Search

This study explored how engaging in critical inquiry through Project-Based Inquiry (PBI) Global fostered social action with high school students. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from critical inquiry and social action and employing a collective case study approach, we focused on six diverse students from two of the 18 teams who participated in a PBI Global examining global water and sanitation over a two-month period. Data sources included semi-structured student interviews, students' posts and uploads in a shared writing space, and students' multimodal products of learning. Three themes emerged from the analysis across the data sources: synergistic collaboration, critical analysis and creation of multimodal texts, and understanding global and local interdependence to take social action. The discussion illuminates how students' engagement in critical inquiry and social action ignite the emergence of Freire's notion of critical consciousness.

Although the existence of and access to clean water are essential for sustaining life on Earth, multiple studies have demonstrated students' nascent understanding of basic water principles. Students have misconceptions related to the water cycle (Ben-zvi-Assarf and Orion 2005), groundwater (Dickerson and Dawkins 2004; Covitt et al. 2009), and the effects of pollution (Bingol 2017). Regardless of the number of science classes taken, students' knowledge of water remains stagnant, with misconceptions becoming more prevalent over time (Brody 1993). The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) address the need for students to develop a depth and breadth of understanding of water, specifically within the high school Earth Science domain on the intersections of Earth and human activity (National Research Council 2012). The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a blueprint for addressing enduring global challenges by 2030. The SDGs are grounded in global consensus and set targets to be reached by all countries. In this interdisciplinary Project-Based Inquiry (PBI) Global (Spires et al. 2019), students engage in collaborative inquiry across multiple academic disciplines around SDG 6 ("ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all") (United Nations General Assembly 2015). Through their inquiry, students create multimodal learning products to share their research findings with a broader audience and take social action to address global water and sanitation challenges.

Print-based literacy is no longer sufficient for the global digital age. However, distribution of the resources needed to learn new literacies is unequal. The authors describe a qualitative case study conducted with teachers in Kenya who participated in a professional development series on new literacies and inquiry. The professional development involved an inquiry-based literacy approach that is technology-rich and learner-centered. Three themes emerged from the data: shifting to learner-centered pedagogies: "I'm inspired to improve my teaching"; change is slow but coming: "We need to be empowered with more information about new technologies"; and strategies for teaching new literacies: "Creating is better than just talking." The discussion focuses on the enduring challenges for educational transformation in Kenya coupled with the substantive changes that are being made by pioneering Kenyan educators.

In the current article, two kindergarten teachers and two university researchers explain how 45 kindergarten students collaboratively engaged in a specific inquiry approach called Project-Based Inquiry (PBI) Global. PBI Global consists of five-phases: (a) ask a compelling question, (b) gather and analyse sources, (c) creatively synthesize claims and evidences, (d) critically evaluate and revise, and (e) share, publish, and act. The teachers were in a master's degree program that led to K-12 reading certification. The PBI Global was an assignment in the course, New Literacies and Media. Specifically, the teacher team addressed the question: How can teachers use inquiry and digital tools to teach global awareness with kindergarten students? Applying the PBI Global process, the teachers used the book, "Same Same but Different" (Kostecki-Shaw and Adam, 2015) as an anchor text to students' exploration of the five senses through different cultural artifacts. Additionally, the kindergarten students utilized Flipgrids to explain their findings for an authentic audience of parents and community members. The article concludes with lessons learned about implementing the process and implications for other kindergarten teachers who may be interested in inquiry-based learning.

As the world becomes more interconnected, educators have opportunities to collaborate across cultures. Using the theory of educational cosmopolitanism and the pedagogy of collaborative inquiry, this collective case study explores how Chinese and American teachers perceive the assets and challenges of conducting collaborative inquiry with their students across cultures, and how they collaboratively planned in order to conduct these inquiries. Results demonstrated both assets (i.e. promotion of global citizenship and interpersonal skills) and challenges (i.e. digital access and the need for sustainable external support). Additionally, results on how the teachers collaborated revealed the four dimensions of educational cosmopolitanism (i.e. hospitality, reflexivity, intercultural dialogue, and transactions of perspectives) were in play, although to varying degrees. The research sheds light on how educational cosmopolitanism holds promise as a potential theoretical lens for conducting collaborative inquiry with culturally and geographically diverse teachers and students.

