There is now widespread acceptance of the importance of differentiated instruction in today's classrooms. However, much of the research regarding differentiated instruction takes place in primary and middle years environments, with very little focussed on the senior secondary years. This article explores differentiated instruction practices in…

This article reports on a co-produced project introducing an innovative, drama-based method for enhancing UK HE students' intercultural learning. We ran two workshops for a mixed cohort of students and demonstrate in our analysis how these decentred language as the chief vehicle of communication, treating language as one of many materials in the…

Research on early childhood robotics education often focuses narrowly on teaching young children STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) concepts and skills. In this qualitative case study, our research team examined what happened when we worked with young children (age 7) and combined the technologies of robotics education with…

A high-quality education in the social studies is recommended by the National Council for the Social Studies to promote civic competence and democratic participation for school system graduates. Currently, limited empirical information exists to inform social studies instruction for students with significant intellectual disability (SID),…

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, a research-based seminal work, provides a structure for integrating a collaborative constructivist approach in course design, implementation, and evaluation. The CoI framework suggests that by fostering three essential elements -- social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence -- a community of…

In this short piece, the author provides some background on critical thinking and reading in the unprecedented times of the Donald J. Trump administration where truth is gleaned only through careful consideration of multiple perspectives and sources. Readers will learn more about the French "esprit critique" as a means to teaching…

Integrating the disciplines of mathematics and science is one way to place the calculations of volume and surface area into a real life context. The authors present an activity for middle-school students that aims to promote their learning of these key concepts in a personally meaningful way, whilst also developing inquiry and problem solving…

For more than 20 years, the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (known as the Met) has been personalizing learning to meet students' interests and needs. The Met, which today is a network of six small, public high schools in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, is the founding school of Big Picture Learning, a network of more than…

In this article, the authors tackle the tension between a fact-based civics test and inquiry-based teaching and learning. The authors begin with a short history on the civics test and the new standards in Kentucky before turning their attention to one approach to the civics test using an Inquiry Design Model (IDM) inquiry--"Does the civics…

Playing is essential for the development of higher psychological functions. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that playing constitutes an essential step in children's socio-cognitive development by describing playtime as the indicator of the gradual overcoming of self-centred thinking, with a view to acquiring new social adjustment…

This study investigates the impact of participation in the CREativity in Science and Technology (CREST) programme on student self-regulated processes and related motivations. The CREST scheme, a student-run science project managed by the British Science Association, is currently being implemented in schools across the UK to increase student…

This paper examines students' engagement in monitoring anomalous results across a 2-year longitudinal study with 9th and 10th graders (14-15 and 15-16 years of age). The context is a set of five inquiry-based laboratory tasks, requiring students to plan and carry out investigations. The study seeks to examine students' interpretation of data, in…

This year-long qualitative study explored third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade gifted students' participation during inquiry explorations. We discovered that it took considerable time for students to balance the process and final product created. For instance, students focused on the process and planning of the outcome. However, when the outcome…

Understanding the nature of science (NoS) is perplexing for young children because it is concerned with not only understanding how evidence is generated but also what kind of meanings can be made from information collected. However, acting as a scientist-in-role, making independent decisions about what information to collect and deciding how to go…

Improvisation-based exercises may be the key to unlocking students' innate musical creativities. This article focuses on two exercises--drone improvisation and circle stringing--that can be easily integrated into the orchestra curriculum and adapted to the learning needs of the individual student, small-ensemble, and large-ensemble settings. Of…