The Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA) has been the governing legislation for teacher evaluation in Illinois since its inception in 2010. PERA's original purpose was to improve the professional competence of teachers while increasing the academic performance of students. This study explored the perceptions and experiences of a small group of…

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a program aimed at enhancing the confidence and proficiency of prospective teachers in using culturally responsive teaching techniques to effectively instruct mathematics to diverse learners. The study outlines the process and products required during the program. The findings reveal the positive impact of…

Simulation studies are the basic tools of quantitative methodologists used to obtain empirical solutions to statistical problems that may be impossible to derive through direct mathematical computations. The successful execution of many simulation studies relies on the accurate generation of correlated multivariate data that adhere to a particular…

How children participate in democracy has shifted toward more communicative, networked, and creative models than before. In political science and political theory, however, surprisingly little is understood about what if anything children can contribute to democracy and how they would do so. Traditionally, children have been considered as mere…

Example-generation tasks have been suggested as an effective way to both promote students' learning of mathematics and assess students' understanding of concepts. E-assessment offers the potential to use example-generation tasks with large groups of students, but there has been little research on this approach so far. Across two studies, we…

In recent years, the concept of "deeper learning" has generated great interest in the field of preschool education in China. However, deep learning in the preschool stage is different from that in school education, as it requires explaining content characteristics, developing observational tools to identify deep learning, and exploring…

Occupational therapy education standards for teaching occupation are inconsistently applied and there is a lack of evidence to inform teaching practice in Australia. This qualitative study explored what teaching methods and approaches Australian occupational therapy educators used in their classroom, and why those methods were used. The research…

Engaging in play constitutes a fundamental theoretical concept and skill set emphasized in occupational therapy (OT) education. According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), play is a key occupation and a core context for development and learning. However, there is a paucity of evidence about if and how entry-level OT programs…

Orientation is a component of pedagogical content knowledge and represents a general view of teaching and learning science. Science instructors hold orientations to teaching science teachers and orientation can be illustrated by an instructor's purposes and goals for instruction. Due to the central role of the instructors in preparing qualified…

This study considered a preservice teacher's (PST's) attention to multilingual learner core practices within her approximations of practice of mathematics language routines during a secondary mathematics methods course. We used a framework of approximations of practice to understand how a PST enacted and developed an understanding of multilingual…

Portraits of a Graduate (POGs) have become popular in education over the past decade as states and districts work to better define the knowledge and skills that students should master before high school graduation. The impetus for the development of POGs comes from several converging factors in the educational landscape. As states and districts…

Green development is an effective mode of economic growth and social development aiming at efficiency, harmony, and sustainability, which has become an important trend. The development of green industry is taken by many countries as an important measure to promote economic restructuring and highlighting environmental awareness. The green chemistry…

The global twenty-first century (21C) skills agenda has become a common feature in the educational policy of many countries. However, teachers can face operational, definitional and systemic barriers to the integration of 21C skills in practice. The operational barriers include insufficient teacher capacity, which in turn is influenced by…

In this review, approaches to teaching and learning in environmental education were explored at a conceptual level to understand the diversity of pedagogies in the discipline. We applied systems thinking to make conceptual parallels between ecology (physical environment, plant species, traits, plant strategies) and education (environmental…

This dissertation examines the transformative potential of reflective practice in student assessment and feedback, while also developing tools to gain a nuanced understanding of teacher feedback dispositions and practices. It outlines the development and refinement of three novel tools: the Reflective Classroom Assessment Protocol (ReCAP), the…