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Introduction: Worked examples support initial skill acquisition. They often show skill application on content knowledge from another, "exemplifying" domain (e.g., argumentation skills have to be applied to some contents). Although learners' focus should remain on the skill, learners need to understand the content knowledge to benefit from worked examples. Previous studies relied on exemplifying domains that are familiar and contain simple topics, to keep learners' focus on skill acquisition. Aim: We examined whether using a relevant exemplifying domain would allow learners to acquire both skills and content knowledge simultaneously, or whether relevant content distracts from the main learning goal of skill acquisition. Methods and results: In a training study with 142 psychology students, we used example-based learning materials with an exemplifying domain that was either relevant or irrelevant for participants' course outcomes. We assessed cognitive load, declarative knowledge about skills and course-related content knowledge, and argumentation quality. Incorporating relevant content knowledge in worked examples did not reduce learning outcomes compared to a condition using an irrelevant exemplifying domain. Discussion: Contrary to previous research, the results suggest that worked examples with a relevant exemplifying domain could possibly be an efficient teaching method for fostering skills and content knowledge simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the productive skills, writing is highly required to be mastered in English as a foreign language. Moreover, communication can occur not only in spoken form but also in written form. In creating a good learning atmosphere for the students, teachers try to use the most appropriate approach to achieve the learning goals, especially in mastering the writing skill. The constructivism approach is commonly used by teachers to enhance it. The implement of constructivism in teaching writing emphasizes students' activities in building knowledge, interacting with others, constructing ideas, presenting critical thinking, and collaboration. Those elements from constructivism are also integrated into the teaching method that has been implemented by the teachers. However, teaching writing to primary students is challenging in many contexts. Therefore, this literature article review presents a closer look at the constructivism views for teaching primary students' English writing. The implication of this article is that it is hoped to be used as the supplementary information for primary teachers and other researchers on similar topic in teaching writing using constructivism approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Hubei Open Vocational College is the property of Journal of Hubei Open Vocational College Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Definitions of "learning" are diverse and are united by the desire to succinctly explain learning as a process. The "reciprocal teaching method" is part of the monitoring system of teaching. It was applied in Bulgaria long before Europe knew it. It should be emphasized that in higher education, adults are educated and the principles and approaches of adult learning should be applied. Purpose: to present the characteristics of the “peer-to-peer” teaching method applied in higher education schools. In parallel with lectures, practical classes are also an essential part of training in the higher medical school. Using the “peer-to-peer” teaching model is extremely appropriate when conducting practical activities for stu)dents, when considering a certain medical problem, during pre-clinical and clinical exercises. The model for con)ducting an academic-practical lesson, where the leading role is attributed to the student, is suitable. There are several essential skills in facilitation: to focus on the problem; to emphasize what has already been learned; to connect learning and goals; to stimulate discussions, etc. Conclusions: “Peer-to-peer” teaching method is suitable to be applied in the training of university students. An important feature is that adults are trained in higher education, and for that there are specific requirements for teaching and learning. Training in a medical specialty must meet the highest national and international standards supporting medical practice. This necessitates the use of innovative teaching methods, such as “peer-to-peer” teaching method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The process of education is mutual. The learning needs of students need to be paid attention to and can affect the learning outcome. In order to make nursing postgraduates' curriculum better, meet the learning needs of students, and help to achieve the learning objectives of students, this study based on Hutchinson's learning needs theory, aims to collect the learning experience of nursing graduates, as well as the gap between learning needs and target needs, and explore the benefits and barriers of nursing graduates in the curriculum learning. It may provide beneficial reference for further optimizing teaching content and improving teaching methods. Methods: This study was designed as a qualitative research. