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This current study shows the range of culturally-shaped, storytelling patterns present in three multicultural, multilingual preschool classrooms serving children from families with lower socioeconomic status in the U.S. Stories were collected in the context of a small group, child-led storytelling activity called story circles. Results show that story circles encourage diverse story forms and topics that reflect interdependent conceptions of self in young learners. In their stories, young children demonstrate the early emerging potential for cultivating linguistic and cultural dexterity in early childhood by surfacing and centering multiple meaning-making patterns in the classroom, rather than solely topic-centered, linear, temporal stories that predominate in U.S. schools.

This case study explores how teacher candidates responded to the inclusion of mindfulness practices in a course and how they understand mindfulness's relationship to equity. Findings show that participants responded positively and connected presence activities to social justice in several ways: fostering mental health, addressing systemic inequities, facilitating classroom management, making connections to curriculum, and empowering students. The study demonstrates that pairing mindfulness and equity goals has important potential; however, this is only one step of many needed to recruit and retain a thriving teaching force that can work for equity in schools.

This convergent parallel mixed-method study (quan + QUAL) relies on systematic classroom observations of mainstream teachers considered highly effective with multilingual learners in the United Kingdom and the United States (N = 9). Using a critical sociocultural theoretical lens, we use an established quantitative observation rubric and lesson field notes to capture real-world teaching practices. Using deductive reasoning to merge closed- and open-ended observation data, we illuminate the features of highly effective teaching for multilingual students. Evidence demonstrates that elements of challenge in activity design and teacher presentation, prioritizing language and literacy development, and modeling, were practices with the highest consistency across countries. At the same time, other features leave room for future growth. Lesson analysis unpacked various ways teachers enact effective teaching based on country context. Despite educational policies that may conflict with strong teaching for multilingual students, linguistically responsive teachers in both countries transcend curricular and testing constraints by intentionally enacting lessons that richly scaffold learning.

We used a cluster-randomized controlled trial to examine the impacts of a technology- and game-based social-emotional program, the "Adventures Aboard the S.S. GRIN" ("Adventures"), on students' social skills development. Eighty-eight third-grade classrooms (N = 1645 third-grade students) across four California public school districts were randomized to treatment or control. Analysis of student demographic data indicated that 49% were male, 51% were female, approximately one-third were Latinx, and about 50% qualified for free and reduced lunch. Two-level hierarchical linear model analysis results indicated that "Adventures" had significant and meaningful impacts on students' social-emotional learning (SEL) skills. The findings of Adventures shine new lights on a growing effort to support all students, including those identified by their teachers as having social-emotional challenges. It also expands our knowledge about the potential role of technology in addressing SEL competencies.

Most investigations of literacy programs are relatively short-term endeavors. Here, we reflect on what we have learned in 7 years of studying a program to teach word-learning strategies. The program was developed with a 3-year Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant and is currently being studied in a 4-year IES Efficacy grant. Here, we describe our choice of a topic; describe the curriculum, instruction, and teacher preparation in the program; and reflect on positive aspects of the program and aspects of it that could be improved. We believe that much of what we discuss is relevant to various types of instruction.

Evaluating information is an essential skill, valued across disciplines. While librarians and instructors share the responsibility to teach this skill, they need a common framework in order to collaborate to design assignments that give students multiple opportunities to learn. Librarians and First Year Seminar faculty at Belmont University collaborated to design a unit of instruction on source evaluation using the BEAM method. BEAM requires students to apply a use-based approach to evaluation, to read and engage with sources more closely, and to think about how they might use a source for a specific purpose. Structured annotated bibliographies that included BEAM were assessed, along with student, instructor, and librarian feedback. The BEAM method may be an effective method for teaching information evaluation when paired with other sequenced assignments that guide students through the research and writing process.

