This article describes early childhood educators' responses to a professional development series aimed at helping them to understand and incorporate early learning standards for social studies. While the primary aim of the professional development was to focus on the social studies content standards, the secondary aim was to introduce early…

Lesson study is a form of teacher professional development that is intrinsic to the Japanese educational system in first and second level schools and in teacher education. Lesson study has been credited with the success of Japanese pupils in international comparative tests of mathematics achievement (Stigler and Hiebert, 1999). It is gaining…

Social work programs are one mechanism within Catholic institutions of higher education for advancing the social mission of the Church. The social work profession seeks the achievement of a just society that promotes the dignity of the human person in the context of community and social relationships. This article describes beginning efforts to…

This article offers a few guidelines for constructing effective simulations. It presents a sample class activity called simulated public hearing which aims to integrate the various elements of a public speaking course into a more comprehensive whole. Properly designed, simulated hearings have elements of persuasive, informative, and impromptu…

Outcomes assessment often becomes a focus of attention as a response to accreditation requirements. But if the emphasis is short-term, it can produce crisis-mode frustrations that will be repeated each time accreditation rolls around. Increasingly, accreditation agencies are asking for evidence that program-level assessment is ongoing. This…

The Historical Scene Investigation (HSI) project is designed to help teachers integrate historical investigations into their K-12 history instruction. The HSI project materials provide streamlined and aesthetically engaging Web-based historical investigation exercises. Each case exercise engages students in a historical investigation using rich…

The purpose of this article is to frame--and reframe--the work of student affairs. Evolving paradigms have defined and advanced this work, which is dedicated to total student development and the betterment of society. The article promotes integrative learning as a new framework for student affairs. This paradigm, grounded in theory, research, and…

Progressive educators applied early religious experiences to their professional lives in four ways. Some, like schoolmaster Jerry Voorhis, consciously integrated their religious beliefs into their educational theories and practices. Others, like Paul Hanna, lived divided lives, one religious and one professional. John Dewey represents a different…

Field trips are well recognized by researchers as an educational approach with the potential to complement and enhance classroom science teaching by exposing students to unique activities, resources, and content in informal settings. The following investigation addresses teachers' field trip practices in three related manuscripts: (1) A study…

Background: The BSc Public Health and Health Promotion at University College Cork (UCC) aims to produce graduates who are passionate about their discipline. Teachers need to communicate this "passion" to students, but it can be difficult to know whether this has been achieved. The TFU framework makes such an outcome explicit, through…

Discourse on e-learning propagated myths that generated overstatements regarding the effects of technologies on learning. No pedagogical approach could ever meet such overexpectations. The subsequent disappointment actually paves the way for research targeting more realistic goals. As the myths are fading away, learning technologies might take a…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide an assessment of business educational reform requirements in China, in the light of current employability needs. Design/methodology/approach: After introducing the problem the paper discusses labour market demands for business graduates. The paper continues with a thorough conceptualisation of the…

The sustainability of research-based innovations in schools is constrained not only by systemic institutional barriers and inherent contradictions between schooling and research, but also by the related issue of time. This case study suggests that relative timescales, e.g., the collective activity of schooling over decades versus the individual…

A guided-inquiry exercise conducted in both the lecture and laboratory components of a college introductory chemistry course for non-science majors is described. The exercise gave students the opportunity to independently determine the relationship between the temperature of water in an aluminum soda can and the intensity of implosion upon placing…