Studies investigating the effectiveness of professional development (PD) programs have provided no conclusive findings on what exactly makes a PD effort effective. Using an observation-based coaching PD program, we explore which features in the PD implementation process facilitated or impeded teachers' meaningful engagement in and learning from…

Teaching quality is a crucial, yet under-valued, component of a quality institution. This study draws upon a multi-institutional study of college teaching, the College Educational Quality (CEQ) study to examine the teaching practices and the culture of support for teaching at one Regional Public University that was included in the broader CEQ…

Drawing is a ubiquitous feature of early childhood education and classrooms. Its versatility makes it the kind of connective tissue that can integrate subject matter effortlessly; it is cost-efficient and does not require teachers to have specialized drawing skills in order for it to be effective. In other words, young children do not need to be…

This article describes our study exploring Extension agents' philosophies of adult education and their perceptions of the role of Cooperative Extension for individuals and in the community. We surveyed agents in Arkansas using the Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory and open-ended questions related to the role of Extension. Most agents…

This article explores the collective practice of teacher professional growth. A Delphi study method was used to identify a set of high-leverage practices for building teacher collective capacity for instructional improvement. The Delphi findings established a degree of empirical evidence for an initial set of collective practices, and offer…

Although educational objectives have played critical roles in facilitating instructional activities easily, Elliot W. Eisner argued against this by saying that the pre-intended objectives have hindered the practitioners' instructional initiatives. Not only Eisner but also other re-conceptualists and conceptual empiricists viewed the objectives…

Background: Young people are more likely to develop into effective learners, productive adults, and engaged citizens when their learning environments afford them certain kinds of experiences. For example, students are more likely to succeed when they experience a sense of belonging in school or experience schoolwork as personally relevant.…

Math and language are inextricably connected. Math cannot be taught without naming certain concepts and finding ways to express mathematical ideas. With the increasing demands on teachers to meet the needs of diverse learners, the role of language development in the mathematics classroom must be at the forefront of instruction. Identifying and…

The goal of the current research was to determine if conceptual metaphors are activated when people read idioms within a text. Participants read passages that included idioms that were consistent ("blow your top") or inconsistent ("bite his head off") with an underlying conceptual metaphor (ANGER IS HEATED FLUID IN A CONTAINER)…

Meaningful volunteer engagement depends on the Extension professional's volunteer management philosophy, training, and organizational support for using volunteers. Volunteer development and leadership development are typically absent from management-focused volunteer models used in Extension. Professional development of the Extension professional,…

In recent years, professional learning networks (PLNs) and online learning communities of practices (CoPs) enabled by social media have emerged as a conduit and communal space for faculty members to engage in professional learning. This systematic review provides a current synthesis of research surrounding social media and professional development…

Objective: To investigate the influences of feedback on manual therapy skill acquisition as presented in the literature. Data Source(s): An electronic search was conducted across 4 databases: PubMed, EBSCOhost, SPORTDiscus, and CINAHL. The key words that were used in the search included "manual therapy," "physiotherapy,"…

While defining "spiritual solidarity" and its importance for students in a context of growing extremism, this article explores the impact of using a new teaching tactic: "Human Books." The pedagogical purpose of "Human Books" is to propose an interactive learning experience joining formation and information, where…

Over the last decade, interest in nature-based educational programs has been growing in Canada, yet there has been little research on the nature of these programs and how they are being implemented. This small-scale study provides baseline information on the characteristics of Canadian Forest Schools, the challenges that educators face in starting…

This paper explores the task of learning virtue through the lens of self-determination theory. Drawing on SDT's account of motivation and of innate psychological needs, I defend a theory of learning virtue that emphasizes knowing why virtue is important is pivotal to the development of virtue.