The Thinking Together educational approach was first developed in the UK to promote the use of exploratory talk in primary classrooms. The approach was then adapted and applied to the very different context of Mexican state primary education. This paper compares the program in Mexico with the program in the UK and concludes that, despite that fact that the relationship between teacher's practice and the approach was much closer in the UK than Mexico, the program appeared to have very similar...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teaching Methods, Foreign Countries, Educational Innovation, Elementary Education,...
This article examines provision of elementary school readers in Ontario from 1850 to 1909. It traces the conflicts that arose due to the dual role of textbooks as economic commodity and democratic instrument of curriculum. It illuminates the strategies that three dominant stakeholders used in textbook provision to position themselves to best advantage in these conflicts: the Education Department, retail booksellers, and textbook publishers. (Contains 114 notes.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Publishing Industry, Textbooks, Elementary Education, Content...
A solid understanding of equivalent fractions is considered a steppingstone towards a better understanding of operations with fractions. In this article, 55 rural Australian students' conceptions of equivalent fractions are presented. Data collected included students' responses to a short written test and follow-up interviews with three students from each year. This exploratory study found most participating Years 4, 6 and 8 students were familiar with geometric area models, particularly...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Geometric Concepts, Mathematics, Mathematics Instruction, Foreign Countries, Rural...
Several researchers have noted how children's whole number schemes can interfere with their efforts to learn fractions. An Australian study found that children who were successful with the solution of rational number tasks exhibited greater whole number knowledge and more flexible solution strategies. Behr and Post (1988) indicated that children needed to be competent in the four operations of whole numbers, along with an understanding of measurement, for them to understand rational numbers....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Numbers, Mathematics, Foreign Countries, Mathematics Skills, Mathematical Concepts,...
Adopting policies of decentralization has become more or less a universal fashion among governments. Institutional redesigning as regard to affirmative state is favored by the political left and right in capitalist democracies. However, their arguments revolve around the decision-making powers of ordinary citizens. Some academics argue that the "People's Campaign for Decentralized Planning" (PCDP) introduced in 1996 in Kerala, the south western state of India, is an extended version...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Democracy, Administrative Organization, Elementary Education,...
Harriet Bishop (HB) Elementary School opened in 1996 with an articulated educational model developed collaboratively by the teachers, parents, and the administration. The model includes a mission, set of beliefs, and rationale for the instructional design. While nearly every school district or school has a formal mission, the statements articulated for HB are taken seriously. To support the mission, the students learn through an integrated curriculum using strategies such as differentiated...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Integrated Curriculum, Instructional Design, Academically Gifted, Student Interests,...
The New Social Studies movement of the 1960s and 1970s represents a significant era of curriculum development and reform in the United States, which had international implications. This article presents an Australian case study of the experiences of curriculum workers involved in the development of an elementary social studies curriculum in the 1980s and their responses to the New Social Studies movement. It addresses the question: How did curriculum workers in the 1980s respond to innovative...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Development, Educational Change, Foreign Countries, Thinking Skills,...
The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, the Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test (NNAT), and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) in selecting for ethnically diverse students who may be gifted. The participants of the study were 175 students enrolled in Grades 3-5 and Grade 8 in a Midwestern school district serving a small city of approximately 40,000 and surrounding rural areas. The results of this study indicate that the Raven's,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Gifted, Elementary Education, Nonverbal Ability, Test Validity, Student Diversity,...
In early years' (primary grade) classrooms in Australia repeated patterns are commonly explored as an early introductory activity to mathematics. Most young students have an extensive knowledge of and exhibit success in copying, continuing, creating and transferring patterns into other media. By contrast, research indicates one of the most difficult concepts with which students grapple in their later years of elementary school is the notion of ratio. This paper reports on a design (teaching)...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Classroom Techniques, Constructivism (Learning), Preadolescents, Foreign Countries,...
A model for processes of abstraction, based on epistemic actions, has been proposed elsewhere. Here we apply this model to processes in which groups of individual students construct shared knowledge and consolidate it. The data emphasizes the interactive flow of knowledge from one student to the others in the group, until they reach a shared knowledge--a common basis of knowledge which allows them to continue the construction of further knowledge in the same topic together. (Contains 5...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Learning Processes, Probability, Epistemology, Cognitive...
Although various governmental and professional organizations recommend that teachers use an inquiry-based approach to science education, most teachers do not use this pedagogy. Lack of content knowledge and/or insufficient skills in planning inquiry-based lessons may contribute to teachers' reluctance to utilize this methodological approach. This study explores the relationship between science content knowledge and inquiry-based lesson planning ability. The authors found a significant positive...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Education, Science Instruction, Teaching Methods, Pedagogical Content...