In this article, we integrate cultural evolutionary theory with empirical research from developmental psychology, cultural anthropology, and primatology to explore the role of peer learning in the development of complex instrumental skills and behavioral norms. We show that instrumental imitation, contingent teaching, generative collaboration, and selective copying contribute to domain-specific transmission of knowledge between peers. Stages of development and characteristics inherent to the learner and model influence how and when children learn from each other. Peer learning is persistent across societies despite cultural beliefs that favor adult-child transmission in some settings. Comparative research hints at the possibility that children's greater motivation to interact with and learn from each other may set humans apart from other primates. We conclude by outlining avenues for future research, including how individual characteristics and developmental changes in social networks, motivation, and cognition may contribute to cultural evolution.

This study investigates whether using My Math Academy, which provides personalized content and adaptive embedded assessments to support existing curricula, can improve learning outcomes and engagement for kindergarten and first grade students (N = 505 treatment, 481 control). Findings indicate that students using My Math Academy made significant learning gains in math relative to children who did not. More skills mastered in My Math Academy was associated with greater learning gains on the external assessment, with the greatest impacts among students with lower levels of math knowledge, where there was more room for growth and on the most difficult skills. Teachers surveyed found My Math Academy easy to use in their classrooms and recognized it as a valuable learning resource that supplemented their existing curricula to improve students' engagement, motivation, and confidence in learning math.

Fractions remain a challenging area of school mathematics at every stage of education, with impacts that extend far beyond the school years. For this study, researchers engaged in classroom-based design research over a 6-year period to investigate effective strategies for teaching fractions with Canadian students. Participants included 86 teachers (representing 12 collaborative research teams spread across 8 school boards) and over 2000 students from Grades 3-10. Quantitative analyses revealed significant pre-post gains in students' fraction knowledge. Qualitative findings revealed some best practices in fractions instruction, including the importance of focusing on unit fractions and number lines to facilitate student sense-making. These findings lead to a detailed discussion of the benefits of (1) focusing on unit fractions as a central construct that allows students to meaningfully work with fractions and make connections across ideas of increasing complexity; (2) leveraging powerful representations as objects-to-think-with that combine concrete and abstract thinking about fractions; and (3) using a design research methodology in the context of collaborative work with teachers.

Classic studies of educational media have demonstrated that children can engage in quick, incidental word learning on the basis of a single exposure of a program. Since most words are learned from context, a lingering question has been whether the degree of contextual support affects word learning. Using a within-subjects design this study examined 102 low-income preschoolers' word learning of digital episodes in three contextual settings: participatory, expository, and narrative contexts. Across three rounds, children's word knowledge was assessed through researcher-developed measures. Results indicated that target word learning occurred most frequently in the participatory followed by the expository context, with narrative being the most challenging for children. In all cases, however, children with lower receptive language scores acquired fewer words than their higher language peers, suggesting that without additional supports, educational media might exacerbate rather than close the word gap. [This article was published in "Educational Technology Research and Development" (EJ1277936).]

Systems thinking in chemistry education (STICE) has been proposed as an approach that could better equip students with abilities to connect their chemistry knowledge with other disciplines and with the skills needed to tackle complex global issues. However, educational change in chemistry is a complex effort that involves many interconnected factors that enable or hinder chemistry educators' adoption of new pedagogical approaches. Using an adapted version of the Teacher-Centered Systemic Reform (TCSR) model, we investigated factors that connect with chemistry educators' willingness and ability to implement a STICE approach in their courses. We surveyed a group of 56 secondary and postsecondary chemistry educators from ten different countries, to capture chemistry educators' perspectives toward a STICE approach. Through thematic analysis of responses, we identified four key themes as follows. Theme 1: Educators' willingness and ability to implement STICE is influenced by their knowledge, beliefs, experiences, contextual and personal factors; Theme 2: Educators report experiences with aspects of STICE without knowing or specifically calling it ST; Theme 3: Some educators implement limited aspects of STICE when teaching chemistry in context; and Theme 4: The ratings of barriers can guide priorities for educational change efforts. This paper discusses specific aspects of the reform model that experts and administrators can address to reduce barriers to implement and engage with STICE. We also highlight future chemistry education research that is needed to explore specific aspects of educators' perspectives and STICE more broadly.

