The chemistry department at Washington & Jefferson College implemented an "organic first" curriculum in the fall semester of 2005. Assessment data suggest that the net impact of this change for the department and associated constituencies has been positive: (i) Student outcomes have generally not been impacted by the curricular…

This paper presents the findings of a longitudinal study on the effectiveness of an innovative one-year pre-service Graduate Diploma of Teaching (secondary) for teachers of Technology. The timing of this study is significant. Over a decade of review and adjustment to the Technology curriculum, leading to the new learning area of Technology in the…

Purpose: The objective of this paper was to examine key hindering and facilitating factors in schools during the first stage of the curriculum reform (2001-2006) in Hong Kong and to identify key strategies to address these challenges. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 150 primary and 120 secondary schools with 7,869 key stakeholders…

Students with physical disabilities often require assistive technology to access curriculum and instruction. This paper discusses some of the issues that impede successful implementation of assistive technology for students with physical disabilities and provides a checklist that teachers and related services personnel may use when considering…

The Ministry of National Education of Turkey has decided to give up traditional methods to be used in the classes and to develop a new secondary school curriculum based on Context-Based Learning (CBL) in 2007. This paper discusses integrating Problem-Based Learning (PBL) tasks into the new physics curriculum in Turkey. A brief overview of a…

Schools are increasingly integrating multidisciplinary education into their programmes. The Minister of Education, Culture and Science has introduced a new, integrated science subject in secondary education in the Netherlands, called Nature, Life and Technology (NLT). This research note describes the design of a generic model for a professional…

The increasing number of international teaching assistants (ITAs) in American undergraduate courses presents continued sociocultural, linguistic, and pedagogical challenges. Remaining underdeveloped, ITA training has attracted less attention in recent years. I urge a renewed enthusiasm for developing effective training curriculum. I review the…

When the University of North Dakota began working to improve general education, two concerns were recognized. The first issue, which faculty and administrators across campus found immediately engaging, was how to change general education so that it would be a better program, more likely to yield clear student learning benefits. A second concern,…

The purpose of this "Handbook" is to bolster the effective implementation of the intervention models and strategies outlined in the "2010 School Improvement Grant" (SIG) program--section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--in order to achieve the program's clear goal--rapid improvement of persistently…

Back in 1992, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded grants to five curriculum development teams and charged them with the task of starting over. Five years later, each of the development teams had produced an innovative and "integrated" curriculum. All represented notable departures from the commonly encountered, calculus-driven high…

Siedentop and Locke (1997) proposed three critical elements that must exist in our profession to make a difference and achieve systemic success in physical education (SSPE): (a) quality PE in the schools, (b) effective physical education teacher education (PETE)programs, and (c) a working relationship between the two. Using Cuban's (1992)…