Simplifying symbolic expressions is usually perceived in middle school algebra as an algorithmic activity, achieved by performing sequences of short drill-and-practice tasks, which have little to do with conceptual learning or with creative mathematical thinking. The aim of this study is to explore possible ways by which ninth-grade students can…

Textbooks are expensive, updated infrequently, and rarely used effectively by students. We discuss here a way for students to create the textbook for the course, helping them feel ownership over the course material. This Wiki-based, student-created textbook is online free for use, widely accessible by all, and editable during the course of and as…

Using low-cost electronic components and building blocks, we have developed an effective teaching module where students design and test light-scattering, air-quality sensors to introduce them to chemical and environmental engineering research. This module has been successful in engaging the public, developing citizen scientists, and bridging gaps…

This article describes a recent teacher researcher's investigation of digitized literature study at a Midwestern U.S. high school during the 2015-2016 school year that explored the use of digital literacies to support student-centered literary analysis. Digital literacy practices position literature students to connect with texts in authentic…

I present an action research study that enacts an Asianist somatic movement education approach to teaching Afro-Haitian dance at Arizona State University as a response to my Chinese American body's experience of hegemony in postsecondary dance curriculum. My pedagogical framework uses an intercultural teaching approach that applies a somatic…

The goal was to gain a deeper understanding of the extended use of student-designed games. 207 students (grades: eight, nine, eleven) from one school participated. They were randomly divided in Experimental (student-designed games) and Equivalent group (traditional instruction). Both experienced the same learning units (two, 12 sessions) over the…

It is known that students face daily life problems in the life sciences course in primary school; therefore, it is particularly important to use empathic skills in resolving these problems. However, research has determined that the teachers allocate only limited time to empathic activities, and there also very few such activities in textbooks.…

This paper contributes with elements of an emerging designs for learning-methodology and takes as its starting point the concept of Students as Learning Designers, which was developed by Sørensen and Levinsen and based on more than a decade of research-and-development projects in Danish primary schools (first to 10th grade). The research focussed…

In an introductory middle grades course, teacher candidates synthesize and apply the concepts from key middle level documents through their coursework. Along with a popular middle grades text (Brown & Knowles, 2014), teacher candidates read "This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents" (National Middle School Association,…

Background: Children in the USA face increasing nutrition-related health risks, including obesity rates of 16.9% -- a figure that has more than tripled over the past four decades. Nutrition education is beneficial to improve children's health through obesity prevention and the promotion of healthy habits, and the elementary school years are a key…

This article describes a lesson plan that harnessed students' abilities to generate new teaching material by constructing country timelines. This involved "crowdsourcing," or the reliance upon task inputs from a large number of people to acquire information. The plan was motivated by an approach that conceives of learning as deriving…

Student-generated video creation assessments are an innovative and emerging form of assessment in higher education. Academic staff may be understandably reluctant to transform assessment practices without robust evidence of the benefits and rationale for doing so and some guidance regarding how to do so successfully. A systematic approach to…

Educators consider the video learning approach an effective method to deliver educational content as compared to the traditional method of books and written materials. This paper presents a project that involves student-generated videos to teach internal control in an undergraduate accounting information systems course. The survey results show…

Educators within Higher Education (HE) and K-12 share in the need for high quality educational resources to assist in the pursuit of teaching and learning. Although there are numerous differences between the two levels of education, there are commonalties in the perceptions of the purpose, practical uses, and challenges that abide in the use of…

This paper discusses an initiative called Product Innovation and Development (PID) that was launched at Texas A&M University. The goal of PID is to create a high impact learning environment that focuses on innovative product development. Undergraduate students are hired to develop innovative new products. The student teams generate ideas for…