In this study we described an action research project enacted by a veteran Kindergarten teacher (Sarah) in the context of a professional development program. Over the course of a year, Sarah collaborated with other teachers in a small group to investigate how to use "Science Talks" to promote student learning in Kindergarten classrooms. A…

The purpose of this integrative literature review is to summarize research on concept mapping and to offer ideas on how concept mapping can facilitate practice, research, and theory development within human resource development. In this review, more than 300 articles, written in both English and Spanish, presented at two different concept mapping…

There are few conversations about teaching these days that do not include talk about teacher quality. Yet, within the conversations about improving teacher quality, the dialogue is often political--consumed with one-dimensional solutions for improving teacher quality, such as linking teacher pay to student performance. Absent from the pervasive…

Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) are agents of change, charged with the responsibility to facilitate paradigm shift from traditional to inclusive models of educational theory and practice. With seven years experience in an RTLB role I have come to the realisation that if there is congruence between a practitioner's value and belief…

The Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) has been one of the most widely used models in the education of the gifted in Brazil. It has inspired the political and pedagogical project of the Centers of Activities of High Abilities/Giftedness recently implemented in 27 Brazilian states by the Ministry of Education. In this article, our experience in…

This article provides a principal's perspective on how the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) has the power to change a school in amazing ways! The faculty and staff, the parents, and the students will perform beyond expectation when embarking on the SEM's enriched approach to learning and teaching. The model will become the catalyst for producing…

Bougainville is a post-conflict society where armed violence ceased in 2001. For Bougainville to sustain a peaceful future, its development must be based upon politically, economically, socially and ecologically just practices. A peace education curriculum is one way through which this goal could be achieved. Consequently this paper describes how…

Over the last decade, much research has been conducted regarding how successful school improvement can be achieved. One focus of this research has been the development of schools that are inclusive and meet the educational needs of all students, including those with disabilities. Research has shown that school change that improves teacher practice…

The drive to raise standards in core curriculum subjects, and the teaching of thinking skills, are both aspects of the UK government's education policy for England. This article is based on findings from a questionnaire-based research project which investigated the relationship between National Curriculum tests, which are an important element of…

Although action research is widely acknowledged to have benefits in terms of improving practice and professional development, its ability to generate new knowledge, and hence its status as research, is debatable. Indeed, there are questions as to whether it can be called "proper" research. This article draws on the Southampton Music…

This article draws on the concept of experiencing to highlight a positive connection between resistance and agency, and its potential for teachers' professional development and educational change. The article examines teachers' discourse during a Change Laboratory intervention aimed at developing teaching practices. The intervention was initiated…

An inner-city second grade teacher-researcher and her university-based partner examine how she and her inner-city second graders learned to resist and expand the constraints of their mandated, scripted reading curriculum by exploring their neighborhood and classrooms as communities spaces for literacies learning. Drawing on an interactional…

Considering how long societies have been educating their youth, the history of teacher education is relatively brief. From the first teacher education innovation in the 17th century through those of the late 20th century--de la Salle, the American normal school, the flood of student teachers into public schools after World War II, the student…

This school-university partnership research explored how multicultural literature read-alouds impacted the pedagogical understandings of elementary pre-service teachers. The study explores the intersection of multicultural education, Professional Development School standards, and the achievement gaps of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD)…

Beyond for-credit offerings, some library and information science (LIS) schools are exploring MOOCs as a means to promote lifelong learning and professional development. Using web surveys and descriptive content analysis methods, this paper empirically addresses if, in LIS programs, MOOCs can fill a role and serve new populations of learners…