As our world becomes increasingly interconnected, complex global challenges necessitate cross-cultural collaborative efforts. Thus, developing cosmopolitan literacies among students and teachers becomes ever more important. Believing that cosmopolitan literacies are central to being literate in contemporary times, the authors build on their existing project-based inquiry model to include global themes (e.g., poverty, global water and sanitation, climate change) and cross-cultural exchange. This theory-into-practice article explains the Project-Based Inquiry Global process and six design features that enable teachers to facilitate collaborative inquiry projects with their students. As students interact during the process, they begin to practice cosmopolitan literacies by engaging in reading, writing, and inquiry with people and topics from around the world, becoming cross-cultural difference makers.

This mixed methods designed-based research (DBR) study explored one iteration of an online teacher professional development (oTPD) course about K-8 English language pedagogy. The study examined 85 educators' beliefs pre- and post-course about teaching academic and literacy content to English Language Learners (ELLs) and analyzed their discursive engagement. Quantitative findings indicated that the course positively impacted participants' beliefs no matter their professional characteristics (i.e. educator type, grade levels taught, and years of experience in education). A thematic analysis of forum posts revealed competing patterns of unsituated pedagogical discourse, in which participants wrote about course content in isolation, and situated pedagogical discourse, wherein participants contextualized and extended course content within their unique professional contexts. The discussion describes study findings in relation to existing DBR and socio-constructivist theory and includes design recommendations to increase participant use of situated pedagogical discourse. Implications for future research and oTPD course design are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on middle grades teachers from the United States and China, the two countries with the highest Internet use, in an attempt to understand both groups' perspectives on integrating new literacies and technologies into their teaching. Survey and focus group results indicate that, although U.S. and Chinese teachers are operating under different educational policies in their respective countries, their experiences with school changes prompted by the integration of new technologies have similarities. One notable difference was the significantly higher value Chinese teachers assigned to creativity and innovation in contrast to U.S. teachers, which may be a result of current U.S. testing policies. Although there appears to be a gap between their aspirations and their practices, middle grades teachers from both countries report an eagerness to create educational experiences that help students become active global citizens, and they recognize the role of new literacies and technologies in achieving this goal. (Contains 4 tables.)

Despite growing research and evaluation results on one-to-one computing environments, how these environments affect learning in schools remains underexamined. The purpose of this article is twofold: (a) to use a theoretical lens, namely a new learning ecology, to frame the dynamic changes as well as challenges that are introduced by a one-to-one laptop computing initiative; and (b) to highlight the shifting dynamics and relationships in the new learning ecology that emerging research has shown have implications for better preparing teachers and students to manage the change. The new learning ecology is an evolving attempt to create a multifaceted theoretical frame that takes into account the complexity of one-to-one teaching and learning environments. Future scholarly activity on one-to-one environments should provide coherence around research and theoretical agendas so that practitioners can better operationalize findings in their practice. (Contains 2 figures.)

The goal of this study was to define the construct and establish the validity of disciplinary literacy, which has recently gained attention from the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers in Common Core State Standards for English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects [PDF]. Authors, Washington, DC, 2010). After defining disciplinary literacy in the four core disciplines of English language arts, science, history and social studies, and mathematics, scales were developed and administered to a snowball sample of professionals nationwide, with 857 respondents. The data showed evidence of disciplinary literacy as a multidimensional construct with three related factors: source literacy, analytic literacy, and expressive literacy. Based on EFA and CFA results, we can conclude that there are at least three types of literacy in operation among the four core disciplines. The three factors of literacy varied significantly by the four core disciplines of English/language arts (ELA), science, history and social studies, and mathematics, supporting the notion that each discipline uses literacy uniquely. This is the first study of its kind to attempt to define, quantify, and validate the construct of disciplinary literacy.

Growing consensus among policy makers and educators alike suggests that our education system must be transformed to address the needs of a global society as well as the needs of the 21st century student. Often overlooked as a resource, students can contribute a valuable perspective on education. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to learn from middle grades students, through surveys and focus groups, what engages them to achieve in school. The findings, which centered on student perspectives of school, uses of technologies in and out of school, and academic engagement, are viewed within the context of global changes and the new demands that this trend places on education. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)

The aim of this study was to explore how "Narrative Theatre," a narrative-centered digital learning environment, supported the writing processes of 3 struggling adolescent male writers. We utilized a multicase study approach to capture 3 sixth-grade participants' experiences with the digital learning environment before, during, and after writing. The case studies provided detailed portraits of the writers as well as insights into their digital writing processes related to student interest, student ability, and value for writing. The across-case analysis revealed 3 themes (i.e., choice, scaffolding, and self-efficacy) that illustrated how the digital learning environment contributed to the students' writing experiences. Future research and development will focus on the addition of text animation for student products and the degree to which this feature further contributes to engagement and proficiency with struggling writers.