This paper reports on the development and use of a classroom observation reflection tool designed to measure the extent to which pedagogies acknowledged in the literature as contributing to effective teaching of mathematics for numeracy are present in classrooms. The observation schedule was used in conjunction with a record of classroom activity to examine numeracy pedagogies in a sample of Tasmanian classrooms from Kindergarten to Year 7. Low levels of intellectual challenge in highly...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Effectiveness, Numeracy, Elementary Education, Pedagogical Content Knowledge,...
School-based coaching for literacy teachers has taken on an important role in school reform in recent years. Although the literature contains numerous and compelling descriptions of the perceived, positive effects of mentoring, reviews of the literature base on mentoring and/or coaching over the past 20 years have consistently identified the need for the development of empirically-based knowledge of mentoring. Qualitative research is needed in order to move discussions of mentoring from the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mentors, Literacy, Tutors, Primary Education, Educational Change, Cognitive...
Teachers everywhere are being held accountable for their professional actions through the test-driven curricula sweeping the nation. The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE, 2002) makes it clear that promotion of reflective practice is an important component of teacher education programs. This multiple case study examines the relationship between epistemic stances and reflective thinking using a set of theories and instruments that allowed for the analysis of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Student Teachers, Adult Learning, Reflective Teaching,...
This study, set in the teacher education program of a large, Midwestern public university, examines metaphors used by elementary pre-service teachers in writing about diversity and teaching in diverse settings with diverse populations. Using metaphor analysis methodology grounded in Lakoff and Johnson's work on conceptual metaphor and working through the lenses of constructivism and critical theory, we as researchers take notice that though students' words apparently mirror those of their...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Constructivism (Learning), Critical Theory, Teacher...
The purpose of this article is to review the components of the high-activity skills progression (HASP) and to provide examples of its implementation. HASP is a game-skills teaching strategy that uses small-group instruction in order to promote opportunities for students to engage in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). It is designed to help physical educators teach skills in a developmentally appropriate progression, while keeping students actively engaged, in an effort to achieve...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Small Group Instruction, Physical Education, Physical Activities, Physical Education...
This study investigates the value of early field experience students' observations of both peers and cooperating teachers in elementary classrooms where they had daily instructional duties. The participants in this study were 34 elementary education students enrolled in their last semester of coursework before the final student teaching experience. The authors pose four research questions: (1) From the perspective of preservice teachers, what was the value of observing cooperating teachers in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teachers, Student Attitudes, Observation, Cooperating Teachers, Field...
One of the goals of Professional Development School (PDS) programs is to provide preservice teachers with opportunities for developing in-depth knowledge and experience as they learn to teach (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 2001). A theme-based PDS adds value to the PDS program model because it allows faculty members to share their particular expertise and research interests with preservice teachers and with teachers at the PDS school site. Additionally, a theme-based...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Professional Development Schools, Faculty Development,...
Student teaching may require student teachers to address the demands of two masters that often have very different expectations and philosophies. They are caught in a bind of being expected to implement methods advocated in university coursework while also being expected to fit into the classroom to which they are assigned. This bind is further complicated by the tensions inherent in school reform efforts. As schools try to meet the needs of every child, they have adopted all manner of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Teaching, Student Teachers, Educational Environment, Academic Standards,...
Researchers have found that despite reformers' best efforts, teachers' mathematics classroom practice remains largely unchanged--in part because teachers hold fast to their own mathematics understandings, attitudes, and experiences. In particular, in the last decade, elementary mathematics teachers have found themselves balancing a number of sometimes competing requirements in their teaching: adhering to mathematics reform initiatives in their school, district, and/or state; meeting the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Professional Development, Teacher Education, Models, Elementary Education,...
This article recommends raising the bar in elementary physical education by using Laban's movement framework to develop curriculum content in the areas of games, gymnastics, and dance (with physical fitness concepts blended in) in order to help students achieve the NASPE content standards. The movement framework can permeate and unify an elementary physical education curriculum and instruction plan through aspects such as the program's purposes, learning experiences and their organization,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Development, Physical Education, Physical Fitness, Elementary Education,...
The purpose of this study was to determine the status of the health appraisal services provided for primary school children in Edo State, Nigeria. Using the cross-sectional survey design a total of 1506 primary school children were selected from across the state as the study participants. The analysis of data collected through a 14-item questionnaire showed that: four vital aspects of health observation (observation of mouth and teeth, nose and throat, skin, and ears) were not provided for the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, School Health Services, Medical Evaluation, Operations Research,...
Measurement is a mathematics skill students encounter often in their daily lives. The act of measuring involves the use of concrete, hands-on materials that students find engaging and appealing. According to Martinie (2004), the best way to teach measurement "is to find or create situations in which students need to measure and let them experience this process." Preston and Thompson (2004) concur that "the most fundamental aspect of measurement is the act of measuring.". In...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematics Skills, Grade 5, Foreign Countries, Primary Education, Measurement,...
By the time March comes around, students are anticipating spring break and warmer weather--not to mention the rapidly approaching end of the school year. To keep teachers sane during this March Madness, the author provides tips on how they can cope with the bad behaviors of their students. She also suggests that a school-wide behavior policy, such as the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports national program, can serve to keep expectations consistent as students work with different...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Behavior, Intervention, Teaching Methods, Student Attitudes, Educational...