Utilizing a complex theory of teacher learning and practice, this chapter analyzes ~120 empirical studies of content teacher development (both preservice and in-service) for working with multilingual learners as well as research on content teaching for multilingual students. Our analysis identified three dimensions of quality content teaching for multilingual learners that are complex and intricately connected: context, orientations, and pedagogy. This chapter explores the results of our literature analysis and argues for improving content teaching for multilingual students through improved theoretically grounded research that embraces, explores, and accounts for the expansive complexities inherent in teacher learning and practice.

This article reports on two studies designed to examine the landscape of online streamed videos, and the features that may support vocabulary learning for low-income preschoolers. In Study 1, we report on a content analysis of 100 top language- and literacy-focused educational media programs streamed from five streaming platforms. Randomly selecting two episodes from each program, we identified the prevalence of vocabulary opportunities, and the pedagogical supports--techniques or features in these media that are designed to orient children to specific vocabulary words. In over the 2,000 scenes coded, we identified two overriding categories of supports: ostensive cues, designed to provide definitional information to children; and attention-directing cues, designed to signal children's attention to a target word. In Study 2, we use eye-tracking technology to examine which of these pedagogical supports might predict children's ability to identify program-specific vocabulary. Results indicated that although ostensive cues predicted overall attention to scenes, attention-directing cues were most effective in directing children to target words and their subsequent word identification. Children with higher language scores were more likely to use these cues to their advantage than their lower language peers. These results may have important implications for designing digital media to enhance children's opportunity to learn vocabulary. [This article was published in "Journal of Educational Psychology" (EJ1201278).]

A wide range of literature has already emerged which assesses the sudden closure of Higher Education Institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when many academic institutions turned to ERT (emergency remote teaching) in order to maintain teaching and learning. The Faculty of Lifelong Learning at Institute of Technology Carlow, Ireland, one of the largest providers of part-time learning in the Irish sector, undertook a study of its learners in January 2021, to ascertain their experiences of the online pivot. This article takes a qualitative approach to the findings of this study and it highlights the importance of acknowledging the lived experiences of our learners. We acknowledge that it is necessary to engage with our learners' opinions on the challenges and affordances of online and remote learning, and that the experiences of our learners are key to the future of our faculty and to part-time learning in Ireland. We focus on the normative expectations of learners, and their experiences of learning in the remote context, using a self-selected sample where N = 401 learners.

The term translanguaging goes back more than a quarter-century, originating in the domain of the teaching of Welsh, but it has over the years developed a wide variety of usages. While translanguaging is claimed to have advantages over other language education models, many of its new interpretations, which take it some distance from its original pedagogical sense, are seen by some as problematic. The new conceptualizations go beyond the pedagogical practice of drawing on multiple language varieties in order to facilitate learning; they, indeed, often extend to general, overarching accounts of language deployment among multilinguals, which sometimes do not differentiate between individual language competencies. Proponents of translanguaging in its more traditional sense point to pedagogical advantages and opportunities it presents in the (language) classroom. Even in this context, however, there is debate about the appropriateness of utilizing translanguaging in, for example, minority language maintenance contexts. In this article, we explore the variety of uses of the term translanguaging and the attendant claims attached to them. Our conclusion is that the critical factor in the capacity of the term to retain coherence and intelligibility is the maintenance of constant awareness of and attention to the perspective in which it is applied.