The present study examined middle school teachers' perceptions of literacy demands in their disciplines and specific literacy strategies they used to teach their disciplines. The eight participants in this multiple case study included 2 middle school teachers from each of 4 disciplines (i.e., English/language arts, science, social studies, and mathematics) who had completed 6 weeks of online professional development on disciplinary literacy. Data sources comprised 2 classroom observations and 2 semi-structured interviews following observations for each of the 8 teachers, as well as classroom and school artifacts. Qualitative analyses included within-case and cross-case themes. Findings indicated participants used a range of content area literacy and discipline-specific literacy instruction. Based on cross-case analysis, 4 themes emerged from the 4 discipline-based cases: (a) interdisciplinary literacy, (b) power in disciplinary language, (c) pedagogical tensions related to end of grade exams, and (d) individualized access. Two pedagogical tensions emerged from the data: the tension between content area literacy and disciplinary literacy and the tension between disciplinary-based instruction and interdisciplinarity, which permeates the middle school curriculum. Future research should explore how middle school teachers navigate the pedagogical tensions of disciplinary literacy within interdisciplinarity in light of Common Core State Standards and other current policy initiatives.

Disciplinary literacy is gaining momentum as an approach to adolescent literacy. Believing that a key aspect of disciplinary literacy is knowledge construction, the authors introduce a model for relating disciplinary literacy with project-based inquiry. Rather than merely exploring topics during inquiry, students use practices of a discipline to understand claims and evidences and to create new knowledge. The aim is that students will engage in authentic, intellectually challenging work so their products will have value within and outside of school. The model proposes to help teachers create an instructional path for deeper learning within the disciplines.

Just as literacy practices are contextualized in social situations and relationships, game players establish shared language and understandings within a game; in essence, they gain fluency in specialized languages. This commentary explores the importance of digital game-based learning for schooling, the relationship between game-based learning, and results from Crystal Island, a NSF-funded research project on digital gameplay. Suggestions for how teachers can use games in the classroom are highlighted.

This compilation of articles describes three projects aimed at offering students authentic opportunities to develop global competencies. The first article describes Out of Eden Learn, an initiative from Project Zero at Harvard Graduate School of Education. The project engages students in learning journeys that follow Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and National Geographic Fellow Paul Salopek as he walks around the world. The second article highlights a Project-Based Inquiry Global unit that connects students in North Carolina with those in China as they jointly explore water ecology. The final article tells about a collaboration between classrooms in Colorado and Belize that serves as both a professional development opportunity for teachers and a cultural learning exchange for students.

This mixed methods study examined 73 5th graders' flow experience in a game-based science learning environment using two gameplay approaches (solo and collaborative gameplay). Both survey and focus group interview findings revealed that students had high flow experience; however, there were no flow experience differences that were contingent upon gameplay approaches. Results identified four game design features and student personal factors (reading proficiency) that significantly impacted student game flow experience. Students made significant science content learning gains as a result of gameplay, but game flow experience did not predict learning gains. The study demonstrated that the game was effective in supporting students' flow experience and science content learning. The findings indicated that the adapted game flow experience survey provided a satisfactory measure of students' game flow experience. The results also have implications for educational game design, as game design features that significantly contributed to students' flow experience were identified.

This study offers a new way to assess TPACK within the context of a graduate program revitalized to focus on new literacies. Whereas previous studies have focused on teacher lesson planning or modeling best practices, our research examines TPACK by exploring the Creative Synthesis Projects of graduates from our program. These projects reveal the manner in which the teachers synthesized personal and professional insights gained over the course of graduate study. Portraits of four teachers provide a holistic understanding of the evolving nature of teacher professional knowledge, especially within the context of prolonged, authentic inquiry and reflection.

Many argue that games can positively impact learning by providing an intrinsically motivating and engaging learning environment for students in ways that traditional school cannot. Recent research demonstrates that games have the potential to impact student learning in STEM content areas and that collaborative gameplay may be of particular importance for learning gains. This study investigated the effects of collaborative and single game player conditions on science content learning and science self-efficacy. Results indicated that there were no differences between the two playing conditions; however, when conditions were collapsed, science content learning and self-efficacy significantly increased. Future research should focus on the composition of collaboration interaction among game players to assess what types of collaborative tasks may yield positive learning gains. (Contains 4 figures.)

