Research has shown that the ways in which teachers engage in professional development activities vary widely. identified three levels of teacher appropriation within professional development, with their inquiry stance indicative of teachers engaging in self-sustaining practices. In our project, we modified the demonstration lesson format so that…

Three instructional coaches share more than 200 of the most helpful problem-solving strategies they've used in their decades-long work with teachers, administrators, and coaches. "The Instructional Coaching Handbook" is not a new model of coaching. It addresses common hiccups that prevent productive coaching conversations from happening…

Like terms are usually defined for variables with numerical coefficients. While the definition is sufficient to combine polynomial terms, it does not help the students to combine radical, logarithmic, or trigonometric terms. The purpose of this paper is to propose a lesson that introduces a broader definition of like terms and trialed with a group…

If a fundamental goal of schooling is to prepare young people for the unknowable future, why do we assign students so many clearly defined tasks with predetermined solutions? According to educator and creativity expert Ronald A. Beghetto, the best way to unleash students' problem solving and creativity--and thus prepare them to face real-world…

Social connections are crucial for today's middle and high school students. We address this social need through a 3-H Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Cycle. Through the Three Sisters Garden activity presented here, we teach secondary school students about biodiversity and sustainability as we integrate the arts into STEM (STEAM). Students…

Professionals throughout the education system are recognizing that standardized testing is holding students back. Schools tend to view children as "outcomes" rather than as "individuals" who require guidance on thinking critically and creatively. "Awesome Math" focuses on team-based problem solving to teach discrete…

While reading, writing, and arithmetic remain important, they are no longer enough. For learners to thrive, they must move beyond traditional literacies to modern fluencies--the unconscious mental processes that are learned, adapted, and applied in the context of real-world problems and challenges. In this book, the authors unpack the fluencies…

This article introduces a center-based direct instruction lesson using picture-based situation cards paired with a problem-solving poster that teachers can implement within the classroom to proactively teach the skill of problem-solving to children between the ages of 3 and 5 years old.

Differentiating instruction can be difficult, however, when higher performing students yearn to be stretched and lower performing students benefit from scaffolded support. One way to meet these students' learning needs and everyone in-between is to embrace the notion of novel exploration in support of critical school mathematics concepts. Novelty…

Although professional organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) continue to push for the role of equity inside of mathematics classrooms, the need for culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) remains just as necessary today as it has for the last two decades. In this study, the authors share ways in which one…

Ensure your students develop the complex, higher-order thinking skills they need to not just survive but thrive in a 21st century world. The latest edition of this best-selling guide by James A. Bellanca, Robin J. Fogarty, and Brian M. Pete details a three-phase teaching model and dives deep into how to teach seven key student proficiencies:…

Is anything more refreshing than going for a nice, long swim? The math scenarios presented in this article will take the reader back to hot summer days and remind the reader what a cool dip in the water feels like. Solving these problems is enjoyable and encourages the solver to think of the many ways that math is all around--even in the middle of…

Teaching approaches in economic geography traditionally cover the effects of deindustrialization on the landscape but offer less insight into the development of services as a prominent sector, because of the longer histories of manufacturing and industrial economies (Moore and Hunt 2016). Incorporating services into economic geography curricula…

In this article the authors describe a project during which they unpacked fraction standards, created rigorous tasks and lesson plans, and developed formative and summative assessments to analyze students' thinking about fraction multiplication. The purpose of this article is to (1) illustrate a process that can be replicated by educators…

This column presents ideas and techniques to enhance science teaching. In today's classrooms, teachers face numerous challenges. They are preparing students for jobs and careers that are not even conceived of yet. Assessments are being used to address students' college and career readiness and to promote critical thinking and problem solving.…