A long term, ever broadening search for ideas from multiple disciplines strengthens creative thinking for many gifted young people, especially if the search is guided by the evolving interests of the individual. Instead of asking students to delve deeply into a particular topic, encourage them to allow one point of study to suggest others, and…

This article adapts the Evidence-Based Reasoning (EBR) Framework (Brown, Furtak, Timms, Nagashima, & Wilson, this issue) to create a coding system for assessing argumentation in science classroom discourse. The instrument, "Evidence-Based Reasoning in Science Classroom Discourse", is intended to provide a means for measuring the quality of EBR in…

This research investigated how differently elementary school students participate in synchronous online collaborative learning by analysing their discussions with their partners. Two hundred and seventy-eight Taiwanese students, ranging in age from 11 to 12 years old, were involved in this study. The students were randomly arranged within-class…

This article examines the interactional work in which two groups of secondary ESL students engaged to achieve and sustain participation in group oral assessment, which is designed to assess a student's interactive communication skills in a school-based assessment context. The in-depth observation of the ways in which participants co-constructed…

This research examines the emotional themes and discourse of emotion of early childhood educators using a post-structuralist theoretical framework of emotion. The data selected and analyzed is taken from 4 two-hour discussion groups that were conducted over an eight-week period with four female early childhood educators. The emotional themes and…

Online discussion groups have become a resource for teachers seeking ongoing professional development. Despite their popularity, there has been little systematic investigation into the nature and quality of the dialogue that occurs within an unstructured virtual community to which participants voluntarily subscribe. In this study, we explored how…

Children's literature has long been used by parents and teachers to impart social values and expectations as well as to entertain children. Postmodern picturebooks jar this tradition by stimulating readers to question and rethink societal norms. However, these books also feature many cultural attributes that hold fast: loving families are still a…

"Why do they always tell you what "not" to do? Why don't they tell you what to do?" a student in an art education course for certification complained. The course is required for undergraduate students and post-baccalaureates, and introduces multicultural education and topics related to teaching, including educational philosophy, school law, and…

Although many students have some knowledge of patents, it can be difficult for them to understand the components of an innovator's decision-making process. Key issues, such as whether to patent or to use trade secrecy, how broad a scope to claim, and what to do in the event of patent infringement, can be difficult to grasp from a standard lecture.…

On Earth, using ordinary visible light, one can create a single image of light recorded over time. Of course a movie or video is light recorded over time, but it is a series of instantaneous snapshots, rather than light and time both recorded on the same medium. A pinhole camera, which is simple to make out of ordinary materials and using ordinary…

Engaging and motivating children in school is always a challenge for teachers, and for some, mathematics can be especially challenging. In this article, the authors describe how they use puppets in mathematics lessons and how puppets can provoke dialogue and discussion. They discuss the impact and other aspects of using puppets in teaching.

As a high school English teacher of 26 years, the author has become increasingly disheartened by the steady decline in the number of students who read for enjoyment. To reverse this trend, she has instituted a program entitled the Reading Round Table. Repeated monthly, the benefits of the Reading Round Table are many. Students enjoy sharing with…

In contrast to traditional theories of career development that focus on decision-making processes in relation to market work, [Richardson, M. S. (2004). The emergence of new intentions in subjective experience: A social/personal constructionist and relational understanding. "Journal of Vocational Behavior," 64, 485-498], informed by social…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a teaching methodology for improving the understanding of ethical decision making. This pedagogical approach is applicable in college courses and in corporate training programs. Design/methodology/approach: Participants are asked to analyze a set of eight ethical dilemmas with differing situational…

Full-length films allow viewers to see the complexity and nuances of cultural interactions. Discussions following full-length films tend to be deeper and more insightful than those in response to a short clip. This makes watching full-length films an excellent strategy for helping teachers unpack beliefs, values, and stereotypes. In this article,…