Decades of research point to the value and importance of spatial skills and have demonstrated the malleability, durability, and teachability of spatial skills across the lifespan. Teachers and caregivers can apply this research in their classrooms or homes through a wide range of strategies. In this article, we offer specific, engaging activities…

Typically, vocabulary instruction is associated as part of reading instruction. However, vocabulary instruction is also a necessary component of mathematics instruction. In fact, state and national standards (e.g., Common Core State Standards) require elementary students to communicate about mathematics to provide clear explanations, construct…

U.S. national data indicate that approximately 90% of rural students with a reading disability read at or below basic levels of reading proficiency. A growing body of research demonstrates that the ability to make inferences is essential for reading comprehension but particularly difficult for students with reading disabilities. Compounding…

The authors wondered if there was a way to support their reluctant Grades 4, 5, and 6 students in contributing their starting points and strategies and advancing their collective knowledge. They wanted to ensure that the students had the space to develop and take ownership of the strategies they produced through a visual representation of ideas…

Courses: Rhetorical Criticism, Communication Theory, Media Criticism. Objectives: This activity uses a diagram to help students visualize Kenneth Burke's theory of dramatism. Specifically, through an analysis of the film Hell or High Water, students learn to identify each stage of the guilt-purification-redemption cycle and gain insight into its…

Research has shown there are algebra concepts elementary teachers can introduce that help prepare elementary students for the eventual transition to algebra (e.g., the relational interpretation of the equal sign). "Early algebra" refers to the use of informal approaches to introduce such concepts to elementary students. "Strip…

Data visualization is an important tool for communicating research results. This manuscript discusses a method that instructors can use to introduce political science students to visualizations and discusses strategies that instructors can share with students about how to create high-quality visualizations. These strategies can help students make…

X-rays are such an important and familiar part of the electromagnetic spectrum, but is there a way to safely bring x-rays into your lecture? The demo team at the University of California at Berkeley seems to have managed this. They have an x-ray safe box that they use to produce a live x-ray image on a fluorescent screen. In this article, we…

Even though the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) were released over a decade ago, science is still infrequently taught in early childhood and elementary classrooms. A lack of teacher confidence due to inadequate content knowledge may be a contributing factor, making access to high-quality elementary science methods courses even…

Today's classrooms are more linguistically diverse than ever, but many educators still feel underprepared to support multilingual learners in accessing grade-level academic content. Without intentional scaffolding, these students miss opportunities to thrive alongside their peers. Through nine scaffolded approaches--instructional, linguistic,…

Empower every student to explore their creative potential with Accessible Arts Education by Rhoda Bernard. This essential guide offers practical strategies to make arts instruction inclusive for students with disabilities. Learn to reduce barriers, support diverse learning needs, and foster an equitable classroom where all students can thrive in…

Interlocking toy building blocks (e.g., Lego) as chemistry teaching modules are presented. Interlocking building blocks were assembled on a baseplate to depict chemistry concepts of Lewis structures, chemical bonding, conjugate acid-base pairs, types of chemical reactions, irregularity in ionization energy trends, and the decay of a radioactive…

We present a case study to teach data visualization with Tableau in an introductory business analytics course. The case uses publicly available data sets from touringplans.com that record wait times for various attractions at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In the case study, students use Tableau to clean, organize, and analyze wait time data,…

This article aims to outline the important role of the summary phase within a mathematics instructional model and provide six strategies to support teachers to move beyond "share time." By drawing upon good teaching strategies during the summary phase, teachers can enhance the learning experience for themselves and for their students.…

Multiliteracies provide a unique opportunity to students with extensive support needs (ESN) because they extend literacy practices to include print-based texts along with the visual, audio, gestural, and spatial modes, thereby engaging students in literacy practices and higher-level skills regardless of their fluency in language or learning…