This research examines the impact of social studies teachers' personal practical knowledge on their roles as gatekeepers to controversial topics in the classroom. The findings indicate that the context of the school and community directly impact the teachers' decision-making process. Furthermore, the teachers perceived the content area standards…

This study delved into the professional development strategies employed to enhance novice classroom teachers' grasp of culturally responsive teaching and pedagogy and their subsequent impact on cultivating equitable classroom environments. The research question guiding this investigation was: What specific components of culturally responsive…

The primary aim of this study is to determine the current state in education faculties and faculty members' needs for a professional training program that would be prepared for their TPACK development. Case study design, a qualitative research method, was employed, and semi-structured and in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 faculty members.…

The professional development (PD) of early childhood educators (ECEs) is key to childcare quality. The Professional Learning Community (PLC) model has been well-researched in K-12 settings and is found to have advantages over traditional models of PD; thus, it holds promise for educators in other settings such as early childhood education centers.…

Prior work has shown a lack of quality professional development (PD) programs specifically targeted for early elementary teachers to improve their knowledge and self-efficacy around teaching coding in their classrooms. Whereas traditional PD programs in this area have relied upon in-person workshops, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the need to…

Formative instructional practices (FIP) are the formal and informal ways that teachers and students gather and respond to evidence of student learning. Although they might have been practicing formative instruction on a daily basis, many teachers rarely thought about how formative instructional practice features were already a part of their work.…

In this study, collaborative lesson planning (CLP) was a positive 'dissonance' to the teachers' individual lesson planning practices. Thirty teachers grouped into grade-level teams (five members) participated in the study. Data transcripts from audio- and video-recordings, formal and informal interviews, and written evaluation forms were…

The increase in the number of students with disabilities enrolled in institutions of higher education poses challenges for institutions and their instructional staff. A first step in meeting these challenges is to uncover what professional development support faculty need before teaching students with disabilities. This study examined the…

At a Texas community college, stakeholders wanted to strengthen the financial literacy module offered in the student development course for undergraduates. The problem was that no formative data existed on students' financial literacy, and it was not known if knowledge of financial literacy for students who participated in a prior financial…

Most published journal articles describing professional development (PD) initiatives for K-12 music teachers have not explicitly alluded to the "features of high-quality PD", a solid theoretical framework arisen in content areas with more tradition in PD research (e.g. mathematics and science education). The goal of this review was to…

Over the last 15 years educational organizations, researchers, and practitioners have developed frameworks for teacher effectiveness. These frameworks were established in an effort to define 'good teaching' and have ultimately informed the process of teacher evaluation. Simultaneously, new tools, such as simulation, have emerged to support teacher…

Teachers in many schools struggle to integrate Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as part of their teaching practice. Among the issues faced by teachers when attempting to integrate ICT into their classrooms are gaps in ICT knowledge and skills, lack of training and inadequate support and scaffolding. Other issues include inability to…

The purpose of this investigation was to explore changes in undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants' (TAs') content knowledge and beliefs about teaching within the context of an inquiry-based laboratory course. TAs received professional development (PD), which was informed by the TA training literature base and was designed for TAs…

One could argue that attitudes, knowledge, beliefs, and differing definitions and perceptions can all affect science teachers' motivation to engage in inquiry practices. Better understanding what motivates science teachers' instructional behaviors can result in improved efforts by researchers to align their instruction with quality inquiry-based…

We investigated teacher learning within a professional development (PD) workshop series on computational thinking (CT) for elementary-level mentor teachers. The purpose of the PD was to prepare mentor teachers to support preservice teachers in integrating CT into their classroom practice, toward the broader goal of advancing CT for all in the…