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 17 nursing postgraduates in the only two universities in Chongqing, Southwest China, 2021. Semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews were conducted to explore how they subjectively experience the benefits and demands of the professional curriculum. Data was analyzed using Colaizzi's seven-step analysis. Results: Three main themes "clear learning cognition and goals," "positive learning attitude," and "the gap between learning goals and actual needs" were identified from the original data. Respectively, Subthemes concerning the first theme included "improve scientific research capabilities, enlighten thinking and broaden your horizons, and learn new knowledge and new skills." Subthemes of the second theme were "improve abilities in practice and actively seek diversification of course content and format." Subthemes of the third theme included "the course has a certain depth and breadth, but the course study does not meet the needs of scientific research, the course contents are theoretical, not knowing how to use the research method in certain conditions." Conclusions: The learning needs of nursing postgraduates in Southwest China could be divided into two parts: benefits and barriers, among which the benefits were participants had clear learning goals and positive learning attitudes. When curriculum could not meet their needs, they actively sought methods (e.g., networks or off-campus resources) to close the gap between those needs and their goals. Follow-up educators should focus on learning needs and build curricula by optimizing the contents and methods of existing teaching resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identified the differences and similarities between bilingual programs in three private bilingual preschools in Bogota, Colombia. It analyzed their teaching techniques and how they influenced the quality of education. In this context, “quality” is referred to as the practice of assessing and comparing a service as means to improve or upgrade it. Additionally, teaching techniques, expectations, motivation, ethics, and teachers’ actions that guaranteed the success of the educational process were studied. Findings evidenced that institutions shared similar pedagogical and teaching methods but differed in their learning goals and strategies in the classroom. One of the schools implementing the bilingual immersion program displayed the highest quality of linguistic results, allowing us to conclude that the skills acquired by its students would only require maintenance throughout their academic lives in subsequent degree programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal dissection is practiced to varying degrees around the world and is particularly prevalent in North America throughout all levels of education. However, a growing number of studies suggest that non-animal teaching methods (NAMs) (e.g., virtual anatomy tools and three-dimensional models) are better for achieving learning goals compared to dissection. We conducted a systematic review of studies published between 2005 and 2020 that evaluated the pedagogical value of NAMs versus animal dissection. Our results from 20 published studies show that in 95% of the studies (19/20) students at all education levels (secondary, postsecondary, and medical school) performed at least as well—and in most of those studies better (14/19)—when they used NAMs compared to animal dissection. These results provide compelling evidence in support of the 3Rs' principle of replacement. Given that NAMs have been demonstrated as effective for science education, steps should be taken by educational institutions to phase out animal dissection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students use technology in various ways to learn. The differences in their learning goals and needs make it challenging for teachers to be more engaged in designing educational tasks, assisting, and coping with their students learning. This paper introduces a novel structure of a concept for teaching called Personal Teaching Environment (PTE). This contribution aims to provide teachers with PTE components (tools, connections and activities, and data sources) that can facilitate the fulfillment of their educational tasks for them. The main goal of this study is to define the concept of PTE and its components, as well as to investigate the most popular nontraditional teaching methods and to relate PTEs to these methods with application examples. Therefore, this paper addresses the following questions: (a) What is the structure of PTE, and how does it work? (b) What are nontraditional teaching methods' advantages, frameworks, and successful implementation stories? and (c) How would you categorize the tool types of nontraditional teaching methods to serve PTE applications? A review was conducted to achieve these goals, and a total of 93 peer-reviewed articles pertaining to the most frequently studied nontraditional teaching methods were comprehensively studied and analyzed. The analysis resulted in practical guidelines, including the benefits and tool types of the five studied nontraditional teaching methods (flipped classroom, problem-based learning, gamification, case study, and social media-centered). Based on the results, the authors established significant examples for teachers who aim to use one or more of those nontraditional teaching methods through the adoption and utilization of the PTE applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dilemas Contemporáneos: Educación, Política y Valores is the property of Dilemas Contemporaneos: Educacion, Politica y Valores and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Hochschullehre is the property of wbv Media GmbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Group regulation has been recognised as an important factor affecting students' performances in project‐based learning. However, students often experience unsuccessful project outcomes due to several factors, such as unfocused negotiation and lack of project monitoring. In this study, a group regulation promotion approach was developed. The proposed approach consisted of a group‐regulated learning module that allows students to set learning goals, divide work and adjust their learning progress. There is also a platform for students to share their learning goals, observe others' work and discuss with their peers. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a 6‐month experiment was conducted in a higher education context. A total of 50 undergraduate students aged 19–20 years old participated in this research. One class assigned as the experimental group learned with the proposed approach, whereas the other class assigned as the control group learned with the collaborative project‐based learning approach. The results revealed that the proposed approach benefited the students' group learning performance, individual learning performance and their perception of group regulation. In addition, students who learned through the promotion mechanism showed more active learning behaviours. In sum, the integration of the group regulation promotion approach can be an effective means of enhancing students' learning performance. