In this research, school and district gifted coordinators in three states reported on the gifted curriculum in their schools. We also use state administrative data to examine the achievement growth from 3rd to 5th grade for gifted and non-gifted students. We find a limited use of a gifted mathematics and language arts curriculum for gifted…

Several decades of research and development have produced a rich ecology of technologies designed to support active, collaborative constructionist pedagogical practices. Nevertheless, many teachers are reluctant to use these technologies in their teaching or fail to devise learning designs which leverage their qualities. We argue that this tension…

Nationwide, leaders in business and industry have increasingly acknowledged the importance of entrepreneurship. Several areas of the country showcase the importance of entrepreneurship such as Silicon Valley in California where a large number of start-up companies in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields are located. To meet the…

This article shares key steps in how to negotiate writing Readers Theatre scripts with English learners or any small group of students. The author aims to help promote language and literacy development and encourage critical thinking and engagement through the powerful modality of Readers Theatre.

This essay looks at how the definition and use of the word propaganda has evolved throughout history. In particular, it examines how propaganda and education are intrinsically linked, and the implications of such a relationship. Propaganda's role in education is problematic as on the surface, it appears to serve as a warning against the dangers of…

Kevin Gary, President of the Ohio Valley Philosophy of Education Society, argues that the standard conception of a liberal education espoused by sociologist Max Weber and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) is built on the illusions of personal autonomy, critical thought, and liberal neutrality. Gary turns to the wisdom…

The aim of this paper is the validation of measurement tools which assess critical thinking and creativity as general constructs instead of subject-specific skills. Specifically, this research examined whether there is convergent and discriminant (or divergent) validity between measurement tools of creativity and critical thinking. For this…

The educational enthusiasm for both authenticity and empathy makes a number of assumptions about universal virtues, self-hood, the role of emotion in education, and the role of the teacher. In this article, we argue that authenticity and empathy are both nebulous virtues that teachers and students are called to embody with little reflection on how…

This article considers the place of knowledge in developing a socially just curriculum. It pursues the unusual route of a critique of Social Realism, a small but influential tendency in curriculum studies which claims that knowledge has been squeezed out by recent curriculum reforms and that there has been a descent into relativism. This paper…

Maps are present in flags as part of their design and are more common in subnational flags. This study analyzed 4,804 subnational flags in North America -- the continent with the most flags with maps -- to identify if maps are incorporated, the area the maps represented and the presence of the theme of location. The theme of location is one of the…

While there is a rich array of community-based learning activities and approaches across the Portland State University campus, the authors assert that integrating a critical service learning (CSL), rather than traditional service learning (TSL), model in the first-year curriculum benefits both students and community partners. They advocate for…

It would be safe to say that nearly every student enrolled in college knows someone who has been impacted by cancer. After all, cancer killed nearly 8.2 million people worldwide in 2012 (International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2014). Using this fact as the impetus for change, we decided to make cancer the focus of a…

This paper is a description of a proposed action research study driven by a problem of practice. The problem for this action research is that the teacher-researcher's sixth-grade social studies students lack critical thinking skills. Critical thinkers are engaged and creative learners who analyze complex issues and challenges within society. The…

Team-based learning (TBL) is a non-traditional method of instruction that utilizes permanent teams working together to solve problems and make decisions. The authors extend the prior TBL criminal justice literature through a detailed explanation of the use of application-focused activities in the classroom. Specifically, application-focused…

The aim of this study is to determine how primary school pre-service teachers approach environmental issues via public service announcements and their opinions on them. This study was conducted with case survey model. The study group consisted of 34 primary school pre-service teachers. Data were gathered via public service announcements which are…