The construction and infrastructure of a city provide the foundation of an ideal urban lab for high school students to discover how to dissect the multifaceted layers of a place and make it their own. For six weeks in the winter of 2008, ninth-grade students in Providence, Rhode Island's Hope High School/Hope Arts Community learned to look closely…

We investigated the effects of a long-term, continuous professional development (CPD) model, designed to support teachers to enact Project-Based Learning (PBLSAT). How do novice PBLSAT teachers view their acquisition of PBLSAT skills and how do expert PBLSAT teachers, who enacted the program 5-7 years, perceive the program? Novice teachers…

This study introduces the concept of innovation management into curriculum design through a 4-month teaching project. Through this process, constant review and modification, and continuous analyses and verifications, two conclusions were obtained: (1) The design of teaching content should be oriented to thinking, sharing, and transfer of learning;…

Understanding how geckos--small lizards belonging to the family "Gekkonindae"--can "defy gravity" and walk across a ceiling provides a fascinating frame through which students can not only learn valuable content about electrostatic forces, but also engage in authentic scientific practice and explore new technologies based on gecko adhesion. In…

Boston Arts Academy provides an example of how high schools can incorporate the arts into academics. Incorporating the arts into all high schools can benefit student learning because students are able to make connections and to apply their learning in concrete ways.

Jennifer Dorman was in a fix. Teaching ninth-grade US history at Holicong Middle School in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Dorman wanted to tap into her students' interest in creating "something of value not just for their teachers, but something they could share with other students and people." But that required something a conventional paper-based…

This article describes an action research project in which the members of a basic English class for adults over 50 at a Colombian public university undertook the mission of discovering their potentialities as autonomous learners. By means of the reflective use of the language portfolio, the members of this course guided the planning and execution…

Seattle University has an industrially sponsored, yearlong, senior design program that has been in existence for more than 20 years. Students work in teams of three or four under the guidance of a liaison from the sponsoring agency and a faculty advisor. The students prepare a proposal in the fall quarter detailing their plan and a design report…

This article points composition scholars toward two bodies of theory that are gaining attention in our discipline, performance studies and multimodal discourse theory. Each raises important questions about the ways we teach writing, the kinds of composition processes we value, and the means by which students construct authority in the university.…

This study focuses on the effects of situated learning on students' knowledge acquisition by investigating the influence of individual differences in such learning. Seventy-nine graduates were recruited from an educational department and were assigned to situated learning and traditional learning based on a randomized block design. Results…

Most principals admit that despite the huge changes that have taken place in the world over the last 50 years, the education that students receive in today's high schools is remarkably similar to the education that was offered their parents. Educators recognize that changes should occur, but the reality of creating change can be overwhelming.…

Today's adolescent student is thriving in a world where information and communication technology (ICT) encourages literate practices. These practices, described and theorized by studies of the new literacies, are not encouraged or supported in most school settings where traditional notions of literacy still dominate. Students in grades 6-8 at a…

Harnessing student energy for the positive use of technology in the classroom requires significant change for many educators. Students today exhibit a one-click mentality when using computers in the classroom, and are frustrated when they are not provided with instant gratification. Gone are the reading and higher level thinking skills of the pen…

Future elementary school teachers often lack self-efficacy for teaching science and technology. They are particularly anxious about encouraging children to carry-out student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry and/or technological design projects. Moreover, because this often also is the case with practising elementary school teachers, it is…

This paper reports on a comprehensive evaluation of the Advance programme by Victoria University in 2007/08. Advance is a flexible school-based programme for young people to volunteer or implement a project of benefit to their communities in the state of Victoria, in Australia. It is a partnership between the Office for Youth, Victorian government…