A Professional Development Schools partnership between the University of Maryland and other elementary schools in the district worked together to explore, discuss and reflect on the challenges of helping students to write about mathematics. Finding ways to help students effectively communicate their mathematical thinking is a challenge for…

Biodiesel was synthesized by transesterification of waste vegetable oil using common glassware and reagents, and characterized by measuring heat of combustion, cloud point, density and measuring the heat of combustion and density together allows the student the energy density of the fuel. Analyzing the biodiesel can serve as a challenging and…

Toilet paper (TP) composition and physical characteristics were used to model scientific investigations that combined several "National Science Education Standards." Experiments with TP permitted the integration of TP history, societal change resulting from invention, mathematics (including geometry and statistics), germ theory, and personal…

Successful transition planning for students with disabilities from school into adulthood seems to be a complex and difficult process. The 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) promote the development of successful transition planning; however, research has shown that special educators are not likely to engage in…

Equipping engineering students with the skills and knowledge required to be successful global engineers in the 21st century is one of the primary objectives of undergraduate educators. Enabling students to practice self-directed learning, to find solutions to design problems that are sustainable and to recognize that they are part of a global…

In "The two cultures and the scientific revolution," C.P. Snow (1959) described the chasm between pure and applied science, on the one hand, and the arts and humanities, on the other. Snow was concerned that the complete lack of understanding between these "two cultures" would hamper the spread of the scientific/industrial…

Study groups and learning circles can offer a systematic way for early childhood teachers to interact about their work and create a culture of professional development. This paper describes how faculty systematically followed a collaborative co-inquiry process in order to improve a new early childhood interdisciplinary teacher preparation program.…

Inquiry-based science instruction can provide a rich context in which to build literacy skills in the elementary grades. The authors discuss the benefits of incorporating reading, writing, and speaking into science instruction. They describe the results of research on two models for combining language arts and science--the Science IDEAS model and…

Although research supports the importance and impact of using reading strategies in content area classrooms to improve students' comprehension, many secondary teachers do not use this knowledge to improve the delivery of content. This article describes a themed literature circle curriculum developed as part of a reading course for content area…

Citation analysis of dissertations was used to explore the interdisciplinary nature of education graduate students' research. A sample of curriculum and instruction dissertations, and their bibliographies we studied using citation analysis methods and analysis of "Digital Dissertation" records. Research methodologies were also explored.…

This article describes the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), a nonprofit advocacy organization that engages with school communities through professional development to build relationships with educators, students, parents, and community stakeholders. NUA consultants are former and current university professors, former…

This article describes changes experienced by a multidisciplinary team of the Center for Learning Disabilities in Tirat Carmel, Israel, in the wake of the enactment of the country's Special Education Law. Over the course of several years, the team working at the Center was able to adapt to the changes, while preserving the professional level of…

This paper addresses the challenge of how the field of kinesiology can exploit the advantages of multiple agendas while minimizing the disadvantages. Agendas here are the scholarly themes that help organize the field of study explicitly or implicitly and that give emphases to it with respect to its content and impact in society. The issue of…

While the current debate in the evaluation community has concentrated on examining and explicating implications of the choice of methods for evaluating federal programs, the authors of this paper address the challenges faced by the government in the selection of funding mechanisms for supporting program evaluation efforts. The choice of funding…

The popular reality television show "Amazing Race" involves participants searching for clues and completing tasks as they progress on a journey all over the world. Inspired by the show, the author incorporated some of the tasks from "Amazing Race" with geocaching, a game in which participants use a Global Positioning System…