This study examines the potential of educational media to provide preschool-aged dual language learners (DLLs) with vocabulary in a new language. Drawing from dual-coding theory, the current study investigated how three distinct instructional contexts with varying degrees of incidental-intentional vocabulary exposure on screen might facilitate second language (L2) vocabulary development. Instructional contexts included participatory contexts that engaged viewer attention and elicited viewer response surrounding a vocabulary word (least incidental, most intentional), expository contexts that provided explicit visual-auditory vocabulary scaffolds (somewhat incidental, somewhat intentional), and narrative contexts that embedded vocabulary words in conversations within a storyline (most incidental, least intentional). The study used a within-subjects design with 50 preschool-aged DLLs. Children watched nine 2-minute video clips, followed by vocabulary knowledge assessments. Findings indicate that instructional contexts were differentially facilitative in helping DLLs identify words in a new language, F(1, 47) = 11.003, p = 0.002. Moreover, L2 proficiency moderated the influence of instructional contexts on vocabulary identification but not word meaning. Results suggest that media programs with relatively intentional exposure to vocabulary words on the incidental-intentional continuum may scaffold L2 word learning better than incidental exposures. Implications on the critical role of incidental vocabulary exposure in media learning environments for preschoolers are discussed.

This essay describes an adaptable, multimodal assignment in which students create a comic in lieu of a traditional essay or exam. I outline the theoretical and practical value of this assignment and provide a detailed description of its implementation in two different literature courses: an introduction to the major course and a course on literature of diverse cultures. Based on the research and my experience, I argue that this assignment increases student engagement and teaches crucial skills, such as critical thinking, textual analysis, and argumentation. I suggest that an assignment such as this, in which students not only read but also produce comics, enables them to develop multimodal literacies essential in the twenty-first century. Furthermore, it helps students develop the imagination, empathy, and creativity necessary to be productive citizens in our Republic of Opinion.

With increasing demand for archival instruction and growing class sizes, archivists and special collections librarians are struggling to accommodate larger classes, both logistically and pedagogically. This paper reviews the literature on approaches from both higher education and archival instruction to identify trends for teaching big classes. The author then suggests how the techniques used across higher education might be adapted for use in archival instruction. Some of these methods include working with teaching assistants who lead discussion sections, utilizing digital tools such as learning management systems and digitized primary sources, and creating a community of practice within archives and special collections for large class instruction.

"A common and fair critique of online professional learning is that a lot of it is not very engaging," says professional development leader and expert Mike Flynn, who gives readers tips on how to wow their audiences with amazing online PD sessions.

The concept of delocalization (i.e., resonance) is fundamental concept in organic chemistry but essential learning outcomes (LOs) have not previously been proposed nor has there been an analysis of how resonance is taught, despite indications in the literature that students have many non-canonical ideas about the concepts. To address this deficit, we first developed a set of ten learning outcomes believed to be essential to the concept of delocalization in organic chemistry, especially for students' later success. Next, we analyzed how these learning outcomes are being taught, practiced and assessed in common textbooks and in a sample of exams. Five themes emerged from the analysis: (1) several of the essential intended LOs we identified are not represented in the textbooks' teaching explanations, practice questions, or professors' assessments; (2) the concepts related to delocalization are often taught, practiced, and assessed without associated justifications; (3) there is a large gap between when delocalization is taught and when it is used in context; (4) the link between delocalization and other concepts (e.g., reactivity) is not explicitly explained in most teaching materials; and (5) the language used around delocalization may be misleading (e.g., resonance, stability). Our analysis identified areas in which delocalization education could be improved, including with respect to teaching, practice opportunities, and assessing the concepts.

