This paper investigates the concept of online learning community (OLC) to address the issues of teacher professional development practice in twenty-first-century Indonesia. Teachers in Indonesia are trained in a "conventional way", hence, not ready to prepare the younger generations for entrance into the twenty-first-century complex life…

We have used letter writing as a means for preservice teachers (PSTs) to develop ability to design effective tasks, in terms of eliciting high levels of cognitive activity from students. Studies on student-dependent task analyses, by assessing the levels of cognitive demand indicated in students' responses, have demonstrated significant growth…

In this paper I describe some of my professional experiences as a female, both as a graduate student and throughout my career. My own experience was unique because I began graduate school a few months after arriving in the U.S. with limited knowledge of English in a very competitive and demanding program , in addition to the fact that I was a…

Urban schools often experience rapid turnover among teachers and leaders. Yet, research and practice highlight the importance of sustained leadership over time as an integral component of school improvement. Successful leadership requires principals who operate in multiple dimensions at once, moving from individual capacity to group empowerment,…

Effective educational leadership can make a difference in the resolution of complex issues that impact today's demand-driven educational marketplace. The ongoing professional and skill development needs of human health resources may be best managed through distributed strategic leadership blended with servant leadership. Together these two…

This paper presents findings from a larger, qualitative study that explored the potential of a school-based teacher community of practice as a model for a transformative form of teacher professional development. This paper reports on initial findings from a grounded theory exploration of the factors that facilitated and constrained the evolution…

Researchers have recently used traditional item response theory (IRT) models to measure mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT). Some studies (e.g., Hill, 2007; Izsak, Orrill, Cohen, & Brown, 2010), however, have reported subgroups when measuring middle-grades teachers' MKT, and such groups violate a key assumption of IRT models. This study…

The three middle level mathematics teachers in this set of case studies were engaged in a longitudinal professional development program that sought to impact teaching practices through increasing participants' mathematical knowledge for teaching. This study investigates how teachers use the contexts in which their teaching practices are situated.…

A worldwide survey by Hardman and Marshall (2001) indicated a decline in the state and status of Physical Education (PE) in many countries. Using a modified Physical Education and School Sport (PESS) questionnaire (Bailey and Dismore, 2005), we examined age and gender differences in the perception and value orientation of PESS among 285 children…

Reasoning and sense making are at the heart of mathematics teaching and learning throughout the K-12 mathematics curriculum. Focusing on these skills gives students the opportunity to analyze, interpret, and critically think about the mathematics they learn. The terms "reasoning" and "sense making" are frequently used to describe the wide range of…

In many innovative science content professional development (PD) courses for teachers, science concepts are situated within pedagogical contexts, or in other words, science content is incorporated within contexts relevant to teaching and student learning. Pedagogical contexts are often used because they are believed to be engaging for teachers and…

In this article, the authors describe how an examination of teacher candidate inquiry projects led to an examination of their own experiences as teacher education practitioner-researchers and competing narratives about education research. They describe how in the process of doing research, they came to recognise how their experiences and…

The purpose of this multi-perspective collaborative research activity was to analyze moments of teacher learning as perceived by a group of teachers who educate students with the label of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The researchers in this project acknowledge the value of hearing teachers' perspectives on what works for them in their…

There has been little critical exploration of the ethical issues that arise in professional practice common to adapted physical activity. We cannot avoid moral issues as we inevitably will act in ways that will negatively affect the well-being of others. We will make choices, which in our efforts to support others, may hurt by violating dignity or…

This study compared instructional methods used and levels of student engagement in treatment (n = 4) and comparison (n = 4) classrooms of 40 or more students for two weeks in Thailand. Observations were conducted in all classrooms pre- and post-intervention. The treatment group received the intervention: a workshop focused on strategies to engage…