Last month, Rodger Bybee's article, "Scientific and Engineering Practices in K-12 Classrooms," provided an overview of Chapter 3 in "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" (NRC 2011). Chapter 3 describes the practices of science and engineering that students are expected to develop during 13 years…

If educators want students to practice and prepare for challenges they might eventually face, there are a number of useful strategies to connect academic learning to the "real world." One is to ask students to complete what are variously called "performance tasks," "case studies," "simulations," or "project- or problem-based learning units."…

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is swiftly emerging as an integral part of corporate culture and discourse. Associated with notions of responsibility, accountability and community involvement, it remains privileged with concerns that increasingly define the new millennium. Less developed, however, is the relevance of CSR ideas to academic…

Early learning standards have been articulated in an effort to improve and create cohesion between and within informal and formal learning environments for young children. To fulfill these goals, early learning standards need to be implemented in a manner that is: (1) tailored to the variable nature of early childhood development, (2) adapted for…

In Britain, and across the world, the traditional secondary school curriculum of discrete academic subjects has long been under fire. What are the rights and wrongs here? How far does an investigation of its origins throw light on the topic? In telling the remarkable story of its development from 1550 to our times, this book describes the shifting…

A program's development and implementation in a higher education institution is usually launched with great fanfare, goodwill and a huge effort on the part of the whole development team to ensure a worthwhile cohesive set of learning experiences aligned to the desired course learning outcomes. It is often not long before the glue starts to come…

The following reflections relate to the reasons for and an approach to an autobiographic task, the notions that underpin it, and some thoughts about the quality and value of such a project. The focus was on the ways one views curriculum change over time; and the intention was to provide an example that others may sense as either familiar or at…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how a consortium of universities in the Asia Pacific region are endeavouring to make a contribution to the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) through their participation with and the operation of the Promotion of Sustainability in Postgraduate Education and Research Net…

It is difficult to say exactly when or how ideas originate and if and why they earn acceptance, but this author believes his theories evolved because of his background as an educator and a pragmatist who believes "validating" an idea through practical implementation is as important as the idea itself. For the author, there are considerable…

In an effort to improve preschool education, the Singapore government has embraced the need for change by identifying needed policies related to preschool education. These changes require teachers to rethink their approach to learning and teaching. A proposed tool suggested in this paper that may help facilitate curriculum change is the use of…

The forces of globalisation affect the lives of everybody on the planet--but defining the concept of globalisation, and its appropriate place within the school curriculum, still proves problematic. This article engages with three key issues: our understanding and conceptualisation of globalisation; the impacts of globalisation on education; and…

For almost a half century David F. Treagust has been an exemplary science educator who has contributed through his dedication and commitments to students, curriculum development and collaboration with teachers, and cutting edge research in science education that has impacted the field globally, nationally and locally. A hallmark of his outstanding…

A primary goal of university instruction is the students' demonstration of improved, highly developed critical thinking (CT) skills. However, how do faculty encourage CT and its potential concomitant increase in student workload without negatively impacting student perceptions of the course? In this investigation, an advanced biology course is…

This study seeks to understand lecturers' views about the effectiveness of curriculum change procedures taking place in 2006 at the English language teacher education departments of Turkish universities. The study collected both quantitative and qualitative data through an open-ended questionnaire completed by 27 lecturers working at fifteen…

In the first tier of a multi-tier research project, U.S. faculty from the School of Teacher Education and the School of Library and Information Studies seek to create synergies between teacher education and library initiatives in order to understand the best ways to encourage collaboration between teachers and librarians. This article discusses…