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Collaborative project‐based learning has been regarded as a comprehensive approach for teaching and learning.Technologies benefit students by facilitating online and offline collaborative project‐based learning.Group regulation has been recognized as an important and challenging factor affecting students' performances in project‐based learning.What this paper adds A group regulation promotion approach was developed to encourage students to engage in continuous group regulation with their peers.A group‐regulated learning module was provided to help students set learning goals, divide work, and adjust their learning progress.A sharing platform was developed to assist student in sharing their learning goals, observing others' work, and discussing with their peers.The proposed approach promoted the students' group learning performance, their individual learning performance, and active regulated learning behaviors.Implications for practice and/or policy The group regulation promotion approach is a potential strategy for implementing collaborative learning activities, especially for improving students' active regulated learning behaviors.It is worth deeply investigating students' regulated learning behaviors in collaborative learning activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Universitatis Lodziensis: Kształcenie Polonistyczne Cudzoziemców is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Studies & Reseaches of Sport Education is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Scholars of teaching and learning in sociology have argued that introductory courses should teach toward foundational learning goals instead of providing an exhaustive review of the discipline. Nevertheless, prior research has provided far more guidance on what instructors ought to teach than how they can cohesively support learning across the goals advocated. Additionally, few studies have considered whether introductory course designs adequately address students' diverse reasons for enrolling. To address this gap in the literature, we offer insights from our experiences with a redesigned introductory course tailored to support student learning in the areas recommended by earlier work. After describing our learning goals and the elements of our course design, which are grounded in empirical findings from the literature, we present evidence for the efficacy of this design in achieving key disciplinary learning goals, serving students' personal learning goals, and attracting new and existing majors and minors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern teaching methods, and their importance in achieving the desired learning goals for the individual and the society, have been addressed, as it is necessary to develop the methods, ways and strategies used in the process of teaching the intermediate stages in the various fields in general and the field of physical education in particular, the importance of research is the effect of using the strategy of similarities in teaching some basic skills of basketball for students of the second intermediate. As for the problem of research, the researcher mentioned the lack of use of teachers' strategy method similarities in the educational units because of its importance, and after study and analysis the researcher found it necessary to improve teaching methods to reach students to a better level of learning in general and learn some basic skills of basketball in particular, and for the purpose of knowing the impact of using the strategy of similarities in learning some basic skills in basketball. The researcher used the experimental method for its suitability and the nature of the research, and the sample consisted of 15 intermediate stage school students of Hittin in Baghdad. Some conclusions related to learning some of the basic skills of the basketball were reached according to the strategy of similarities and taking into account their importance in the output of the lesson as an important educational strategy, and recommended to disseminate this idea to schools alike, because of its effective impact in delivering the educational material faster to students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding materials that engage adult learners in meaningful ways is an irksome task, especially when the academic needs of a beginning literacy classroom are incredibly diverse. Off-the-shelf curriculum often fails to meet instructional needs as the materials are either too simple or too disconnected from targeted learning goals. As a result, teachers find themselves in the search for worthwhile materials that engage learners in deep investigations of text while addressing mastery of College and Career Readiness (CCRS) content standards. In this instructional practice analysis, the author, a beginning level literacy teacher with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, explores the method of teaching single-sentence MicroNovels with the purpose of promoting beginning literacy students' access to and deeper understanding of print text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: One of the most illuminating finds in Barbara E. Walvoord's Teaching and Learning in College Introductory Religion Courses (2008) is what she calls “the great divide,” a mismatch between instructors’ goals for their courses, which are academic, and the students’ reasons for taking them, which relate to their personal interests and development. Motivation – or, rather, the lack thereof – is not explicitly considered as a potential victim of this mismatch. This article will turn its attention squarely to