The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study is to explore how teachers describe the process of creating lesson plans that use drama-based instruction (DBI) in the classroom to engage students as well as how they describe their experience using DBI in the classroom to engage students. Fourteen teachers located in the state of Florida…

When professional learning is interdependent, a teacher's individual success hinges on the efforts of the entire team. Leadership experts Jenni Donohoo and Ann Mausbach explain why that's a good thing.

The authors introduce the readers to a project that highlights digital heritage in early childhood. The highlighted teachers partnered with an anthropologically-trained archaeologist who utilizes advanced digital technologies to enhance public understanding of cultural heritage. This collaboration emphasized social studies and reinforced…

In this article, we describe how our general and special education faculty collaborated to infuse the Universal Design for Learning framework into our special education preparation program, a dual-licensure special education and elementary education (K-6) undergraduate degree program. We describe the curriculum reform processes and outcomes of the…

This study addresses the need for improved pedagogical strategies in early childhood and elementary social studies education, focusing on reducing instructional disparities and opportunity gaps for lower socio-economic status (SES) students. Utilizing the wonder framework by Conijn et al. (2022), we propose a design-based approach to enhance…

The extent to which teachers' level of efficacy and quality of instructional performance changed after they received a professional development workshop on instructional alignment was unknown, Therefore, this researcher focused this inquiry on teachers in a Florida school district, investigating how professional development on standards and…

This article reports on implementation of a problem-based learning intervention developed with the intention of finding time for computer science (CS) in the elementary school day. This study investigated differences in effects on students in particular socio-demographic groups using a quasi-experimental design. We first provide an overview of the…

The investigative lesson plan traces major exercises from an early residency, Touching Outside the Walls, as a teaching artist to incarcerated women through Art Spring Organization, the process of building original pedagogy with the women that culminated in a public performance.

This study used interview and observation data to investigate how school principals approached both the promotion and implementation of lesson study. Using distributed leadership and sensemaking, the study found that the principals received a lack of formal guidance and they used prior knowledge to adapt the model. To capture buy-in, the…

Opportunities to utilize 3D printing in the K-12 classroom are growing every day. This paper describes the process of implementing a 3D printing service in the Education Library of The University of Florida, Gainesville, a large, doctoral-degree granting, research university. Included are examples of lesson plans featuring 3D printing, creation of…

Today, new and redesigned mentoring roles are being explored in teacher education programs. According to literature, having peers mentor less experienced colleagues can benefit both groups. In this study, 11 senior physical education majors served as mentors to 15 juniors. Mentoring sessions occurred during regularly scheduled classes for all.…

Educators struggle with "value-added" teacher evaluation models based on high-stakes student assessments. Despite validity and reliability threats, these models evaluate university-based teacher preparation programs (TPPs), and play a role in state and professional accreditation. This study reports a more rational value-added evaluation…

To address the needs of English Language Leaners (ELLs) in grade-level content-area classrooms, teacher education programs are moving toward "infused" models of instruction where preservice general education courses include ELL-specific content. Little is known about how this curricular change is accomplished. To address this gap, this…

Since the Florida State Department of Education promoted lesson study as a stateside teacher professional development model using the Race to the Top funding, school districts across the state have taken various approaches to promote lesson study. However, we do not know yet how district leaders made sense of this new model of teacher professional…

Students enter school with a range of abilities and learning styles. Many of these diverse learners are in need of academic support and assistance from educators in reaching grade-level competency within the academic area of language arts/reading. Differentiation addresses the possibility of assisting each of these students academically. The…