In chemistry, novices and experts use mental models to simulate and reason about sub-microscopic processes. Animations are thus important tools for learning in chemistry to convey reaction dynamics and molecular motion. While there are many animations available and studies showing the benefit of learning from animations, there are also limitations to their design and effectiveness. Moreover, there are few experimental studies into learning chemistry from animations, especially organic reaction mechanisms. We conducted a mixed-methods study into how students learn and develop mental models of a reaction mechanism from animations. The study (N = 45) used a pre-/post-test experimental design and counterbalanced static and animated computerized learning activities (15 min each), plus short think-aloud interviews for some participants (n = 20). We developed the tests and learning activities in a pilot study; these contained versions of an epoxide opening reaction mechanism either as static (using the electron-pushing formalism) or animated representations. Participants' test accuracy, response times, and self-reported confidence were analyzed quantitatively (a = 0.05) and we found that, while participants showed a learning effect, there were no significant differences between the static and animated learning conditions. Participants' spatial abilities were correlated to their test accuracy and influenced their learning gains for both conditions. Qualitative framework analysis of think-aloud interviews revealed changes in participants' reasoning about the test questions, moving toward using rule- and case-based reasoning over model-based reasoning. This analysis also revealed that dynamic and transitional features were incorporated into participants' working mental models of the reaction mechanism after learning from animations. The divergence of participants' mental models for reasoning and visualization could suggest a gap in their mental model consolidation.

Engaging in an online course has traditionally been perceived to be a lonely experience, with students busy viewing video lectures, working on problem sets and interacting intermittently with others using asynchronous technologies. More recently, over the past 6-7 years, online courses have become recognized as viable delivery vehicles for online courses in Higher Education because they have made traditional pedagogical strategies available to large audiences through a heavy reliance primarily on asynchronous technologies. In contrast to this direction this paper outlines an approach to a fully online program that attempts to build community using a broad sampling of both synchronous and asynchronous technologies. The case study reported here is derived from a series of qualitatively analyzed discussions conducted by various stakeholders in the program. The major findings point to a reconceptualization of the way social and cognitive presence can play out in online learning.

Homework is a pervasive pedagogical practice worldwide, and somewhat neglected as a research topic. This study aims to provide a comprehensive account of teachers' homework practices, an aspect of teachers' work about which relatively little is known. We seek to explore what constitutes teachers' homework practices, illuminate their complexity, and explain what influences them. Findings are drawn from a qualitative study in two middle-class, urban, primary schools in Ireland, using in-depth semi-structured interviews with six teachers and six parents of pupils aged 10-11 years. Our analysis reveals a complex set of practices (designing, implementing, assessing, and providing feedback) that are shaped by professional identity, expectations of parents and colleagues, school homework policies, and cultural values. These practices are characterised by a deliberateness, wherein a careful weighing up of elements is evident, indicative of the importance of professional identity; and by an alignment both with the expectations of parents and the requirements of school policies. We denominate homework as home-school-work because, although commonly perceived as the responsibility of pupils and parents, homework practices actually occur at the nexus of home and school. Teachers' homework practices are central to teaching and learning and, consequently, merit further study with more diverse samples.

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of Irish Traveller parents' experiences of their own schooling, and their views on education. An indigenous minority ethnic group, Irish Travellers, historically and contemporaneously, have experienced disadvantage and exclusion in many domains, including education, health, housing, and employment. Traveller parents' own educational experiences may affect their expectations for their children's education. Drawing on interpretivism and critical theory, we sought in this study, the only major study undertaken about Traveller preschools in Ireland, to give voice to Irish Travellers, whose views on education are rarely heard. Focus group (n = 6) and individual (n = 6) interviews were held with 36 Traveller women and men. Three main themes emerged: the importance of Traveller identity and culture, Travellers' pride therein, and their awareness of others' low valuation of it; the hurt and disappointment Travellers feel when they recall the negativity of their own schooling experiences of unchallenging pedagogy, curricular alienation, racist name-calling, and cultural misrecognition; and the positive value that they place on education for their children. Despite being deeply disappointed by their own negative schooling experiences, and by aspects of their children's schooling, they reported considerable optimism regarding the possibilities offered by education for their own children.

