Choldenko, 2009). Students used the Internet to complete their roles, shared what they learned as they discussed the book, and then wrote about the digital experience. Four themes emerged from an analysis of…