Backpacks are commonplace in American schools. Each day students transport them to and from the classroom as they manage to carve out a little oasis of space to gather their treasures, homework and books. In Fair Lawn's recently launched Chinese classes, backpacks take on new responsibility, becoming culture bearers that connect middle school…

It is vital for young students to see how the lives of the veterans connect to their own lives. In this article, the author describes a project of making history come alive. The project started with a visit to the Otterbein Cemetery mausoleum to learn about the U.S. military veterans interred there. These veterans represented a century of U.S.…

Digital ink is a tool that, in conjunction with Microsoft PowerPoint software, allows real-time freehand annotation of presentations. Annotation of slides during class encourages student engagement with the material and problems under discussion. Digital ink annotation is a technique suitable for teaching across many disciplines, but is especially…

This article describes the extension of a simple activity into an exploration of multiple NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) Standards. It includes the solution process undertaken by a combination fifth-sixth-grade class. In teaching students to attain Standards, all classroom activities should purposefully address one or more…

The purpose of the study reported here was to investigate the use of a design-without-make unit as part of the design and technology curriculum with pupils aged 14. Three research questions drove the study: (a) What sort of designing do pupils do when they work collaboratively to design without having to make what they have designed? (b) What is…

Teachers live for the "teachable moments"--those opportunities to connect their subject content to events taking place beyond the classroom. They can occur spontaneously, lucky occasions to bring the curriculum to life grabbed on the fly. In other instances, a teachable moment looms large. In hundreds of thousands of classrooms nationwide,…

Studies show that metaphors are a useful way to help people understand new or difficult concepts. The research is largely silent, however, when it comes to the question of whether it is beneficial to ask students to go "beyond transference" by engaging in metaphoric critique and construction. This paper explores how critique and construction…

The intersection between science teacher education and multiculturalism has produced a considerable amount of research in the science education community. This paper suggests, according to current science teacher preparation literature, an initial set of multicultural science education standards for science methods course instructors of preservice…

Games have a long history of being used for instructional purposes. Games can be defined as playful activities, with or without a computer, that have some essential characteristics. Game characteristics can include competition and goals, game rules, challenging activities, choices, and fantasy elements. Games that take advantage of these…

Gender differences between participation in face-to-face and web-based classroom discussions were examined, by comparing the men-women actual participation ratio to the men-women attendance (or login) ratio. It was found that men over-proportionally spoke at the face-to-face classroom whereas women over-proportionally posted messages in the…

The purpose of this project was to introduce peer and self assessment on tutorial class participation to a marketing unit at Curtin Sarawak. This assessment strategy was introduced with desire to improve class participation and increase student involvement in assessment. At the end of semester, a questionnaire was used to gather responses from a…

Mobile technology is ubiquitous and diverse and permeates many aspects of daily life at home, during leisure activities, and in public spaces. The study presented here is of two sixth grade classes in Michigan, USA and two seventh grade classes in Norway. The students and the teachers in these four classrooms were equipped with mobile technologies…

This paper discusses several design issues in the development of a new online Japanese textbook, called "Robo-Sensei: Japanese Curriculum with Automated Feedback". When it is completed, the new online textbook will present a full Japanese curriculum. It extends a previously published online software program, "Robo-Sensei: Personal Japanese Tutor"…

Teacher compensation schemes are often criticized for lacking a performance-based component. Proponents of merit pay argue that linking teacher salaries to student achievement will incentivize teachers to focus on raising student achievement and stimulate innovation across the school system as a whole. In this paper, we utilize a policy experiment…

Thanks in part to groundbreaking work by companies such as Apple and IDEO, there has been growing interest in design as a way to improve the odds of new product success. This paper describes a user-centered design workshop developed for a new product marketing course. The workshop included exercises designed to explain and illustrate the…