Teacher education programs have a critical role in helping incoming teachers develop a deeper understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues and their moral and legal obligations to counter homophobic bullying. In this self-study, two educators--a university professor and a classroom teacher, who facilitated a workshop…

Young children and early care and education (ECE) staff are exposed to pesticides used to manage pests in ECE facilities in the United States and elsewhere. The objective of this pilot study was to encourage child care programs to reduce pesticide use and child exposures by developing and evaluating an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Toolkit for…

While families play a vital role in the early literacy skills of young English Learners, their educators often do not share the same backgrounds or cultures, and may not know how to connect with parents who are linguistically and culturally different. As part of a year-long grant funded professional development project, the authors led teams of…

This literature review looks at recent research into job burnout and self-efficacy, with an emphasis into the teaching profession. The Maslach Burnout Inventory has been the standard instrument for almost all burnout research. MBI's three subscales include emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Research shows…

This study supports the work of Black and Wiliam (1998), who demonstrated that when teachers effectively utilize formative assessment strategies, student learning increases significantly. However, the researchers also found a "poverty of practice" among teachers, in that few fully understood how to implement classroom formative…

Hands-on science enrichment experiences can be limited for students with blindness or low vision (BLV). This manuscript describes recent hands-on summer enrichment programs held for BLV students. Also presented are innovative technologies that were developed to provide spoken quantitative feedback for BLV students engaged in hands-on science…

Despite extensive scholarship about the importance of teaching mathematics with multiple strategies in the elementary grades, there has been relatively little discussion of this practice in the middle and high school levels or in the context of introductory algebra. This article begins our exploration of this practice by addressing the following…

Given the importance of technology in today's society, many teacher professional development (TPD) efforts incorporate instructional technologies. Following TPD, little is known about how to adequately support teachers in the use of these instructional technologies. Supporting teachers in geographically distant schools is particularly challenging.…

Georgia Computes! ("GaComputes") was a six-year (2006-2012) project to improve computing education across the state of Georgia in the United States, funded by the National Science Foundation. The goal of GaComputes was to broaden participation in computing and especially to engage more members of underrepresented groups which includes…

This study examined the messages perceived by adolescent girls with orphanhood to influence their sexual decision making. Participants were 125 students (mean age = 14.7 years), 54% of whom attended church schools in a rural district of eastern Zimbabwe. We collected and analyzed data using concept mapping, a mixed method approach that enabled the…

Leadership programs have been extensively promoted in rural communities in Australia. However, few have been evaluated. The results of the evaluation of a rural leadership program provided in this paper highlight the need for adult learning theories to be more overtly identified and utilised as the basis of planning and implementing leadership…

The Teaching Resources Center (TRC) was developed at the university as an integrated project funded by the Ministry of Education. The focus of the TRC is not only on enhancing students' motivation in self-access study and written English, but also on providing the resources for research and information to develop lifelong learners and independent…

The Association Supporting Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) initiated a refereed track for paper submissions to the conference in 2008. In fact, at the 2008 business meeting, the membership approved three different presentation tracks: refereed with 3 blind reviews for each paper, session with paper where the author submits a paper but it is…

This issue of the Occasional Papers Series aims to draw attention to the use of storytelling as a medium for provoking dialogue about inclusive classrooms and school communities. It offers readers stories of classroom life that provide insights into understanding the complexities that make up the lives of children with disabilities, their…

"The Montessori Observer" is mailed four times each year, in March, May, September and November, to Society members throughout the world. The purpose is to provide news and information about the Society's work in Montessori education, and to extend awareness of Montessori principles throughout the world. This issue contains a feature…