In this essay we consider the purposes of social justice education (SJE) and its central commitments to inclusion. Central to this discussion is the nature of community as a Structural concept, and the ways in which communities, by definition, creates both members and Others simultaneously in ways that trouble the notion and mission of inclusion as a project of justice in the first place. Inclusion is not an end but a process--an act--that must be repeatedly undertaken by educators and all stakeholders with an eye toward the constant humanization of all individuals, including those who may seem to be marginal or even diametrically opposed to the rhetoric, discourses, and values expressed by SJE advocates. This is the essential challenge for all SJE projects, groups, and individuals who assert dedication to anti-oppression. How do we embrace those who are misunderstanding of or resistant to SJE identities, values, and goals? How do we remain open and continuously inclusive, thereby legitimating our stated missions of education, justice, and equity for everyone in our pluralistic society?

Systems thinking approaches underscore a holistic view of the components comprising a dynamic system, including their connections and interdependencies as well as their interactions with other systems. Compelling international calls have been made recently to infuse chemistry education with systems thinking so as to not only better illustrate chemistry's connection to other disciplines, but also explain and address emerging global challenges. Doing so presents exciting opportunities for chemistry educators to incorporate creative new activities into their courses. However, to employ systems thinking effectively in the chemistry classroom, we argue that considering "the learner" must take precedent. Relatively little is known regarding how chemistry learners interact with systems thinking, or the knowledge and skills necessary for chemistry learners to productively engage in systems thinking. In this article, we begin to address the discipline's knowledge gap about learning using a systems thinking approach. Our goal is to explore systems thinking from the perspective of the chemistry learner using current learning frameworks relevant to chemistry education (i.e., information processing theory, meaningful learning, sociocultural theory, and three-dimensional learning). Using this analysis, we highlight opportunities and challenges for employing systems thinking in chemistry education, to encourage further educational research and development using this approach.

The International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) launched a global project in 2017 to infuse systems thinking into chemistry education, motivated in part by the desire to help equip chemists and citizens to better address the complex, global challenges our society currently faces. One important early outcome of the IUPAC Systems Thinking in Chemistry Education (STICE) project is this special issue of the "Journal of Chemical Education," which provides a key reference point for the rapidly emerging literature on the incorporation of systems thinking into chemistry education, including its application to green and sustainable chemistry. The STICE project outcomes to date include reviewing systems thinking approaches in other STEM fields, articulating a framework for STICE, identifying aspects of learning theories relevant to learning systems thinking skills in chemistry, using systems thinking approaches to integrate green and sustainability chemistry concepts into university-level chemistry classrooms, and identifying considerations for assessing systems thinking in chemistry education. The authors of this article, who, with others, have provided leadership to the STICE project, conclude this "Journal's" special issue by briefly reviewing progress to date and identifying three main areas of future work for the application of systems thinking in chemistry education: (1) developing systems thinking resources for chemistry educators and students, (2) identifying chemistry education research needed to investigate and improve systems thinking approaches, and (3) investigating opportunities to apply chemistry-related systems thinking approaches in broader educational contexts. Our intention is to recommend potential opportunities, stimulate conversations, and motivate actions required to successfully equip learners with systems thinking skills in chemistry, such that these learners, citizens of our countries and our planet, are better positioned to interpret and address complex global challenges.

Creating and using models are essential skills in chemistry. Novices and experts alike rely on conceptual models to build their own personal mental models for predicting and explaining molecular processes. There is evidence that chemistry students lack rich mental models of the molecular level; their mental models of reaction mechanisms have often been described as static and not process-oriented. Our goal in this study was to characterize the various mental models students may have when learning a new reaction mechanism and to explore how they use them in different situations. We explored the characteristics of first year organic chemistry students' (N = 7) mental models of epoxide-opening reaction mechanisms by qualitative analysis of transcripts and written answers following an audio-recorded interview discussion. We discovered that individual learners relied on a combination of both static (with a focus on symbolism and patterns) and dynamic (reactivity as process or as particles in motion) working mental models, and that different working mental models were used depending on the task. Static working mental models were typically used to reason generally about the reaction mechanism and products that the participants provided. Dynamic working mental models were commonly used when participants were prompted to describe how they pictured the reaction happening, and in attempting to describe the structure of a transition state. Implications for research, teaching, and learning from these findings are described herein.