this issue. First, I will review data about the “great divide” and link them to the common practice of asking our students to bracket the personal when they take our courses. The article will juxtapose this practice with what research tell us about motivation, which will allow us to further explore why the divide Walvoord and others have identified is so problematic. The article will conclude with pedagogical strategies that can help instructors intentionally influence motivation in religion courses. Ultimately, I suggest that we may be doing students – as well as ourselves, as the purveyors of our discipline – a disservice, if we do not attend to (or, worse, if we actively avoid) what we know motivates students to learn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As educators, we recognize the importance of strong student learning objectives. We also know that students benefit by being well informed of expectations. Existing literature offers little guidance in methods and teaching strategies to apply in exposing students to their learning objectives. In this article, we discuss the use of specific teaching strategies to increase student interactions with the learning objectives. Student opinions regarding learning objectives were measured using an end-of-course Likert survey. Although no statistically significant changes in student opinions were detected in this study, a future study will investigate the influence of these targeted strategies on content mastery. The discussion of teaching strategies used for the explicit purpose of increasing meaningful student interaction with the learning objectives fills an important gap in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite numerous calls for science education to be driven by authentic investigation, many laboratory experiences continue to consist of disconnected weekly units during which students carry out instructions that lead to some predetermined finding. This study developed and evaluated a pedagogical design for introductory biology labs where students designed, carried out, analyzed, and presented their own experiments. Each lab module was 3 weeks long, allowing students to complete the entire experimental process four times over the course of the semester. Assessment of the pedagogy included pre- and postsurveys, video analysis of group work, exit interviews, analysis of changes in lab reports across the semester, and instructor observations. Students rated their lab experiences highly, became more confident in using scientific process, and improved in terms of scientific process and scientific reasoning. Students also learned science content, though the content varied from student to student. The pedagogical design presented here is relatively time efficient to implement and maintain, and with subtle adjustments could be transferred to other courses and disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An instructional designer's values about instructional methods can be a curse or a cure. On one hand, a designer's love affair for a method may cause them to use that method in situations that are not appropriate. On the other hand, that same love affair may inspire a designer to fight for a method when those in power are willing to settle for a less effective, efficient, and appealing method. The purpose of this research is to explore instructional designers' values about methods and their willingness to sacrifice those methods in situations involving both lean and rich conditions. We asked 33 instructional designers to rate the usefulness of 31 instructional methods for No Conditions (values), Learning Domains (lean conditions), and Scenarios (rich conditions). The results show that instructional designers readily sacrifice their values for both lean and rich conditions. Furthermore, the precision of designer judgments about useful instructional methods increase as conditions become richer. Overall, the results provide evidence that supports the core principles of instructional planning theory, specifically associated with the interaction between conditions and values. The results also provide instructional designers guidance in selecting the most useful instructional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates the effects associated with training initiatives consistent with formative assessment to enhance teaching among science teachers in Saudi primary schools. The programme comprised training sessions that were ongoing for a period of two months, which emphasised the strategic skills of adopting the formative assessment. The researcher adopted an experimental approach centred on the design of the control and experimental groups to establish the overall efficiency of the suggested training programme in the development of knowledge among teachers in the field of formative assessment strategy skills. The sample comprised 33 primary school science teachers who were based in Sakaka in the Al-Jouf region; the sample was randomly divided into an experimental group (16 teachers) and a control group (17 teachers). The findings indicate the success of the proposed program, in which the experimental group was more a function of the control group in the telemetric measurement. Moreover, classroom observations were applied by the researcher, in which the science teachers were assessed with the aim to determine whether a form of formative assessment was used following the completion of the programme. The findings suggest that the science teachers adopted various strategies of formative assessment, including sharing learning goals, open questions, assessment-based evidence, and teacher- child classroom dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the training in and use of Drama in Education (DiE) affects the development of teachers’ professional skills. The article draws on data from broader empirical qualitative research about the impact of DiE on personal, social and professional development of Greek secondary school teachers. The research was carried out using focus groups and focused