Social technologies such as Weblogs, wikis, and social bookmarking are emerging both as information resources and as tools for research. This paper reflects on these technologies and suggests they may be well placed to build fluency in the higher-order thinking skills outlined in various information literacy frameworks, particularly in an…

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), the IFT Foundation, and Discovery Education partnered to create and distribute food science information to science department and school counselor chairs in all 18,000 U.S. high schools in January 2006. Two multimedia "kits" were generated for teachers and counselors, each consisting of DVDs with food…

This article examines student's perceptions of using primary sources (online Holocaust artwork) and non-traditional teaching methods in a high school social studies classroom to help students gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the content. Nine high school students (5 female and 4 male) were studied. Students were interviewed after…

There is a high incidence of today's gifted students independently interacting with their global community through technology tools. Teachers of the gifted (GT teachers) must possess an understanding of technology processes and concepts in order to engage their students through instructionally meaningful and appropriate lessons. Although many…

For an alarming number of new teachers, the school gates have turned into a revolving door. Expert estimates anticipate that nearly half of this year's new hires will leave teaching within the next three years. In addition to the direct, negative impact that teacher flight has on student achievement, districts are waking up to the reality that…

High-school students applying for freshman admission have at their disposal dozens of Web-based and print resources to help them sort through the process. Information on the Web is especially impressive. For students attending a community college, however, there is virtually nothing in virtual space to help them identify four-year institutions…

Institutions should not assume that since they can't predict the future they should not consider it. Instead, they can use their imagination to anticipate any number of possible, probable, positive, and even preventable futures. Attendees of the joint conference, "Campus of the Future: A Meeting of the Minds," in Hawai'i this past July--hosted by…

This cross-cultural discourse analysis examines the construction of environmental issues on Greenpeace web pages in China, Japan and Germany. To uncover the semantic representation of environmental activism on these sites, the authors sought to identify discursive homogeneity and divergence and to bring to light embedded cultural assumptions. The…

Blogging has emerged as one of the most popular forms of online discourse. The ease and lack of expense in setting up blogs has raised intriguing possibilities for language learning classrooms. The unique nature of their architecture and their low cost have not only affected how students can publish and distribute their work to a wider audience…

Virtual schooling, in which K-12 courses and activities are offered mostly or completely through digital communication technologies, has become firmly established in K-12 education across the United States. The VS movement continues to expand at a rapid rate, especially at the high school level. The continuing success of VS efforts will require…

Compared with a couple of years ago, children in many California schools have one less tome to lug in their backpacks. Instead of standard textbooks, they use what publisher Pearson Education Inc. calls its "digital path" to California's elementary history and social sciences curriculum. Since the state school board approved it in…

High school teacher Jeff House and his students revamp their study of "The Grapes of Wrath" by creating a class website. Students practice traditional skills such as researching, organizing material, and providing focused ideas while pursuing areas of interest such as music, film, and journalism. The project enhances their understanding of…

Teachers have been understood in their functional role and collective agency in sociology. In this article, the author rethinks the structure and agency dimension of teaching in the context of Japanese school education in transition. The new curriculum in Japan puts emphasis on children's subjective experience of learning. This article explores…

Life-long learning is a key issue for our knowledge society. With social software systems new heterogeneous kinds of technology enhanced informal learning are now available to the life-long learner. Learners outside of learning institutions now have access to powerful social communities of experts and peers who are together forging a new web 2.0.…

The authors discuss how the instructional impact of science teachers can be extended by using blogs, a technology popular among students that allows teachers to differentiate their instruction for students with diverse needs. Software now makes it easy for teachers to establish class blogs, Web sites that contain text, audio, and video postings on…