Academic literacy has evolved significantly over the past two decades, expanding beyond basic reading and writing skills to include a broad range of competencies essential for successful modern education. These competencies - skilled communication, critical thinking, collaboration, and digital literacy - are crucial for preparing students to…

Limited research exists on the factors that contribute to community college students' development of self-efficacy (SE) while serving as preservice teachers (PSTs) during their early childhood education (ECE) practicum. This lack of research is concerning because educators who have high SE enhance the educational well-being of all children. The…

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…

The newborn MTI (Master of Translation and Interpreting) program in China is a new platform that induces abundant opportunities for translator training, meanwhile poses methodological and professional challenges. Thus, an interactive teaching and learning model is proposed. This study is devoted to finding out whether the interactive model…

Teaching and learning about political boundaries in an effective, engaging manner can be enriched through the use of webGIS mapping tools and spatial data. WebGIS enabled tools bring problem solving, critical thinking, and spatial analysis to education. Teaching with GIS is conducive to a multi-disciplinary, problem-solving learning environment…

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:…

For many educators, the inspiration to teach comes from a desire to make a positive difference in students' lives. As they seek to guide students toward their big goals through trying times, teachers need resources that strengthen social and emotional skills. Facing this very challenge, Allison Silverman, a teacher at Port Chester Middle School in…

Reasoning about graphical representations representing dynamic data (e.g., distance changing over time), including interpreting, creating, changing, combining, and comparing graphs, can be considered a domain-specific operationalization of the general twenty-first century skills of creative, critical thinking and solving problems. This paper…

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.…

Purpose: The construction of learning scenarios is a way to plan for teaching activities, promoting the development of skills related to problem solving, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. Using learning scenarios as a lesson planning strategy becomes a powerful tool in initial teacher education. On the one hand, it mobilizes…

Austin Independent School District (AISD) teacher appraisal results from 2014-2015 were used to identify areas of need for professional development in 2015-2016. Results from the Professional Development and Appraisal System and Professional Pathways for Teachers (PPfT) were included. A separate executive summary also was published. [For the…

Austin Independent School District (AISD) teacher appraisal results from 2014-2015 were used to identify areas of need for professional development in 2015-2016. Results from the Professional Development and Appraisal System and Professional Pathways for Teachers (PPfT) were included. This executive summary provides highlights from the full report…

This report summarizes the results of the 2013-2014 AISD teacher appraisal and related survey items with emphasis on areas of need for additional professional development.

Part One of this article ("Technology and Engineering Teacher," 75(4), December/January, 2016) presented a process that science, math, engineering, and technology teachers could use to collaborate and design integrated STEM courses. A conceptual framework was discussed that could provide a premise that educators interested in delivery of…

This article describes a two-day lesson in which fifth-grade students took on the role of marine biology scientists, using their critical-thinking and problem-solving skills to explore human impact on the blue crab ecosystem. The purpose of "Crabby Interactions" was to help students understand the impact of human activities on the local…