semi-structured interviews with 27 secondary school teachers who had all been trained in DiE and had already integrated it into their instructional practice. As the findings clearly show, DiE has been decisive in the development of teachers’ professional profiles. Since its initial use, DiE has strengthened their professional identity, improved their instructional and organizational skills, enhanced the achievement of learning goals for all stakeholders – teachers and learners alike – reinforced their belief in the necessity of lifelong learning, and helped them develop cooperation and effective interaction in and out of the school environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background/Context: Recent curricular trends based on new standards emphasize the centrality of reading and studying texts in history instruction. That trend suggests a closer alignment between middle-school history instruction and goals for developing literacy. Yet potential obstacles identified in the literature, particularly a teacher's stance toward teaching history, imply challenges to instantiating that alignment. Relatively little research has addressed how relevant conceptual positions such as disciplinary literacy might be realized in authentic practice. Purpose/Objective: The objective was to investigate how middle-school history instruction could be transformed to align with the literacy goals addressed in new curricular standards and to better understand within a typical instructional context the pedagogical influences and outcomes associated with such a transformation. The intent was to lay the groundwork for an emerging pedagogical theory that could guide efforts to align history instruction and literacy goals. Intervention/Program/Practice: The researchers and the teacher collaboratively planned the instructional intervention that entailed three essential elements: (a) reading primary and secondary historical texts, (b) scaffolding strategies for reading such texts, and (c) writing blog reflections about readings. The teacher implemented the intervention in five topical history units taught during 10 consecutive weeks. Research Design: We employed a formative experiment to determine what factors enhanced or inhibited the intervention's success in achieving its aim, how it could be modified in light of those factors, what unanticipated outcomes were observed, and the extent to which the teaching and learning environment was transformed. Data Collection and Analysis: We collected qualitative data from multiple sources. During the intervention, we used an embedded case study to frame data collection and analysis. We conducted a retrospective analysis after the intervention phase in order to generate pedagogical assertions as a first step in establishing an emergent pedagogical theory. Conclusions/Recommendations: Three key assertions emerged that mediated the teacher's efforts to align her history instruction with literacy goals: (a) the influence of her beliefs grounded in her previous, imagined, and enacted practice; (b) blogging as a motivational catalyst; and (c) instructional enhancements that occurred when she observed the intervention's positive effects on achieving her pedagogical goals for students. These assertions comprise an emerging theory of how history instruction might be aligned with literacy goals and, as such, inform the literature on disciplinary literacy and how it might be achieved in authentic practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the phenomenographic research tradition, theobject of learningdepicts the capability that is to be learned by the learner. It has been argued that the object of learning cannot be fully known in advance since what is to be learned depends on the learners as well as on the content taught. The object of learning and its nature needs to be explored. In this paper, we analyze how a group of teachers collaboratively investigated an object of learning when they planned, enacted, analysed, and revised a mathematical task. We describe distinctions made by the group in the inquiry into teaching and learning, and how delimitations and distinctions made transformed the teaching and meaning of the object of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the benefits of adapting teaching methods to the educational needs of students for effective teaching. It highlights the major goal of instruction, which is student learning, identifies key reasons to adapt instruction, and outlines variables to consider when planning instruction. The significance of identifying student competencies before, during, and after new learning is noted.

Decisions about instructional methods are becoming more complex, with options ranging from problem sets to experiential service-learning projects. However, instructors not trained in instructional design may make these important decisions based on convenience, comfort, or trends. Instead, this article draws on the knowledge management literature and specifically the knowledge-in-practice framework to develop a theoretical process for choosing instructional methods. This process classifies the underlying knowledge structure of learning objectives along the dimensions of tacitness and learnability, then matches the knowledge structure with instructional methods that will be the most appropriate fit for students working toward that learning objective. We propose that the integration of knowledge management with instructional design offers valuable insights into the process of choosing appropriate instructional methods, and our framework can help instructors determine which instructional methods are the best match for their learning objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the authors' view regarding the importance of whole child approach in learning, teaching, and community engagement. The authors outline some curricular, logistical and relational factors that affect the teacher and student motivation. The authors provide some strategies on how to motivate and understand adolescents.

