The purpose of this chapter is to draw some general lessons on curricular evolution processes and practices at the faculty level emerging from the creation of Renaissance College at the University of New Brunswick and the implementation of its BPhil program. The authors proceed by induction, working from the specific case of Renaissance College to…

The evidence-based practice (EBP) movement has the potential to significantly advance the quality of psychological and educational services provided by psychologists working in schools. Training psychologists in EBP has challenged the profession and caused faculty in graduate programs to reevaluate and retool professional training curricula and…

This article describes a teaching experiment conducted in a seventh-grade classroom. It explores ways that students used four types of problem-solving knowledge through writing their responses to algebraic problems. The problems were presented to students in the geometric contexts of growth and change and size and shape. It was found that writing…

This article discusses the algorithm for multiplication that is referred to as lattice multiplication. Evidence of how the author's preservice students' conceptual understanding of the algorithm grew through the semester is given. In addition, the author extends the conceptualization of the algorithm from the multiplication of whole numbers to the…

The integration of history into educational practice can lead to the development of activities through the use of genetic "moments" in the history of mathematics. In the present paper, we utilize Oresme's genetic ideas--developed during the fourteenth century, including ideas on the velocity-time graphical representation as well as geometric…

In this article, the authors describe a varied day of stimulating mathematics with key stage 2 learners--all revolving around chocolate. They used a variety of stimuli organized around the chocolate theme. A whole day was spent on using and applying mathematics, and the exercise proved to be enjoyable for both staff and pupils. The children…

Although much is known about the differences between expert and novice problem solvers, knowledge of those differences typically does not provide enough detail to help instructors understand why some students seem to learn physics while solving problems and others do not. A critical issue is how students access the knowledge they have in the…

To identify and describe the basis upon which instructors make curricular and pedagogical decisions, we have developed an artifact-based interview and an analysis technique based on multilayered concept maps. The policy capturing technique used in the interview asks instructors to make judgments about concrete instructional artifacts similar to…

Everyone knows that teachers do not have unlimited time, a log of experience, or a deep understanding of all the mathematics they teach. To solve this problem, teachers often use textbooks, and the accompanying teacher's resource books, as sources of activities and advice about how to help students learn mathematics. The activity that prompted…

Multiplication, division and fractions are "hotspots" for students in the middle years with many students experiencing difficulty with these concepts. Arrays effectively model multiplication and help children develop multiplicative thinking and learn multiplication facts. In this article the authors show how an open-ended array problem…

For many children, mathematics is an inherently difficult subject to learn. Between 5 and 8 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 14 have a particular type of cognitive deficiency that limits their aptitude to acquire knowledge and understanding of fundamental ideas in numeracy. Increasingly, researchers in the cognitive sciences are…

Students have problems in their lives, but can teachers help them? Should teachers help? The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act and its emphasis on standardized test results have forced school systems to produce high scores, and in turn school administrators pressure teachers to prepare students for taking standardized tests. Teachers may want to…

This article describes a professional development course intended to improve the content understanding of middle school mathematics teachers. The design of the course included three professional learning strategies: problem solving, examination of student thinking, and discussion of research. The concepts studied in the course included multi-digit…

This paper describes a participative model of strategic planning for use by higher education institutions. First it reviews five principles or assumptions of a participatory model: the person doing the job is the expert; that which is strategic must be validated by the operation; accountability, authority, and information are always equal and…

Frustrated with existing approaches to teaching introductory small group communication, an instructor developed a systematic approach called Group Problem Solving through Communication Styles. Assumptions underlying the course are that the small group communication class is a general education course (it may be the only communication class taken…