The purpose of this collective case study was to explore the best practices in beginning group-piano instruction. Four beginning and intermediate groups of piano students (N =20) were observed. Data were triangulated through in-class observation of students and teachers, teacher interviews and student questionnaires. The master teachers…

Students' views on the nature of science and on the levels of self-directed and collaborative learning with technology support affect the manner in which learning is conducted in the classroom. With limited literature offering insight into the effects the knowledge building pedagogy has on these students' perceptions, this study employed the…

This article reports on a self-study of teacher educators involved in a preservice teacher unit on literacy. In this study the teacher educators provided the preservice teachers with digital oral feedback about their final unit of work. Rather than marking written work as individual lecturers, we collaboratively read each assignment and recorded a…

A student-centered nontraditional learning program was proposed to better prepare fire department military personnel in obtaining their 911 dispatch certification at a Florida military installation. Maintaining an adequate number of dispatched qualified military personnel, in addition to current civilian dispatchers at the same location, improves…

This paper uses narrative and storying to retell how two girls ages 5 and 7 continue to make use of an iPod touch to expand their literacy and numeracy. The paper explores the stopwatch and alarm features within the clock application, as well as the weather application, and the Internet browsing capability of the iPod touch. It also explores some…

Education is an ever-changing field, yet constants remain: A teacher must be able to motivate students to become lifelong learners. Science has much to offer--the excitement that comes from discovery and learning can carry over into adulthood. Science provides an avenue for students to encounter phenomena in their environment and to discover…

Providing student choice and opportunities for independent study are recognized as viable differentiation techniques. Daily homework sets that contain more demanding problems even though not required allow the teacher to provide challenge without incurring undue stress. The modest incentive of some homework bonus points is enough to whet the…

There are many reasons to be curious about the way people learn, and the past several decades have seen an explosion of research that has important implications for individual learning, schooling, workforce training, and policy. In 2000, "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition" was published and its…

"Digital Literacy in Higher Education, Part II: An NMC Horizon Project Strategic Brief" is a follow-up to the 2016 strategic brief, supported by Adobe, which explored an increasingly pressing challenge for United States higher education institutions: advancing digital literacy among students and faculty. This second edition aims to…

This paper reports on the results of an analysis of the research proposals submitted to the MOOC Research Initiative (MRI) funded by the Gates Foundation and administered by Athabasca University. The goal of MRI was to mobilize researchers to engage into critical interrogation of MOOCs. The submissions--266 in Phase 1, out of which 78 was…

To achieve truly learner-centered instruction and assessment, Reigeluth (1994) and Reigeluth and Karnopp (2013) pointed out the importance of schools providing a caring environment. They indicated that such an environment could be ensured with better interaction and relationships among students and teachers in a small learning community. How can a…

Recent efforts to define qualities of effective teaching practice have done little to capture the role of play, imagination, and creativity in classroom teaching. Drawing on theories of play and data from a two-year case study that included classroom observations, interviews, artifact collection, and surveys, the author examines the ways in which…

Despite there being a significant amount of research investigating workplace learning, research exploring firefighter workplace learning is almost nonexistent. The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to explore how firefighters conceptualize, report, and practice workplace learning. The researcher also investigated how firefighters…

The aim of this action research project was to investigate students' social preferences and pro-social interactions in a multiage, high school classroom in order to better understand how to group students to maximize learning and collaboration. According to many educational experts and previous inquiries, mixed-age learning groups introduce…

In this diary study, the author draws from journals written over the course of 8 years working as an English instructor at a Japanese university, with the aim of documenting the influences on her desire to invest effort in the self-study of Japanese (what she refers to as the "ecology of effort"). An ecological perspective reveals the…