An instructional method is described that was used in a large, introductory organic chemistry course to ask online, post-class questions and to use the students' answers to design the lesson and learning activities for the following class. Additional goals of this method were to provide relevant, regular, and prompt feedback to students and the instructor, to emphasize the value of time on task (i.e., that learning takes time) and to connect in- and out-of-class learning. Herein, the results of formative project evaluation and preliminary results of an educational evaluation of the method are also described.

In recent years, researchers within science education have started to consider the impact of narrative upon teaching and learning in science. This article investigates the possibilities of interactive fiction as a means by which students can be provided with feedback on their understanding in science, and explores the mechanisms which might allow learning from this. Through a review of literature around the use of narrative in science education, we have produced a list of recommendations that might guide the development of interactive fiction within science education. These recommendations are tested through a small-scale study in which an interactive fiction book was written around Newton's laws, and then tested with 27, 16- and 17-year-old chemistry students, eight of whom also study post-compulsory physics. The interactive fiction developed is based upon the well-established Force Concept Inventory and this allowed the analysis of the progression of student understanding. We found that, upon reading the book, there was a significant positive effect size on the understanding of students who do not study advanced physics. The gains for those who do study post-compulsory physics were not statistically significant. The participants' report of enjoyment is also discussed.

This article presents original insights into the English learning experiences of Polish children and contributes a longitudinal perspective on teachers' relationships with them. Data from interviews conducted in 2016 with primary school teachers, Polish children and their parents are compared with outcomes from an earlier study ending in 2009, in order to examine whether teachers' practice for their Polish children has persisted or changed. Previously, findings suggested that teachers in England are constrained by a monolingually-oriented curriculum and that they identify Polish children as a 'model minority'. In the current study, interviews with teachers, parents and children were used to develop and question these findings. Using Bourdieuian notions of linguistic field, habitus and capital, data analysis illuminates: the changing responses of teachers to migration; the ways in which teachers' pedagogy has adapted for children who have English as an additional language; and the fluid nature of children's linguistic identities.

The author advocates the use of films to supplement textbook treatments of bank runs and panics in money and banking or general banking classes. Modern students, particularly those in developed countries, tend to be unfamiliar with potential fragilities of financial systems such as a lack of deposit insurance or other safety net mechanisms. Films provide a dramatic example of the panic and uncertainty experienced by depositors and banks during bank runs. Students learn the value of deposit insurance and the types of informational asymmetries safety net mechanisms overcome. The author provides examples of assignments given in the past and possible extensions.

This article describes a lesson plan model that applies principles of universal design for learning (UDL) and multisensory learning centers to the framework of a traditional direct instruction spelling lesson for elementary students with learning, social, and attention problems. It reviews essential components of UDL and demonstrates how to incorporate multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression with elements of direct instruction. In a pilot project, a traditional lesson plan for teaching high frequency spelling words is expanded to account for student characteristics, their potential academic barriers to learning, and appropriate UDL supports for each. Three multisensory centers used during independent practice to activate auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, and visual senses and provide multiple opportunities for student access and participation are described. Step-by-step procedures for making and using whisper phones, sand trays, and magnet letter centers are presented. Also included are directions for students, a teacher checklist, and a video clip demonstration of each center. (Contains 4 figures, 3 tables, and 2 boxes.)

