In December 2009, a rapid-growth school district on the Texas Gulf Coast shifted its paradigm of rezoning. Even though half of the Katy Independent School District (Katy ISD) was affected, it achieved a genuine ownership for boundary changes that would affect more than 11,500 students at five schools. Katy ISD accomplished this by seeking…

This GEM describes the "Freshman 15 Jeopardy" workshop, a 30-minute nutrition education session aimed to expose incoming college freshmen to the college food environment, to increase their awareness of factors that cause weight gain, and to instruct them on lifestyle choices they could employ to prevent weight gain. This short workshop has not…

To determine the impact of an assignment and workshop intended to increase students' information literacy skills, we conducted a quasi-experiment using a pretest-posttest assessment with undergraduate students in four sections of an introduction to developmental psychology course. Two sections (N = 81) received the assignment and instructions…

The primary objective of this paper is to report on two teacher educators' development and assessment of a framework and workshop to introduce student teachers to social justice and peace education ideals within the domains of teachers' work during student teachers' first full-time experience of teaching in diverse schools in a major city in the…

For more than 30 years drama has been promoted as a valuable teaching tool for language learning. Recent research results have reinforced this position. However, these and other earlier studies reveal that the overall success of the work is dependent, at least in part, upon the artistry of the teacher and the quality of the pretext materials used…

The purpose of this research was to investigate the viability of partnerships between instructional technology and teacher education faculty in order to promote technology integration in content methods courses. This study also focused on preservice teachers' evolving perception of technology integration through participation in targeted…

This paper reports on a series of introductory programming workshops, initially targeting female high school students, which utilised Lego Mindstorms robots. Cognitive load theory (CLT) was applied to the instructional design of the workshops, and a controlled experiment was also conducted investigating aspects of the interface. Results indicated…

Background: Little is known about factors that influence home-based child care providers' participation in professional development. Factors that predict participation in activities that are designed to promote the utilization and maintenance of skills taught are of particular interest. Objective: Our aim was to examine factors in the home-based…

Concepts in mathematics are often universally applicable to other fields. A critical aspect for success in high school or college is the ability to transfer content knowledge from one discipline to another. This is especially true for material learned in the sciences and mathematics. Several studies have suggested that strong mathematical skills…

Academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, is a chronic problem. This paper reports the results of a project undertaken at a public funded university in Melbourne, Australia, in partnership with colleagues from a public funded university in Beijing, China, to combat this and other problems associated with academic literacy. The prime focus of the…

Positive relationship building between the university and the schools that receive their pre-service teachers are crucial to developing quality educators fit for the teaching profession. This paper presents an overview of a mentor workshop that was introduced by the professional experience unit of a regional university in Australia. The aim of the…

The lack of strong literacy skills and practices among students is perhaps the clearest indicator that the education system continues to leave millions of children behind. To advance the reading, writing, and speaking skills of middle and high school students, this study examines a professional development model that brought trained…

Informal learning environments often host teachers for learning opportunities, but little is known about the impact of these experiences on teacher professional development (PD). This article describes a unique collaborative PD experience between zoological park personnel and university faculty, examining the impact on teacher content knowledge,…

This sequential, mixed method, QUAN-QUAL study redefines the craft of teaching into the science ("what"), art ("how"), and the business of teaching to assess and prepare preservice teachers. It also measures the effectiveness of using theatrical elements as teaching strategies to effectively develop preservice teachers in the…

This study investigated how three instructors developed their professional learning of beliefs, knowledge, and practice by examining their professional learning processes using constructive, social constructive, and transformative theoretical perspectives on learning. It also focused on their challenges and supports in developing their…