A dramatic shift in research priorities has recently produced a large number of ambitious randomized trials in K-12 education. In most cases, the aim is to improve student academic learning by improving classroom instruction. Embedded in these studies are theories about how the quality of classroom must improve if these interventions are to…

Digital technologies have opened up unimagined environments for students and teachers. The speedy evolution of technology over the past 30 years has often outpaced man's ability to use it to transform teaching and learning in real and meaningful ways. Much of that time people just tried to keep up, with new technologies often simply bolted onto…

In this keynote address presented at the 2008 National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology (NCSSSMST) Professional Conference, Stephanie Marshall describes what is needed to transform STEM education in today's world. While such an endeavor will take multiple systemic actions, here Marshall focuses on…

School transitions and educational innovations confront students with changes in their learning environment. Though expectations are known to influence perceptions and motivation, which, in turn, influence the effectiveness of any situation, students' expectations for a new learning environment have received little attention. This longitudinal…

Team-based learning (TBL) may rely on small group interaction more heavily than any other commonly used instructional strategy in postsecondary education. This conclusion is based on three facts: (1) Group work with TBL is central to exposing students to and improving their ability to apply course content; (2) Majority of class time with TBL is…

This lecture focuses on recent innovations in technology since the era of Dudley Allen Sargent, with an analysis of contemporary use of technology in the field of human performance, as well as a vision of where it appears we are heading in terms of technology. de la Pena argued that those who maintain sport science began in the 20th century have…

This article sets out reasons for arguing that creativity is not garnish to the roast of industry or of education--i.e. the reasoning behind Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi's insistence that creativity is not only about elites but involves everyone. This article investigates three key domains--scholarship, commerce and learning--to argue the importance…

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) arose, in part, out of a need to rebalance the triadic mission of large academic institutions that have traditionally emphasized research over teaching and service. But how do you encourage SoTL when the faculty reward structure is weighted toward traditional research? Therein lies the SoTL paradox.…

This paper reports on a small-scale research inquiry, designed to support teachers in a Melbourne primary school to bring together the arts, reading and writing in their classrooms in ways that create possibilities for "art-full" teaching and learning. The principal, concerned by underperformance on State literacy tests of the school's…

The University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) General Education "Clusters" are innovations in student-centered undergraduate education focused on complex phenomena that require an interdisciplinary perspective. UCLA gerontology and geriatric faculty recognized the opportunity to introduce freshmen to the field of aging through this new…

This paper reviews the significant sociocultural literatures on science studies, cultural diversity, and sustainability science to develop theoretical perspectives for science education more suitable to the challenges of contemporaneity. While the influences of science studies and cultural diversity are not uncommon within the science education…

National Science Foundation's (NSF's) MSP Program seeks foremost "to improve student outcomes in high-quality mathematics and science by all students, at all pre-K-12 levels". The MSP Program, consisting of a portfolio of funded projects, in part positions itself as a research and development (R&D) program. This study has addressed the need to…

The sustainability of research-based innovations in schools is constrained not only by systemic institutional barriers and inherent contradictions between schooling and research, but also by the related issue of time. This case study suggests that relative timescales, e.g., the collective activity of schooling over decades versus the individual…

An easily-implemented instructional innovation that improved reading comprehension for students including striving readers, average readers, and advanced readers is described in this article. START (Students and Teachers Actively Reading Text) was developed to improve reading comprehension instruction and achievement. This innovative instructional…

This article reflects on the authors' experiences during a pilot year of an innovative core curriculum at a state research university and their attempts to create a "collaborative community" characterized by transformative pedagogy. It discusses their students' and colleagues' resistance to their inventive, albeit time-consuming and sometimes…