A pretest-posttest control group design with switching replications was used to examine the effectiveness of a one-time, 75-minute behavioral skills training (BST) package. Fifty pre-service elementary general educators enrolled in a classroom management course were shown a video depicting challenging behaviors and were asked to collect…

Anchor movements rest on the premise that people- and place-based initiatives can be mutually reinforcing. The community development movement, however, has been haunted for years by the people-place dilemma -- the idea that efforts to help people harm efforts to uplift places and vice versa. Most of the literature on the anchor strategy has…

Karey Lontz's article on learning how to "dominate by observation" (to master the practice of observation so as to use it most effectively for the benefit of the children) takes us from a general to specific understanding of observation. She begins with a look at the importance of observation in human history and in the history of…

Joosten begins his article by telling us that love and knowledge together are the foundation for our work with children. This combination is at the heart of our observation. With this as the foundation, he goes on to offer practical advice to aid our practice of observation. He offers a "List of Objects of Observation" to help guide our…

This lecture discusses how the careful preparation of the observer, control of conditions, and precise use of materials will allow the child to "be free to manifest the phenomena which we wish to observe." This lecture was delivered at the International Training Course, London, 1921. [Reprinted from "AMI Communications" (2008).]

Developing skills for functional independence is important to gain employment, engage in postsecondary education, and live independently. Unfortunately, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties with functional independence skills needed to complete common, everyday tasks. This study examined the effects of work…

The NASA public archives present a vast resource of authentic satellite data that research astronomers have tapped into for decades. Recently, the same data analysis tools used by professional astronomers have been adapted into a browser-based interface called JS9 for easy use by any interested student. Tutorials and classroom-ready activities…

School-based mentors are essential partners with teacher preparation programs in preparing novice teachers to have the knowledge, skills, and professional commitments they need to be strong teachers from day one. In many ways, the demands of mentoring, such as critical conversations with colleagues and reflecting, mirror the kinds of engagement…

One of the challenges leaders face is how to help teachers examine their classroom practice. The use of video technology as a tool for teacher self-reflection, peer collaboration, and coaching has been gaining in popularity for just this purpose. In this article, the authors share how teachers benefit from using a Lesson Analysis Protocol to…

Purpose: The System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) is a valid, reliable method for understanding how people engage in physical activity (PA) in various permanent settings (e.g., parks) and contexts. However, its utility, reliability, and validity in temporary spaces has not been examined. Temporary spaces can provide PA…

One popular observational instrument to evaluate teaching is the Classroom Assessment Scoring System--Secondary (CLASS-S). Yet, the secondary version of the CLASS poorly discriminates classroom management quality beyond identifying extremely chaotic classrooms with teachers' scores clustering in the most positive ranges of effectiveness. Studies…

Screening for autism spectrum disorder is the first step toward early detection and diagnosis, thereby impacting the likelihood of children accessing early intervention and, importantly, improving long-term outcomes. This systematic review aimed to (a) establish a clear baseline of autism spectrum disorder screening tools currently used throughout…

Teachers' use of formative assessment (FA) has been shown to improve student outcomes; however, teachers enact FA in many ways. We examined classroom videos of nine experienced teachers of elementary, middle, and high school science, aiming to create a model of FA enactment that is useful to teachers. We developed a coding scheme through a…

This paper gives a grounded cognition account of model-based learning of complex scientific knowledge related to socio-scientific issues, such as climate change. It draws on the results from a study of high school students learning about the carbon cycle through computational agent-based models and investigates two questions: First, how do…

To improve the quality of our instruction and to contribute to student success, we designed an instructional development program using peer mentoring and observation grounded in evidence-based practices. We identified three methods of peer observation and mentoring to create an innovative progressively in-depth program that helps librarians…