An essay is presented which reviews a pragmatic approach for modeling and analyzing the epistemologies of teaching and learning science in school both as content and process. Topics discussed include learning goals, pespectives on what constitutes science epistemology, and the plurality and normativity of epistemological content. Also mentioned are the kinds of epistemological educational content that may simultaneously develop in the classroom.

This study delineates teaching strategies for helping counseling students to develop appropriate goal statements designed to facilitate participation in the group work experiential group process. Students reviewed literature on professional counselor development, emotional and social intelligence, and group leader characteristics. This literature delineated personal and professional attributes conducive to effective group leadership and was utilized to stimulate reflection on personal group goals. 21 students in a Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accredited Community Counseling program completed the 10- week group experience. At the end of group, students reflected, revaluated and reformulated their original group goals. A qualitative analysis yielded 14 student-constructed goal statements. These post-group goal student goal statements may prove helpful to future group facilitators of the group work learning experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article the author discusses content area literacy, or reading and writing within academic disciplines, and examines various approaches on how to develop literacy skills in adolescent students. Teaching strategies, such as note taking, direct instruction, and textual analysis, associated with content literacy approaches focused on the concepts of cognitive, sociocultural, linguistic, and critical are provided. The author also shares his thoughts on how elements of each approach could be combined by teachers in order to meet learning goals and the academic needs of students.

Response to Intervention provides a continuum of instruction across intensity levels through multitiered intervention models. A lot of work to date has been devoted to how to configure tiers to ensure the appropriate increases in intensity. Much less work has been devoted to making adjustments within tiers to attempt to forestall the need for moving students to a more intense level of instruction when the student is not making adequate progress. This article provides a simple model for evaluating the current instruction to look for areas in which it can be adjusted before more restrictive measures are taken. The model draws from the literature on functional assessment of academic performance. Teachers and consultants are advised to check (a) the skills targeted for instruction, (b) guided practice, (c) independent practice, (d) implementation fidelity, and (e) the motivating conditions that are present during instruction. The role of each area in student learning and progress is discussed, and recommendations are made for adjustments. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the significance of intentional schools in creating a culture of respect for youths. It offers information on the book "Being Peace," by Thich Nhat Hanh and notes that it focuses on the idea of intentional living. It also tackles the positive leadership styles of teachers and states that it can work against building personal and social competence. It mentions the commanding leadership style and the pacesetting style in intentional schools. It notes that the representation of exciting goals may lead to invigorating school activities.

The use of learning stations is an approach to meet needs of pupils in achievement. Here, pupils may make choices in terms of what to learn. From a learning station, a pupil may select learning activities to complete, be they individual or committee endeavors. Activities might also be chosen on the basis of learning styles. A pupil may prefer to do a hands on project; another learner prefers a task involving the abstract such as reading and writing. A hands on project may also involve reading/writing in securing information and doing a writeup on the completed project. But the emphasis will be upon a hands on approach in learning. Abstract learnings, too, require visual representations to learn from, so that accuracy in concept development is possible. Regardless of goals involved in learning, the pupil may select what to learn, from alternatives, in a learning centers procedure in social studies lessons and units of study (Ediger, 2009). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we show the most relevant results of the first year of implementation of the Educational Evaluation National Network and University Teaching. The basic methodology used was action-research on formative assessment practices in higher education, in subjects taught by teachers members of the net, with a total of 41 cases. The results present the advantages that this assessment system meant both for students and for teachers involved, including the greater involvement and motivation of students, as well as further development of students' autonomy. Some difficulties were also detected, such as excess work for the teachers or the lack of habit of students in formative assessment processes. The project we have developed has a direct effect on the university teaching practice and lead us to consider the formative evaluation as an essential element to renew our teaching practice and as a good alternative for dealing with the changes arising from the European Higher Education Area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses pedagogical