This paper describes how a three-day summer workshop on using primary sources helped teachers increase the emphasis placed on disciplinary literacy when teaching social studies and history. Two specific issues in teacher education and practice are addressed. First, increasing teachers' content knowledge of history topics can help them plan lessons…

A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted to identify current practice on teaching science to students with intellectual disability (ID) and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in relation to two review questions--students' science outcomes and students' and teachers' experiences of the interventions. Six databases related to education,…

Using the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) data, this study explored the relationship between professional development (PD) and teacher efficacy. In particular, the analysis focused on how 4 aspects of PD (format, content, duration, and quality) are statistically related to the overall as well as the 3 subscales of teacher…

It is commonly accepted in the academy that developing a critical thinking capacity and related capabilities will make students more effective thinkers and writers, and that these are desirable traits for graduates to have no matter what path they take after graduation. While most academics agree that critical thinking is an essential component of…

Students' questions have an important function in science learning, and in inquiry-based approaches. Inquiry teaching in which the students' own questions are used is promising, but a holistic view of the research and practice is lacking. A systematic review was conducted on 30 articles, both research report articles as well as descriptive and…

The Internet and other communication technologies can provide a powerful tool for social justice and civic action. These digital devices and social media have shown enormous potential by activists to mobilize the public, document their activities and the injustices they witness, and spread information to a wider audience. Individuals are often…

This study incorporated Nature of Science (NOS) within children's literature in a science methods course to aid preservice early childhood teachers in improving their NOS understandings and abilities to transfer NOS into formats accessible to early childhood students. Through a qualitative research design, researchers collected data including pre…

Teachers' beliefs about science teaching vary greatly. To analyze the relationships between teachers' beliefs and other variables related to teaching and learning, researchers can use the following two options: single item belief models or belief scales. In this study, we compared both models in the context of teachers' beliefs regarding teaching…

Revising standard structured academic programs by incorporating research throughout the curriculum is a modern trend at universities worldwide. There are numerous publications on inquiry-based learning (IBL) in individual courses, but few provide evidence both of success at the program level and of synergy in the teaching--research nexus. Our…

The issue of student disengagement in school science continues to pose a threat to lifting the participation rates of students undertaking STEM courses and careers in Australia and other countries globally. In Australia, several science initiatives to reverse the problem have been funded over the last two decades. Many of these initiatives involve…

St. Olaf College recently restructured its Summer Bridge Program (SBP) course for incoming low-income (LI) and first-generation (FG) college students from a non-major biology course, "Issues in Biology," to an interdisciplinary "Explorations in Science" course. Two significant changes were made with the intention of giving…

Many middle and high school teachers are educated to teach science content--they don't anticipate that one day they may be teaching it to students who need to learn both content and English. If the day has come when you're facing that two-pronged challenge, here's the resource you need. "Supporting Emergent Multilingual Learners in…

This study investigated whether elementary students could collectively advance a knowledge-building discourse through judgments of promisingness and epistemic reflection. Supported by the Promising Idea Tool and its accompanying pedagogical design, 32 grade six students were involved in judging the promisingness of their community ideas, refining…

"Let's Play! Activities for Families" has been developed by the B.C. Ministry of Education for families and caregivers to support children's early learning experiences through playing and having fun. Each play activity connects with one of the Living Inquiries described in the "B.C. Early Learning Framework," which are: (1)…

"Active learning" has been used to describe classrooms that have varied widely with respect to instructional topics, age of learners, and the procedures used to operationalize the general notion of the term. In most cases, the specific variant of active learning under investigation has been more effective than the particular control used…