Background: Little is known about factors that influence home-based child care providers' participation in professional development. Factors that predict participation in activities that are designed to promote the utilization and maintenance of skills taught are of particular interest. Objective: Our aim was to examine factors in the home-based…

Concepts in mathematics are often universally applicable to other fields. A critical aspect for success in high school or college is the ability to transfer content knowledge from one discipline to another. This is especially true for material learned in the sciences and mathematics. Several studies have suggested that strong mathematical skills…

Academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, is a chronic problem. This paper reports the results of a project undertaken at a public funded university in Melbourne, Australia, in partnership with colleagues from a public funded university in Beijing, China, to combat this and other problems associated with academic literacy. The prime focus of the…

Positive relationship building between the university and the schools that receive their pre-service teachers are crucial to developing quality educators fit for the teaching profession. This paper presents an overview of a mentor workshop that was introduced by the professional experience unit of a regional university in Australia. The aim of the…

The lack of strong literacy skills and practices among students is perhaps the clearest indicator that the education system continues to leave millions of children behind. To advance the reading, writing, and speaking skills of middle and high school students, this study examines a professional development model that brought trained…

Informal learning environments often host teachers for learning opportunities, but little is known about the impact of these experiences on teacher professional development (PD). This article describes a unique collaborative PD experience between zoological park personnel and university faculty, examining the impact on teacher content knowledge,…

This sequential, mixed method, QUAN-QUAL study redefines the craft of teaching into the science ("what"), art ("how"), and the business of teaching to assess and prepare preservice teachers. It also measures the effectiveness of using theatrical elements as teaching strategies to effectively develop preservice teachers in the…

This study investigated how three instructors developed their professional learning of beliefs, knowledge, and practice by examining their professional learning processes using constructive, social constructive, and transformative theoretical perspectives on learning. It also focused on their challenges and supports in developing their…

"The Montessori Observer" is mailed four times each year, in March, May, September and November, to Society members throughout the world. The purpose is to provide news and information about the Society's work in Montessori education, and to extend awareness of Montessori principles throughout the world. This issue contains a feature…

In 2007, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) initiated an annual survey of school library media programs. The development of this longitudinal survey project was mandated by the AASL Board as part of the association's strategic plan with the goal to provide research and statistics to be used at the national, state and local levels…

At Bentley College, a four-year private institution located in Waltham, Massachusetts, over 90 percent of students major in business disciplines. For decades, Bentley's strong arts and sciences departments have battled for a place within an overwhelmingly career-focused curriculum, and great strides have been made to change the traditional…

Teachers as Readers (TAR) is a strategy often recommended to engage teachers as active readers; participants share and learn in peer groups and then connect what they learn to their instruction of reading in the classroom. The idea is supported financially by a number of reading organizations. Reading is only one part of literacy--it is time to…

In this article, the author describes the 11th Dance and the Child International (daCi) Conference 2009 which was hosted by the Edna Manley School of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica from August 2-8. Nicholeen Degrasse-Johnson, the director of the Edna Manley School of Dance along with daCi officials, including the president of…

Inventor Thomas Edison once famously declared, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." If that's the case, then the students the author witnessed at the International Student Media Festival (ISMF) last November in Orlando, Florida, are geniuses and more. The students in the ISMF pre-conference workshop…

Pre-service teacher education is marked by linear and sequential programming which offers a plethora of strategies and methods (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005; Darling Hammond & Bransford, 2005; Grant & Zeichner, 1997). This paper emerges from a three year study within a core education subject in pre-service teacher education in…