Historically, across U.S. education systems, traditional teaching strategies and school curricular practices have been anchored in Western views and Eurocentric frameworks that position whiteness as the center of legitimate knowledge and, as a result, other knowledge as peripheral and insignificant. In this article, we offer practical…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to deflate some of the pressure-orienting teachers toward following a curricular script. Design/methodology/approach: The authors connect effective classroom teaching and learning practices to a dialogic instructional stance that values local resources and student perspectives and contributions. The authors…

Online professional development (OPD) is proliferating in an effort to eliminate barriers to high-quality in-service teacher training. Using the Internet as a vehicle for continuing professional development, however, introduces new concerns largely absent in its face-to-face counterpart. For example, evidence from the USA's e-Learning for…

Although there is a need for continued pedagogical advancement in science undergraduate education, what is needed more urgently is more widespread adaptation of pedagogical practices that research has already shown to promote learning. Those practices include interactive engagement pedagogies such as active learning and inquiry-based learning. The…

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…

With a view to facilitating good practice and enhancing further exchanges and collaboration with the Open University UK, the Open University of China initiated a joint programme of training to offer online tutors and academic management staff three courses: Student Support, Tutoring On-line, and Course Design. The programme brought in not only a…

The article presents selected findings from in-depth case studies of two non-formal learning activities organized by the Danish Folk High Schools and Day High Schools, respectively. The purpose of the empirical study was to investigate how longstanding, non-formal, adult education institutions have worked to foster the acquisition of civic…

This evaluation used a change transition model to explore the processes of development of a three-phase professional programme devised by two teams of researchers to support teachers' expertise in six domains of science teaching. The full programme operated over two years. Interviews with developers at the end of each phase (21 interviews) and…

This paper proposes the use of a key biological concept--broad classification--to teach the provisional and contested nature of science in school biology curricula. It also examines existing curriculum-related factors which might pose obstacles to implementing such a change. An investigation in South Africa highlights the problems regarding…

Discussed is the research method of "didactic engineering" and the potential theoretical problems of putting research findings into practical use as teaching methods in mathematics classrooms. Cited is the possible incompatibility between the theoretical principles of experimental methods and teachers' conceptions. (MDH)

Implementing exportable instructional systems has always been a problem for instructional developers. Even the best instructional systems lose effectiveness when they are poorly implemented. Researchers have focused their efforts on creating mechanisms to help developers and managers improve and control implementation. However, most of these…

This paper offers an alternative view of computer applications within classroom education as an initial step in the direction of a more teacher-centered approach to the integration of computer applications into classroom teaching. Accordingly, the view suggested in this paper approaches computer applications within the context of the teaching…

Identifies characteristics of instructional technology that may influence faculty members' willingness to integrate it into teaching. Presents results of a study on effectiveness of a faculty training program designed to encourage faculty to adopt a course management system in their classroom-based, undergraduate courses. The program was based on…

Six of the 39 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Public Schools' Chapter 1 participating schools, as part of the school-based budgeting process, allocated a portion of their Chapter 1 resource allocation for on-site intensive staff development activities. Three schools--Alamosa, Chaparral, and Duranes--agreed to utilize the time of a Support for…

The first phase of the process of developing a plan to promote increased use of educational technology by the instructors and students of the U.S. Navy's Surface Warfare Officers School (SWOS) in Newport, Rhode Island, began with a needs assessment which focused on the mission and organization of the school; the SWOS curriculum and the teaching…