This report illustrates how four high-performing systems--British Columbia (Canada), Hong Kong, Shanghai (China) and Singapore--developed their teacher professional learning. The report and accompanying materials are designed as a resource for teachers, school leaders and policymakers wanting to improve teacher professional learning in their…

If teachers and teacher educators are willing to support the learning of students, it is important for them to learn what motivates students to engage in learning. Students have their own preferences on design characteristics of powerful learning environments in vocational education. We developed an instrument--the Inventory Powerful Learning…

The pedagogical practices of mathematics education for young children in English and Korean pre-schools were compared through analyses of interviews with practitioners, observations of classroom activities and an examination of documents related to the planning and implementation of mathematics education. Practitioners in both countries used…

In this article, the authors Dunn, Dotson, Ford, and Roberts, discuss the ways they, as professors of multicultural education with different identities and experiences, attempt to understand and respond to students' implicit or explicit resistance in their classes. Though there has been a broad range of literature on student resistance, the…

In this essay, the authors share a professional dialogue about the ways in which issues of power emerge in preschool classrooms when teachers endeavor to build on children's home and school mathematical experiences and understanding. From different perspectives, as early childhood and mathematics education researchers, the authors discuss ways in…

Virtual schools have the potential to improve student learning--but so far, as asserted in this article, research tells little about how online instruction affects student performance. Most of the studies that pointed to good student outcomes were small in scale and based on specific programs or products. Few provide data to help understand…

This chapter argues that today's dominant forms of education are insufficient for today's world because they ignore the vast and conventionally untapped resource that lies in the disciplined inwardness that is contemplative life. It then surveys a range of transformative examples that are emerging in the educational movement known as…

The mission of Thompson Rivers University Open Learning (TRU-OL) can be understood in terms of three entities: the student, the faculty member and the curriculum content. Their conjuncture--when a TRU-OL student works with TRU-OL courseware and is supported by a TRU-OL faculty member--is where learning, assessment and, ultimately, credentialing…

Seikatsu-Tsuzurikata is an educational method related to teaching of written expression for children that was pioneered in elementary school education settings throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and which was widely adopted in Japan in the 1930s. It is a unique method developed in Japan that uses both school and non-school resources, not only in…

The use of metaphors in design can help students reflect over a problem situation under an innovative point of view. During their design studies, students are supposed to acquire design skills, gain knowledge and enhance their level of expertise. This research explores the aid provided by metaphors in design problem solving, and its relationship…

The Almajiri falls among the category of extremely poor children in Nigeria. These children constitute about seven and half million street-begging, maladjusted, aggressive and out of schools. The menace of the Almajiri has recently attracted the of attention of federal and state Governments which led to the establishment of special schools geared…

This ethnographic study examines the educational struggles of Russian-born Buriat Mongolian children studying in China at a Mongolian/Mandarin school, by emphasizing conflicting educational paradigms between the Russian and Chinese systems. Educational practices are compared. Standardized assessment, teacher-centered classrooms, and group-…

The focus of this paper--and the series of which it is a part--is on improving student learning during the crucial period spanning grade 12 and the first year of college in order to build momentum for college success. In the introductory paper to this series, "Why 12th Grade Must Be Redesigned Now--and How," Jobs for the Future names…

In "Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs" (2009), the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) identified the instructional partner role of school librarians as the most critical role for the future of the profession. To determine the extent to which school librarian preparation programs prepare pre-service…

Existing research into learning about patient safety focuses on identifying how educational interventions improve educational outcomes but few studies offer evidence that inform educators about the mechanisms involved in learning about patient safety. The current evidence based in undergraduates is also limited to outcomes that relate to knowledge…