exercises developed to help students appreciate the power of sociological perspectives as they seek to better understand their own lives and the world around them. The assignments are focused on fulfilling the particular course learning goal that highlights student mastery of the application of diverse theoretical perspectives in societal analysis. The article offers a brief overview of how theoretical thinking is introduced in the classroom and continues with a discussion of particular assignments used to promote student engagement and understanding: the preparation of a letter to a theorist, the creation of a poster to visually represent the life and ideas of a theorist, and the writing and performance of a play ‘‘starring’’ theorists studied in class. The article concludes with a discussion of the issues of assessment and student learning and a consideration of how these assignments may benefit student learners both within and outside of sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: In this paper we report on the successes and challenges of a creative project involving museums, schools and interactive technologies. The MuseumScouts project is EU Comenius 2.1 funded and involves teachers, teacher educators, museum staff, students and researchers from five European countries: Germany (Berlin and Munich), Lithuania (Vilnius), Portugal (Porto), Austria (Linz), and the UK (Bristol and London). The MuseumScouts project arises from a European-wide desire to bring schools and cultural and educational institutions such as museums of different kinds, art galleries, science centres and historic buildings, together in collaborative learning experiences. The project aims to develop learner-centred approaches in the ‘museum’ environment: learners use information they collect during authentic learning opportunities to design short interactive multimedia teaching presentations with collaborative authoring tools. The focus is on knowledge acquisition, transformation and communication. During a ‘museum’ visit students (mainly 10–19year olds but also, in some cases, adult learners) research specific artefacts, using a range of devices, from pencil and paper to Smartphones, to gather information in the form of notes and photographs. They then work in teams to create interactive multimedia presentations about the artefacts to inform and quiz their peers. The authoring tool, ‘Evolution’, which underpinned the project enables students to collaborate and work online. The principle is of ‘learning by teaching’: the idea that considering how to convey to others what you have understood yourself is an important process for ‘deep’ learning. The project has been run with groups of students at least once in each partner country and twice in several. Countries implemented the project activities in different subject areas, at different stages in the school curriculum and with differing amounts of available time. Student motivation and engagement were notable in all contexts. We present a review of findings common to all the partners in order to share experiences of implementing this pedagogic approach. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Nowadays we need to teach students how to become flexible problem solvers in a dynamic world. The pace in which technology changes and complexity increases requires increased efficiency in learning and understanding. This requires the engineers of tomorrow to quickly gain knowledge and insight outside their prime area of expertise. To transfer practical, how-to knowledge, to re-use design solutions and to teach students design solutions in the context of a specific domain, design patterns can be used. Design patterns offer a way to transfer knowledge that is more practical and ‘ready for use’ than a generic theory-based transfer of knowledge. However, the advantage of design patterns might go beyond re-use, design efficiency and flexibility. This paper argues that in addition to the benefits described above, there is a specific added value for the use of design patterns by students to acquire design skills and domain knowledge. To analyze this proposition we will analyze the literature on cognitive load and cognitive learning processes, and relate this to experiences from three case studies in which novices and experts were offered design patterns to develop and implement systems and processes. We will reflect on implications of the use of design patterns in computer-based teaching as well as on a potential support tool to improve the accessibility of pattern languages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In a secondary school mathematics teaching methods course, a research team engaged 22 preservice secondary teachers (PSTs) in designing and posing tasks to algebra students through weekly letter writing. The goal of the tasks was for PSTs to elicit responses that would indicate student engagement in the mathematical processes described by NCTM (2000). and Bloom's taxonomy (Bloom, Englehart, Furst, Hill, & Krathwohl, 1956), as well as student engagement in the highest levels of cognitive activity described by Stein, Smith, Henningsen, and Silver (2000). This paper describes our efforts to design reliable measures that assess student engagement in those processes as a product of the evolving relationship within letter-writing pairs. Results indicate that some processes are easier to elicit and assess than others, but that the letter-writing pairs demonstrated significant growth in terms of elicited processes. Although it is impossible to disentangle student factors from teacher factors that contributed to that growth, we find value in the authenticity of assessing PSTs' tasks in