As appreciation of the impact of Jewish camping has grown, so have efforts to increase the number of campers able to participate in these settings. Inclusion of campers with disabilities, though not a new phenomenon, has likewise expanded. As more services are provided to campers with disabilities, more camps are hiring an Inclusion Coordinator to…

In alignment with the National Art Education Association's (NAEA) 2015-2020 Strategic Vision, Enid Zimmerman conducted an evaluation of Summer Vision DC (SVDC), an NAEA-sponsored, museum-based art education professional learning community program. The purpose was twofold: to provide feedback to the leaders of the program (including Renee Sandell,…

The purpose of this study was to explore the essence of professional learning experiences shared by teachers who participated in a professional learning community (PLC) at a New York City high school in the South Bronx. Guided by Hord's PLC characteristics and Bruner's constructivism theories, this phenomenological study addressed the research…

Drawing on identity theory, sociocultural theories of learning, and discourse analysis, I engage in an analysis of in-depth, individual interviews with four mathematics majors at an all-women's college over an academic year. The purpose of this qualitative study is to gain insight into the mathematical identities of senior women mathematics…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have become a popular reform initiative for schools looking to increase student achievement. School district officials can find it difficult to implement and sustain Professional Learning Communities as some teachers are not accustomed to the levels of collaboration with peers involved. If implemented and…

This exploratory study applies social network analysis techniques to existing, publicly available data to understand collaboration patterns within the co-author network of a federally-funded, interdisciplinary research program. The central questions asked: What underlying social capital structures can be determined about a group of researchers…

The student demographic in United States public schools is becoming increasingly diverse. Yet, the curriculum used in classrooms throughout the country remains largely Euro-centric. Despite research confirming that the use of culturally relevant literature can increase engagement and academic achievement, most historically marginalized students…

This chapter presents the theoretical and practical implications of research conducted on online learning communities at Purdue University using the Community of Inquiry lens. Specifically, highlights of eight studies conducted from 2013 to 2015 are presented. The context of the majority of the studies is the online Learning, Design and Technology…

This study investigates sense of belonging among a contemporary cohort (n=533) of students living in a learning community at three different college campuses. Preliminary data analysis indicates students' background characteristics and college experiences explained 57.7% of the variance in students' sense of belonging to their respective college…

Many reflective experiences focus on aspects of performance in a teaching episode. We assert the need for reflection sooner, prior to student teaching. In this naturalistic study, we examined the reflective thinking of pre-service teachers (PSTs) in an introductory curriculum, instruction, and technology course as they engaged in an online…

A growing body of literature recognizes the importance of examining research article (RA) abstracts in particular disciplines. RA abstracts, after titles, are the first mini texts that readers may encounter in a scientific paper. Abstracts, therefore, determine the value of the paper and categorize them as good or vague. The present contrastive…

Teaching introductory courses to college freshmen requires innovative pedagogies, which are often powered by new advanced technologies that potentially increase student engagement. In addition, instructors may also plan and deploy active-learning strategies that first consider the physical spaces in which learning will take place. Effective…

From a commognitive approach, this article focuses on the discourse generated by preservice primary teachers who are solving didactic-mathematical tasks. Our aims are to study the characteristics of the aforementioned discourse and, through these characteristics, identify whether a discourse close to the one of primary teachers is beginning to…

Higher education faculty benefit from participating in communities of practice focused on developing and improving their own instruction. However, collaborators with common interests are not always located at the same physical location. In this article, we share how participation in a technology-facilitated lesson study provided the means for five…

This article reports on a modified faculty learning community (FLC) composed of university faculty from science education and a variety of engineering disciplines. This research investigated the efficacy of an intentional, long-term, ongoing, interdisciplinary collaboration to benefit the development of science teacher education, including…