Through a strong Montessori orientation to the parameters of spoken language, Joen Bettmann makes the case for "materializing" spoken knowledge using the stimulation of real objects and real situations that promote mature discussion around the sensorial aspect of the prepared environment. She lists specific materials in the classroom…

In this essay I share the ways I have used performed ethnography to explore the notion of border crossing in an undergraduate course called "Equity and Activism in Education." Performed ethnography involves turning the findings of ethnographic research into a play script. My students read two performed ethnographies, "Harriet's…

There is a call for enabling students to use a range of efficient mental and written strategies when solving addition and subtraction problems. To do so, students should recognise numerical structures and be able to change a problem to an equivalent problem. The purpose of this article is to suggest an activity to facilitate such understanding in…

As makerspaces begin to move into school libraries and classrooms, there is a growing need for professional development to help K-12 educators answer common questions such as "what is a makerspace," "why should I bother with a makerspace," "how do I run a makerspace," and "how do I teach from a makerspace?"…

Learning about people from long ago and far away poses a challenge for students because such people seem so distant and different. The lack of easily comprehensible text-based primary sources compounds this problem. Using a built environment as a primary source makes people from the distant past more accessible, concrete and exciting. Broadly…

A Virtual Steel Connection Sculpture was developed through a grant from the National Science Foundation. The Virtual Sculpture is an interactive tool that shows students and anyone interested in connections how steel members are connected. This tool is created to complement students' steel design courses. The features of this educational tool,…

This article explores an alternative strategy for designing hybrid instructional environments. Rather than bridging home or community funds of knowledge with school learning, I propose designing disruptions to typical school practices to invite students to recruit out-of-school resources meaningful and sensible to them in order to grapple with…

Reading is an important skill in learning English. However, reading class is not emphasized in some primary schools in China, and there are various problems with the reading activities, which inadequately just focus on teaching of words, sentences separately from texts. This paper aims to bring out a whole system of principles in designing…

Music conservatoires have generally neglected focusing on a key issue: that of audiences--their needs and wants, why they value particular music, and how music actually functions in any particular community. Yet audience is typically a musician's first contact with the "real world"; understanding audience (one's market or customers) is…

Cognitive gains in science content linked to single zoo visits are well evidenced; zoos are unique educational settings. Not only do they foster learning about the natural world, but they also help young people to connect with wildlife (Jensen, 2014; Pearson et al., 2014). Even out-of-classroom experiences of short duration can evoke strong…

Family learning means any learning that includes children and adult members of their family, and where there are outcomes for both child and adult. Learning activities may be formal or informal, and can take place in a range of contexts and venues. Good family learning experiences are characterised by well-planned programmes, with good or…

To seriously consider one's rights under the US Constitution, one must grapple with the realization that many rights are not absolute. Instead, they are contested. But how to introduce younger students to such a complex concept, given short attention spans? In this article, we discuss the opportunities, pitfalls, and planning logistics of the 2013…

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson approved legislation to establish the National Park Service (NPS) as part of the U.S. Department of the Interior. It was charged with protecting and managing the 35 National Parks and monuments in the country. One hundred years later, in 2016, the NPS protects and manages more than 400 parks located in all 50…

In 1957, a civil rights organization called Fellowship of Reconciliation created a comic book to teach America's youth about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Entitled "Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story," the comic book was enormously successful. John Lewis, a young civil rights activist at the time, recalled that the book was…

University campuses provide an accessible, cheap and useful means of teaching ecology to undergraduate students. We describe a short campus-based activity that was trialed in the 2015- 16 academic year to engage first year physical geography students with both ecology and urban ecology. Students undertook a 40-minute investigation of the campus to…