This paper provides a framework for promoting creative design capabilities in the context of achieving community goals pertaining to sustainable development among high school students. The framework can be used as a reference model to design formal or out-of-school curriculum units in any geographical region. This theme is chosen due to its…

Purpose: This paper presents a part of our research work that places an emphasis on Tracking Data Analysis and Visualization (TrAVis) tools, a web-based system, designed to enhance online tutoring and learning activities, supported by computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools. TrAVis is particularly dedicated to assist both tutors and students…

Research findings on optimum use of the first day of class are mixed. Past data gathered from students from various disciplines support a first day designed to distribute the course syllabus and explain class expectations, rules, and policies. Additional literature supports a different approach to the first day; one designed to immediately engage…

One focus of "Invitational Theory and Practice" is creating positive environments that summon each individual to "develop intellectually, socially, physically, emotionally, and morally" (Purkey & Novak, 2008). Children's literature is a rich resource for teachers and parents to focus on emotional and moral development. This…

This action research aims to identify the teacher trainees' attributions for their failure, their locus of control and their achievement goals as a result of high failure rate in "Teaching English to Young Learners" course at a large state university in Turkey. For this purpose, qualitative and quantitative data were gathered via an…

This paper reports on a pilot study designed to develop writing proficiency in French via collaborative writing activities at intermediate level at the University of Wollongong in Australia. Twenty four students in the final year of French studies program took part in this innovative approach which integrates multimodal functionality of the…

Recent studies reveal early and wide gaps in cognitive and oral language skills--whether gauged in English or Spanish--among Latino children relative to White peers. Yet, other work reports robust child health and social development, even among children of Mexican American immigrants raised in poor households, the so-called "immigrant…

Literacy remains an area of concern in early secondary education in Scotland (ages 12-14), with recent research suggesting a continued decline in attainment levels. As literacy underpins learning, interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to teaching literacy are now being emphasized through the new Curriculum for Excellence that aims to…

This article explores the term "learning lives" by reporting on three research projects conducted by members of the Oslo-based research group TransActions. By stressing the term "learning lives" within a range of social "educational" contexts, the article aims to look at learning within and across different learning…

Background: History learning requires that students understand historical phenomena, abstract concepts and the relations between them. Students have problems grasping, using and relating complex historical developments and structures. Aims: A study was conducted to determine the effects of tasks with abstract and/or concrete visualizations on the…

The present is a commentary on the article authored by Oliveira, Colak, and Akerson; and as such, it should provoke readers to re-consider the study from a different perspective, one that does not prescribe any intentionality to participants' discourse. It is also my contention that students and teachers should be treated as co-constitutives of…

This paper explores the issue of how students might learn about sustainability in technology--education classrooms and the relevance of problem-solving in that learning. One of the emerging issues in technology education research is the nature of problem-solving specified in curriculum documents and the kinds of learning activities undertaken by…

Consistency among the objectives, learning activities, and assessment exercises results in aligned courses, which give students direction and clarity and yield increased learning. However, instructors may not check for course alignment. This article describes a concrete way to determine course alignment by plotting the course components on a table…

The Geosciences Awareness Program (Project GAP), a collaboration between the Ohio State University and Columbus State Community College, was designed to broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in geosciences at both precollege and college levels. As part of Project GAP's precollege initiative, students at five predominantly minority…

Two pilot studies were designed to investigate the preferred learning styles of postsecondary students at a midsize Historically Black College/University (HBCU), and the types of teaching methods used by the diverse faculty. In one study, student candidates from the department of curriculum and instruction were utilized as data collectors to…