In this study, we continue our efforts to address students' difficulties understanding organic chemistry, particularly in connecting structure to function and using the language of chemistry to explain how and why reactions occur. For the first time, we have characterized students' work and problem-solving strategies on familiar and unfamiliar mechanism questions in a new course format: a patterns of mechanisms organic chemistry curriculum and flipped course format. This study began with analysis of students' exam answers then more deeply explored the features to which they attend and their strategies using a think-aloud interview protocol. Success rates were higher on both the familiar and unfamiliar mechanism questions in the new course format with medium effect sizes, although we cannot conclude a causal link with the new format. Interview analysis revealed that all used the electron-pushing formalism correctly and as an initial and routine part of their problem-solving strategy. Most participants regularly used concepts of nucleophiles, electrophiles, electronegativity, and charges (full and partial) in their problem-solving process. Participants used dipoles and charges (full and partial) to reveal nucleophilic and electrophilic portions of molecules, often expanding structures to do so. In difficult questions or steps, successful strategies involved expanding and mapping in combination with chemistry reasoning. Every participant struggled with an acronym in one question, LDA, wanting to draw its structure and identify its role but not being sure they could remember it. That difficulty drawing the structure became a barrier to analyzing the reactivity. To emphasize the importance of connecting structure and reactivity over memorizing, we recommend drawing out structures and not only acronyms on assessments. In this article, we describe the context, methods, findings, and implications for research and instruction.

To explore the differences between how organic chemistry students and organic chemistry professors think about organic chemistry reactions, we administered a card sort task to participants with a range of knowledge and experience levels. Beginning students created a variety of categories ranging from structural similarities to process oriented categories. Professors and more experienced graduate students created their categories only for process-oriented reasons. Professors discussed different features of the reactions than the students did, suggesting that students need guidance and opportunities to develop skills to identify mechanistically relevant features in a reaction. More specifically, at the University of Ottawa, a transformed organic chemistry curriculum has been designed and implemented where students are first taught the language of mechanisms before learning about specific reactions. Then, students are taught reactions in order of their governing pattern of mechanism, rather than by functional group. We developed a card sort task to investigate how students perceive the organization of the reactions in the curriculum as well as to explore how graduate students and professors think about organic chemistry reactions. There were 25 cards designed with reactants and reagents for reactions taught within the first two semesters of organic chemistry. The card sort task is composed of two parts: first, participants are asked to sort 15 cards into categories; second, the participants are given 10 additional cards and asked to incorporate them into their existing categories. During the fall 2017 semester, second semester organic chemistry students (N = 16), organic chemistry graduate students (N = 10), and professors who either teach and/or conduct research in organic chemistry (N = 7) were interviewed using the card sort task. We analyzed the participants' categories for cards that were frequently sorted together and the reasons they gave for creating the categories and then compared the findings across the different participant groups.

This article examines the relationship between policy and practice for the teaching of children with English as an additional language (EAL) in English schools. It contributes original insights into how teachers are supported or restricted in developing the nuances of pedagogy needed for children new to English. The reported research took place against a backdrop of rising numbers of migrant children with EAL in English schools, partnered with a significant reduction in educational funding for these children and a limited focus on EAL in educational policy. Policy documents for EAL from two contrasting but contiguous periods of government were compared through an intertextual lens, and this was set alongside responses to a survey of teachers about their sense-making of policies and practices for EAL. Findings contribute to much-needed practical understanding of how policy enactment in practice may be divorced from policy makers' intentions. Outcomes provide a timely evidence-base which enhances our grasp of the complexity of teachers' professional lives in relation to children from different linguistic backgrounds. Moreover, analysis uncovers where policymakers' discourse reflects how children with EAL are perceived and received in their host countries during a period of hitherto unseen high levels of migration.

Target varieties for language learning are contentious in applied linguistics and sociolinguistics. Debates centre on the nature and utility of alternative norms. Approximation to 'native speaker' practices is the hallmark of language education. Thus, policy and pedagogy frequently orient toward achieving native-like production. While many language learning stakeholders are committed to this model, it is also contested. Opponents point to the ideological assumptions about 'native' and 'nonnative' speech inherent in the model, and to the unrealistic aims it presents to teachers and learners. While much research focuses on learner preferences, little work exists on teacher attitudes. This article aims to address this dearth in the target variety debate. By focusing on Irish as a minority language, the article supplements the literature on classroom targets for English and other major languages. A thematic analysis of interviews with Irish language pedagogues is presented and reveals their engagement with target varieties for the language.