How can a teacher make learning vocabulary and academic content meaningful to students from diverse cultural backgrounds? The author shares strategies for incorporating dynamic participatory processes into the classroom.

An inquiry-based laboratory activity to determine the chemical composition of a component in alkaline detergents, sodium sesquicarbonate (SSC), is proposed. On the basis of introductory demonstrations by the instructor on the chemical properties and reactions of SSC, students propose the hypothetical composition of SSC and possible quantitative…

This article presents a method for teaching the theory of symbolic interactionism in a high-school course--Introduction to Sociology. The role-playing game used as a method for teaching the theory is grounded on a philosophy of education whose principles call for meaningful and relevant learning, based on experiential activity and investigation of…

The aim of this paper is to introduce to the education community to a newly developed "Learner Centred Learning-By-Designing Extended Cyberhunts" (LCLBDEC) strategy for teaching and learning in schools. The main focus of the strategy is to enable learners to become designers of an educational tool which assists them to learn during the…

Environmental change is ideally taught through field observations; however, leaving the classroom is often unrealistic due to financial and logistical constraints. The Internet offers several feasible alternatives using webcams that instructors can use to illustrate a variety of geographic examples and exercises for students. This article explores…

This comprehensive book offers a practical pathway for developing twenty-first-century skills while simultaneously strengthening content-area learning. "Digital Learning" contains a wealth of research-based practices to integrate the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards (NETS) for both…

This paper describes teacher responses to a framework designed to support teacher planning for technology. It includes a learning experience outside the classroom [LEOTC] and is designed specifically for five-year-old students. The planning framework draws together characteristics of technology education, junior primary classrooms and LEOTC to…

The research on which this paper is based is a response to the UNESCO directive for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) 2005-2014. Educators are advised to prepare young people for sustainable development and global citizenship and the Arts should be included in programmes in ESD. This paper presents an overview of a research…

This book offers valuable teaching strategies to engage a diverse group of teens in thinking, understanding, and learning activities. It uses classroom examples to illustrate the eight "ENGAGING" factors: (1) Entice Effort and Build Community; (2) Negotiate Meaning; (3) Group Collaboratively; (4) Active Learning and Authentic Assessment; (5)…

Infusing creative thinking competence through the design process of authentic projects requires not only changing the teaching methods and learning environment, but also adopting new assessment methods, such as portfolio assessment. The participants in this study were 128 high school pupils who have studied MECHATRONICS from 10th to 12th grades…

This report explores the first iteration of a teacher professional development courselet grounded in constructionist theory and activities. This online teacher professional development (oTPD) courselet provided opportunities for teachers to engage in just-in-time, ongoing TPD within a social networking site for educators. The topic of the oTPD was…

Films are often used in schools to illustrate geography, but doing so may favor mainly passive learning. An experiment with twenty-eight pupils aged thirteen years (a whole class) had the aim of using cinema to promote active geographical learning. First, it was ascertained what the dominant geographical stereotypes were among the pupils and the…

The use of geographic information systems (GIS) in the classroom provides a robust and effective method of teaching the primary spatial skills of identification, description, and explanation of spatial pattern. A major handicap for the development of GIS-based learning experiences, especially for non-GIS specialist educators, is the availability…

Lunar Nautics is a hands-on curriculum targeted to youth in grades 6 to 8, that allows the students to design, test, analyze and manage a space mission from initial concept to project funding. Lunar Nautics provides opportunities for development of problem solving skills and critical thinking skills that are needed to design, organize and manage a…

The conservation excursion takes the child out of the schoolroom and into his natural and social environment and helps him to study it and to participate in the conservation of its natural and human resources. The conservation excursion, like any other school journey, is not intended as a substitute for books, magazines, pictures, or any other…