Today, even though "social justice" programs exist as a virtual growth industry on US campuses and many universities have incorporated classes on race and racism into their curricula, everyone continues to be faced with the perception that race is a "controversial" topic that has to be broached with care due to its "sensitive nature". This is even…

The Lewis & Clark Rediscovery Project is a technology professional development program designed to help teachers restructure teaching and learning practices in the classroom, and to foster technology use in the schools. The 5-year program (extended into a 6th) was funded in 1999 with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education: Technology…

On an April morning in 1775, seventy-seven Lexington farmers took a stand on their town common and started a revolution. Generations of townspeople have honored these yeomen soldiers--the Battle of Lexington is re-enacted at dawn every April 19th--and generations of schoolchildren have learned the story of Lexington and Concord. Perhaps because of…

Learning and effective teaching are both complicated acts. However, many administrators, teachers, parents, and policymakers appear not to recognize those complexities and their significance for practice. Fueling this perception, recommendations from "isolated" research findings often neglect the complexities in learning and teaching, and when…

A year long Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program was developed for middle schools students on Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) involving learning disabilities. The workshops were designed to encourage students both on IEPs and not on IEPs to explore STEM as a future career choice by building their knowledge and…

This paper describes a methodology for harvesting knowledge within a professional development workshop in a large organization. Knowledge harvesting is a process aimed to (1) document every possible contribution of every participant and (2) arrange that documentation into an indexed summarized representation. The product of knowledge harvesting…

This essay describes the administration of peer observation programs with a focus on supporting scholarly teaching. The factors found to be influential in designing these programs are emphasized in an attempt to provide a framework on which others may build their own variations of a self-study group.

This study aims to present the main aims of a study skills project developed in two main interrelated sections: diagnosis and intervention. In the diagnosis process, the used a questionnaire ("Queststud") directed to the students allowed the assessment of the comprehension/retention and writing levels of competence. On the other hand,…

Plant growth, development and reproduction are fundamental concepts in biology; yet there is a recorded lack of motivation for young people to grapple with these concepts. Here we present the "DigitalSeed" toy for making investigations around these concepts more accessible to children through hands-on digital interaction. This is part of an…

This article explores the impact of the sustainable development (SD) agenda on the occupational and professional needs of those who have undergone educational and training programmes in the environmental field either at the undergraduate or the postgraduate level or through relevant professional institutions' continuing professional development…

This research study explored the Child Welfare League of America's (CWLA) perception of residential care for children, as a reflection of the child welfare profession as a whole. A content analysis of CWLA's national conference programs and the journal "Child Welfare" from 1997 to 2006 found that the profession emphasizes family foster care and…

Fort Hays State University and Emporia State University partnered with high-needs rural school districts to develop and offer a three-year professional development institute. The statewide institute was planned collaboratively to specifically meet the needs of middle school science teachers. The institute was managed concurrently at the two sites…

Purpose: This paper aims to focus on a study of the effectiveness of head teacher leadership within TAFE NSW. Design/methodology/approach: Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to identify and measure the effective leadership attributes of the head teachers. The research sample consisted of head teachers and teachers. Findings: The…

At the intersection of online education and preparedness, Johns Hopkins University's (JHU) Center for Public Health Preparedness provides all-hazards preparedness and response training for public health and public safety professionals. This report comes from Jonathan Links' keynote address to the Sloan Summer Research Workshop in Baltimore,…

The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) is doing much to promote the teaching of geography in schools. Since its establishment in 1968 to provide a common curriculum and university entrance credential for children of a geographically mobile international community, it has evolved and now includes schools in national systems all over the…