Effective professional development occurs in learning communities where teachers co-construct knowledge with peers about teaching and learning by engaging in meaningful activities. However, only a few studies have examined the complex nature of discourse, participation, and learning in professional development contexts. Grounded in the notion of…

This study focused on the peer support group activities organized in two northern-Finnish places for children with hearing loss and their experiences of it. This was an ethnographic child research, in which the research participants were 16 (12 girls, 4 boys, aged 7-17 years) northern-Finnish children with hearing loss. The main research data…

This paper considers the social value of anonymity in online university student communities, through the presentation of research which tracked the final year of life of the social media application Yik Yak. Yik Yak was an anonymous, geosocial mobile application launched in 2013 which, at its peak in 2014, was used by around two million students…

The current study examined the effects of different types of instructor comments on student engagement in an online discussion. In particular, this study examined three comment types: (1) praise-oriented comments, agreeing with students' initial messages and recapping their ideas, (2) elaboration-encouraging comments, requesting elaboration on the…

Notwithstanding the limitations of traditional student evaluations and the increasing interest in instructional improvement for student learning in STEM education, there has been relatively little research on practices used by STEM faculty for gathering formative student feedback that enhances teaching-for-learning. Using a grounded theory…

Learning to read and write starts at a very young age. It is expected that by the time students enter high school, they have developed certain reading and writing skills. However, research has proven many students still struggle with reading and writing skills in high school. Some of these students graduate high school ill-prepared to enter…

The purpose of this case study was to examine how one teacher supported her students in making contributions to whole-class discussions in an Iranian classroom. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach and include field notes from all classroom observations and three teacher interviews collected over five weeks in a Year 11 classroom.…

As teachers shift their practice from traditional student-to-teacher interaction patterns to collaborative discussions around rich mathematics, they often encounter instructional challenges. One such challenge is deciding when to pursue interesting and productive ideas that run contrary to the particular mathematical goal of the lesson. In this…

Studies show that how students think of mathematics is related to their approach to learning and course performance; views that fall into one of two categories, fragmented or cohesive conceptions of math. Students who view mathematics as a complex system that can be used to explain the world around them (cohesive), often adopt deeper approaches to…

This article critiques a classroom encounter between a Black student, Richard, and a white student, Nick, that complicated the white English teacher, Mr. Turner's, attempt to facilitate a discussion about racial progress in America. Students positioned their bodies on a continuum between 1, no racial progress since the 1930s, and 10, full racial…

All too often, race discourse in the United States devolves into shouting matches, silence, or violence, all of which are mirrored in today's classrooms. This book will help individuals develop the skills needed to facilitate difficult dialogues across race in high school and college classrooms, in teacher professional learning communities, and…

Intergroup dialogues (IGD)--face-to-face, structured interactions between people of different social identities--is one educational intervention used to foster engagement across differences and to promote social justice. Using an 18-month case study methodology, we examined the experiences of IGD students and facilitators at one campus to gain a…

Implementing the case study method in a practical X-ray crystallography course designed for graduate or upper-level undergraduate chemistry students is described. Compared with a traditional lecture format, assigning small groups of students to examine literature case studies encourages more active engagement with the course material and…

Online discussions offer exciting potential for educational dialogue, but too often result in disjointed conversations with low levels of interactivity. One contributing cause is the traditional text-based interface, which presents posts in a long list, leaving students overwhelmed and without useful navigational cues. To address this problem, we…

Current views of literacy have expanded to encompass how individuals in sociocultural systems make meaning as they "read" and "write" their world. From this view, the work of students involved in pursuing deeper understandings as they discuss course concepts is a literacy act. This study focused on the inquiry and questioning…