In light of emerging technologies prompting new avenues for teaching and learning, students are positioned to "create" to learn, with video production being an important process for literacy development. There is a growing need for innovative instructional practices in reading and writing that are aligned with student interests and the activities they engage in outside of the classroom. Connecting video production to school reading and writing experiences taps into a student's natural predisposition for media consumption and production. This article presents a project-based inquiry process that merges students' growing interest in grassroots video with educational goals that are aligned with state and national curricular standards. Through a five-phase process--ask a compelling question; gather and analyze information; creatively synthesize information; critically evaluate and revise; and publish, share, and act--students are engaged in reading, writing, and creating a video product that captures their multimodal learning of academic content. (Contains 6 figures.)

As the nation's economy continues its irrevocable shift from manufacturing toward idea-driven, creative industries, our schools--and the teaching and learning enterprise at the heart of our schools--need to undergo a transformation as well. The result of such a transformation needs to be a type of educational experience and expertise that will not only support but also ignite participation in--and leadership for--an idea-driven, creative economy. Equally important as supporting a new economy is educational experience and expertise that supports a global citizenry. This paper argues for the importance of 1:1 laptop environments and related professional development initiatives as the catalysts for a new learning ecology that provide the dynamic educational reform described above. (Contains 4 figures.)

Targeted as a highly desired skill for contemporary work and life, problem solving is central to game-based learning research. In this study, middle grade students achieved significant learning gains from gameplay interactions that required solving a science mystery based on microbiology content. Student trace data results indicated that effective exploration and navigation of the hypothesis space within a science problem-solving task was predictive of student science content learning and in-game performance. Students who selected a higher proportion of appropriate hypotheses demonstrated greater learning gains and completed more in-game goals. Students providing correct explanations for hypothesis selection completed more in-game goals; however, providing the correct explanation for hypothesis selection did not account for greater learning gains. From the analysis, we concluded that hypothesis testing strategies play a central role in game-based learning environments that involve problem-solving tasks, thereby demonstrating strong connections to science content learning and in-game performance. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

Students today live in technology-rich environments that shape their interactions with information and with each other. Children in the 21st century have access to a wide range of technology resources and tools for learning in real-life contexts. This study reports on a survey of 4000 North Carolina middle school students about what they need to be engaged and achieve in these 21st century settings. In addition to the large-scale survey, 48 students from three different geographical areas of the state participated in six focus group interview sessions. The results of the survey and focus group interviews are reported in the context of similar previously reported national surveys of students' uses and thoughts about technology. Collective findings from these studies suggest that students use technology differently inside and outside school. We argue that to facilitate student learning that is engaging and meaningful, middle grades teachers must bridge the gap between their students' uses of technologies in and out of school. Furthermore, we suggest that as middle grades teachers consider the various roles that technology plays in children's lives in and out of school they should pay special attention to the particular needs of middle level learners. (Contains 2 notes.)

Five experiments explored a potentially more productive application of educational technology in which an individual learner has the opportunity to develop a social relation with a computer by interacting with an animated pedagogical agent. Results support the introduction of interactive pedagogical agents to promote meaningful learning in multimedia lessons. (Author/SD)

Reports on a study at North Carolina State University that examined the use of electronic mail to encourage critical literacy among college developmental reading students. States that randomly selected students were paired with professionals who served as online mentors. Reports that, after one semester, this group scored higher than the control group on a standardized critical literacy test. (Contains 26 references.) (NB)

Explores perceptions of change at one elementary school during the first year of implementing the Accelerated Schools Project. Interviews with teachers, parents, students, and administrators highlight three themes: creating a school identity, experiencing a community of mind, and developing a sense of human agency. Instruction was the primary focus within the context of creating a new school organizational structure. (SM)

Compares the effects of explicit instruction of the Preread-Read-Organize-Review (PROR) textbook reading strategy in a course-based context (where students apply reading strategies to their own college textbooks) versus a content-based context (where students apply reading strategies only to texts provided in the reading class). Draws no definitive conclusions but states that students in the former group may have used PROR more frequently. Contains 27 references. (EMH)

Suggests that autobiography is a fertile context for students to develop a facility for reading and writing and for defining and constructing themselves within an academic setting. Discusses using autobiography in an introduction to academic discourse course for developmental college students. (RS)