Discusses the conceptions of play and music play. Reviews research studies on music play. Offers guiding principles for the inclusion of music play in general music education. Provides five examples of activities that encourage the use of music play in the classroom. Includes a bibliography. (CMK)

Recently, a medium-sized public university's General Education Council implemented a faculty-driven course-embedded assessment process that allows for flexibility in teaching style and course content but still measures quality of student performance throughout the program. Information on implementation, reporting processes, data analyses, and how…

The Curriculum Leadership Institute (CLI) and classroom teachers working in conjunction with Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas, developed the Lesson Plan Resource system. The CLI is a not-for-profit school consulting and publishing firm, also based in Emporia, Kansas, whose curriculum development model is used in over 1,000 schools in…

Student motivation is correlated with learning. Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y as a basis for understanding and improving motivation in the business world can be directly applied to the science classroom. Teachers with a Theory Y perspective (students naturally want to learn) provide increased motivation for students and promote more…

Black feminist literary theory offers tools that teachers can use to initiate discussions on the issues of race, gender and class to analyze the works of adolescent literature. This feminist theory helps in reading and teaching literature about parallel cultures, like African-Americans and their love for self and community and their recognition of…

Structured mid-term feedback allows teaching staff to evaluate their effectiveness from the student perspective while the term is in session. Why do lecturers participate in these programs? What do they feel they learn as a result? How do they use the information gathered? Do these programs promote change in the way classes are conducted? At one…

Paraeducators have long been employed in the classroom, but their services have not yet been fully put to use in the gymnasium. With the ever-increasing number of physically and mentally challenged students enrolled in general education classes, paraeducators are becoming an essential part of any physical education class. This article explores the…

In this paper, we analyze an investigative situation proposed to a class of 5th graders in a primary school. The situation is based on the following task: In a sale with group rates on a sliding scale, the students must find the lowest possible purchase price for a given number of tickets. A study of students' arguments made it possible to…

This paper focuses on high school mathematics teachers and what they do when they use digital technology in their lessons. It is essentially a discursive paper but it uses data from a project on teachers using technology to illustrate points. The main aim of the paper is to present an holistic account of factors influencing teachers' practice. A…

Constructivist teaching techniques work well in various instructional settings, but many teachers remain skeptical because there is a lack of quantitative data supporting this model. This study compared an undergraduate nonmajors biology lab section taught in a traditional teacher-centered style to a similar section taught as a constructivist…

Early life experiences can powerfully impact attitudes toward learning and later achievements in education. The chances for optimal development of children with special needs, including the gifted and talented, can be enhanced with identification and intervention at an early age. This paper reports on investigations into the lives of five gifted…

Motivation can be defined as exciting the mind of the student to receive the instruction. Excitement, interest, and enthusiasm toward learning are the primary objectives in motivation. College professors need strategies to reduce student boredom and enhance student motivation. Students will learn what they want to learn and will have difficulty…

This publication is part of a series of monographs on the art of teaching. Each volume, focusing on a specific discipline, explores theory in the context of teaching strategies connected to evaluation of both teachers' and students' learning. Three techniques are offered to help teachers use the series: dialogues (as self-evaluation and in study…

Classroom management is defined as the organization of the classroom as a learning environment; the management of student discipline, order, and care; the grouping of students for different tasks and patterns of interaction; and the individualization of student learning. This paper reports on two Swedish case studies of contrasting classroom…

A qualitative ethnographic study examined three early childhood teachers' awareness, acceptance, and implementation of emergent literacy theory. The three teachers, from three different schools in two neighboring mid-Atlantic states, were chosen for their contrasting teaching styles. Each classroom was observed by a non-participant observer for…