Learning design is growing in importance but is not yet widely adopted by teachers. This paper describes the development of a scenario-led learning design process, divided into two stages, which was implemented with over 500 teachers altogether from 15 European countries. Activity theory is used to explore the contradictions that arose when such…

The learning curve on how to become a Teaching Assistant (TA) can be rather steep. In this paper, the authors explore three areas they wish they were advised in prior to beginning their teaching careers. The lessons are centered on balancing expectations and responsibilities in the following areas: 1) prioritizing their own work and research over…

One of the challenges in higher education courses is to improve learning authenticity or reducing the gap between what being taught at school and what being used in the real world. In this paper, we describe a 6-step model to employ learning authenticity in online courses. Our model infuses characteristics of authentic learning with Madeline…

In this article the authors demonstrate how pairing master and counter narrative picture books, along with critical literacy practices, can be used to enhance the social studies curriculum outlined by state standards taught in today's elementary schools. These intentional book pairings allow students to grapple with what history truly means and to…

People are inundated with visual information. In this study, I address the question: "When preservice elementary teacher candidates include visuals and graphics into social studies lessons, in what ways do they integrate these materials?" As part of a social studies methods course, participants created lesson plans. These plans included…

This study builds upon ongoing research of ecological mindedness by exploring how teachers appraise and incorporate ecological care, interconnectedness, and ecological integrity into lesson planning, as well as how teachers reconcile these qualities with their current professional responsibilities. These topics are explored through educational…

From 2013 to 2017, Rockman et al. developed and tested various strategies for assessing the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of novice and experienced STEM teachers. The research, conducted as part of Rockman's external evaluation of the "Mathematics and Science Teacher Education Residency" (MASTER) project, began with a review of…

This paper presents a collaborative research project developed by a researcher in mathematics education and a grade 3 Inuit teacher from Northern Quebec. Four learning situations were created, but discrepancies occurred between what was planned and agreed upon by both collaborators, and what was enacted during the project. We studied these…

A teaching approach based on the Biggs and Collis SOLO taxonomy is described. Lessons were planned using the SOLO taxonomy to communicate how students could demonstrate increasing complexity of response to scientific questions. Consideration is given to extending the use of the SOLO taxonomy to create a relational curriculum, which may be useful…

Evolutionary evidence is important scientific background for appreciating the theory of evolution. We describe a STEAM-based lesson plan that uses paleontological drawings and a modern evolutionary database to explore and understand fossil, morphological, and molecular evidence. Together, with a focus on arthropods and the Cambrian explosion,…

This study explored the patterns of Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) in 45 preservice teachers' literacy lesson plans that integrated digital texts or tools. A priori coding and content analysis were used to identify preservice teachers' demonstrations of combinations of TPACK constructs. Findings indicated that preservice…

Early career teachers (ECTs) face unprecedented pressure to fulfill expectations of 'highly effective' teachers within their first few years of teaching. Lesson planning is an important precursor to effective instruction, yet little is known about how the social and institutional contexts where ECTs work influences their planning. In this paper,…

Nathanael Davies explains his radical rethink of how to teach transatlantic slavery. He explains how he came to question his earlier approach of focusing on the causation of 'abolition' and 'emancipation' and, instead, allowed scholarship, sources and his own students' meaning-making to guide him to a different, and much more profound, analytic…

This case study explored pre-service teachers' (PSTs) efforts to consider the integration of digital technology as they learned to use their developing TPACK to plan literacy instruction. PSTs were introduced to the Technology Integration Planning Cycle (TIPC; Hutchison & Woodward, 2014) to support their learning. They observed modeling of the…

The present study analyzes the development of historical thinking among undergraduate students engaged in the cause and effect instruction model and majoring in social studies at an open-admission university in Bangkok, Thailand. The study participants included 30 undergraduate students enrolled in the course entitled "Current Events for…