The last decade has witnessed a growing number of international exchange and training programs for educators, particularly in the areas of social studies. Dramatic changes in Central and Eastern Europe made the western, particularly the American, experience in civic education and teaching for democracy more and more desirable. In many instances,…

As the fifth largest school district in California, Santa Ana Unified School District faces the challenge of providing technology access to its more than 63,000 students and over 6,000 certificated and classified staff members. This article describes how the district found the solution in wireless computing, which is now being used as a highly…

As a university professor who has taught at the teacher education, masters, and doctoral levels, the life of teaching has been an enduring interest, particularly teaching that occurs in K-12 settings. From the author's own work as a K-12 teacher and administrator to her earliest studies of effective teaching and in her own university teaching, she…

School change is inevitable. As a human institution, schools are in a constant state of transformation, and individual teachers adapt or provide the impetus for that transformation all the time. The question, then, is not whether there will be change, but what change there will be--a question complicated by the fact that change means different…

This study reports on the process and outcomes of schoolwide action research by nine schools in their first year as Network members. The participants were a blend of urban, suburban, small town, and rural schools in Central Texas. Focal points of the case studies and cross-case comparison included: (1) how the schools organized for action…

A science content course in food chemistry was offered as a 4-day summer workshop from 1999 to 2001 to 4th grade school teachers in the Seattle School District. The objectives of the workshop were to increase the teachers' knowledge of food science, to perform simple experiments that could be used in the 4th grade classroom, and to help the…

Course delivery mediated by information and communication technology (ICT) is increasingly seen as a desirable and cost effective means of providing study opportunities to large numbers of teachers. However, it is unclear to what extent teachers have access to the ICT infrastructure that is required for participation in such study. This paper…

The introduction of an online learning management system (LMS) raises a number of complex issues involving institutional responses at various levels to the adoption and diffusion of technological change. Issues include those related to governance, management and technical support, as well as to core learning and teaching matters associated with…

This study analyzed the implementation of a pre-writing activity that was designed to address L2 student writers' tendency to focus on grammatical accuracy to the exclusion of content and structure. The participants, students in a university-level Spanish composition course, were given a rubric with which to evaluate three previously written…

In both China and the United States, educators are committed to the provision of rigorous academic instruction in inclusive environments to students with disabilities. This paper presents the reflections of the authors from the 2004 U.S.-China Conference on Educating Students with Special Needs held in Beijing, China in June 2004. The authors…

A program of research related to school-based models for urban children's mental health is described, with a particular focus on improving access to services, promoting children's functioning, and providing for program sustainability. The first study in this series responded to the urgent need to engage more families in mental health services, and…

This paper examines the effects of intercultural experience on teacher professionalism. The main methods for data collection consist of semi-structured interviews and survey questionnaires. Analysis of participants' experiences of Department for International Development's (DFID) English language teaching projects shows that intercultural…

This article describes the work of the school principal in building a vibrant learning community for staff and students. The descriptions emerged from a series of investigations into teaching, learning, and leading practices within schools that have high capacity for effective teaching and learning. These investigations demonstrated that the…

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has tremendous potential for being a tool that can connect students to post school opportunities not yet known. The technology is robust and well developed, used by many workplaces and integral in a nation's future well-being and defence. However, despite many isolated attempts by teachers to incorporate GIS…

How can one increase the awareness of teachers to the existence and importance of knowledge gained through physics education research (PER) and provide them with capabilities to use it? How can one enrich teachers' physics knowledge and the related pedagogical content knowledge of topics singled out by PER? In this paper we describe a professional…