terms of student engagement rather than student-independent task analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of introductory accounting is characterised by certain topics that have traditionally proved challenging for students often resulting in the adoption of a negative perception towards the academic discipline (Weil, 1989; Sharma, 1997; Lucas, 2000; Mladenovic, 2000; Lucas, 2001; Lucas and Mladenovic, 2006). Drawing on reflective educational theory, this paper describes the introduction of a reflective journaling exercise within a business information course in order to increase student engagement with course related material. The paper commences with a review of literature relating to reflective practice in education followed by an analysis on the use of learning journals, clearly depicting the advantages and disadvantages associated with this teaching technique. The paper then describes the context in which the research takes place, including the nature of the course, its learning objectives and its educational philosophy. Extracts taken from individual reflection journals and essays maintained by students are utilised to provide an evaluation of the perceived usefulness of the teaching method. The findings of the study are then discussed and analysed, with the conclusion and suggestions for further research presented in the final section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on how to impart scientific knowledge and skills to students. It presents the idea of facilitating a nature walk with students around the school to activate their observation skills. It mentions the implementation of classroom lessons which provide opportunities for students to use their senses and interact to a variety of objects thus helping students to expand their vocabulary. It also presents the discussion on identifying and investigating birds along with chart categories.

This study investigated boys' capacity for self regulation in a Year 8 classroom at a regional secondary college in the state of Victoria, Australia. This was an exploratory descriptive study that sought to examine how the use of an online journal influenced students' capacity to adaptively react (Zimmerman, 2002) to self-determined knowledge about the effectiveness of their method of learning and set learning goals (Ames & Ames, 1989; Midgley, Kaplan, & Middleton, 2001). An online recording and online journaling space were developed by the researcher. The journal has been designed to be engaging for young adolescent male students as well as allowing students to set goals and reflect on how they can achieve those goals in an imaginative, non-threatening, and jargon-free environment. The study reported here aims to determine if through the use of this online journal students' capacity to extend their understanding of themselves as learners through the setting, monitoring and evaluating of personal learning goals can increase. These findings contribute to discussion about the important contemporary issue of students self regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on strategies for helping students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) independently transition from one educational activity to another. The authors note that this ability is a fundamental part of education for all students, however, for students with ASD it can be crucial to their future success in the community and in employment. The authors examine the intervention method implemented by one teacher that involved the use of structured work systems and discuss the effectiveness of the strategy.

Current sociocultural perspectives on language learning call on teachers to reinvent themselves in ways which facilitate student learning rather than transmit knowledge. For teachers, this means adopting new roles, and acquiring a new repertoire of teacher talk. This paper aims to further the work on facilitator talk begun by Clifton (2006) and Walsh (2002). It looks particularly at the role of facilitator talk in teaching reading and shows how teachers can enhance students' dialogue with texts by using unobtrusive task management, re-redirecting students' attention to the text, increasing prospectiveness (Hammond and Gibbons 2005), and giving sensitive feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In mainstream classrooms, children with challenging behaviours often disrupt their own learning and the learning of other students. The special needs of these students are better met in the mainstream classroom if they can be supported by a teacher's aide. There is some suggestion that celebrity identification can be viable for the effectiveness of celebrity endorsed programs. Teachers' aides who are celebrities were used to provide individualized support for targeted students in order to add incentive and motivation for the targeted students in this study. The students, who were identified by their schools as being at risk of failure in their learning were assigned an individual celebrity football player to support their learning within the mainstream class. Qualitative data collection and analysis revealed that the students, as well as the teachers and teachers' aides, benefited from this program. The important benefits for the students were having good male role models, having assistance from a celebrity to enhance their learning, benefiting from one-on-one support, and gaining knowledge about how to manage their behaviour. Overall an incentive to learn and motivation to behave more appropriately was enhanced by the football players' celebrity status and influence both in the classroom and in the playground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]