Some high achievers are not as easy to engage. Sometimes motivating high achievers is "a matter of being more sensitive to what they are interested in," says Don Ambrose, a professor of education at Rider University in New Jersey. But too often classrooms are not set up for that kind of sensitivity. Research shows that schools are consistently failing to provide opportunities for top students to realize their potential. Teachers are teaching to the bottom half of their classes with...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Development, Educational Strategies, Academic Achievement, High...
Not too long ago, on a visit to two sixth-grade classrooms, the author saw very clearly the challenge teachers have before them when they try to differentiate reading. In both classrooms, 11-year-olds who read like fourth graders shared tables with classmates who read like the average ninth grader--a five-year span. How teachers approach this challenge can make a huge difference for all levels of readers. In this article, the author answers ten teachers' questions on how to differentiate...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Inclusive Schools, Classrooms, Grade 4, Reading Instruction, Grade 6, Individual...
Rafe Esquith has taught for 23 years at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in Los Angeles. In a neighborhood plagued by gangs, guns, and drugs, his is a special classroom known as Room 56. Within its walls, children living in poverty play Vivaldi concertos, perform unabridged plays by Shakespeare, and go on to attend top universities. In 2003, President Bush presented Esquith with the National Medal of Arts. He is the only teacher ever to receive this honor (but hopefully not the last). In...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Trust (Psychology), Fear, Reading Instruction, Personal Narratives, Elementary...
In 1999, things were dismal at Lebanon, Pennsylvania's Harding Elementary School. Many kids in this former coal town started at a disadvantage and never seemed to catch up. They were bored with books about "frogs on logs," says then-new principal Cheryl Champion. Since they were not engaged, they acted out. Harding's classroom life--and its test scores--had to improve. So Champion and her teachers began to look for ways to turn their school around. They had two ambitious aims: to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Culture, Personality, Reading, Reading Programs, Writing Tests, Values...
So often teachers say that motivation is the key to everything they do in the classroom. They want to motivate kids to read, write, and solve problems. They want to inspire them to take pride in a fluently-read paragraph or a simple act of kindness. They hope that their encouragement will help students to find their passions so they can become lifelong learners. It is an important job, and a big one. This article provides tips on reaching kids. Everything is here, from advice on helping...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Altruism, Motivation Techniques, Teacher Guidance, Student Motivation, Elementary...
When the author began teaching preschool after her youngest child began school, she asked children to bring in pictures of themselves and gave a "Favorite Family Recipe" book as a Christmas gift. The year was 1989 and she was blissfully ignorant of any other childhood than the kind her sheltered children lived. Then she met Angie. Angie was a tough, streetwise little thing with a sharp mind and a bad attitude. After a week of doing battle with her at every turn, the author pulled out...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Negative Attitudes, Educational Experience, Foster Care, Teacher Guidance, Family...
This bridge study evaluated the effects of contingency-specifying instructions (CSIs) and incomplete instructions (IIs) in terms of establishing instructional control of appropriate behavior. Results suggested that instructional control and maintenance were achieved with CSIs but not with IIs. Results are discussed in terms of the potential use of instructional control in the maintenance of appropriate behavior for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. (Contains 1 figure.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Maintenance, Hyperactivity, Attention Deficit Disorders, Instruction, Behavior...
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 requires that public schools adopt research-supported programs and practices, with a strong recommendation for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as the "gold standard" for scientific rigor in empirical research. Within that policy framework, this paper compares the relative utility of federally-recommended RCT versus the demonstrated "extended term mixed-method" (ETMM) designs as options for monitoring effects of novel programs...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Methodology, Multitrait Multimethod Techniques, Qualitative Research,...
As teacher-education institutions implement portfolios across contexts and for multiple purposes, assessment of their effectiveness specific to shifting programmatic goals often takes place. At the institution where this research is based, an effort is underway to shift the focus of the current teaching portfolio requirement from an exit or employment focus, summative in nature, to a formative focus where the students' professional growth and development can be represented over time. This paper...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Education Programs, Portfolios (Background Materials), Adoption (Ideas),...
This longitudinal study followed students (n = 265) from kindergarten through seventh grade and examined early social and academic predictors of school performance at two normative school transitions. Questions addressed include: (a) are there changes in students' school performance over time, especially at school transition points; (b) are changes in school performance dependent on sociodemographic factors; and, (c) does early social and academic competence predict stability or change in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Standardized Tests, Academic Achievement, Interpersonal Competence, Early Experience,...
In this paper, the author explores the concept of childhood as a social category that impedes the perception of youngsters as critical thinkers in a visual culture. The author interrogates regularities within contemporary public schooling that work to represent the intellectual and cultural development of youngsters as the project of adult industry. Contrary to this representation, the author recounts the critical awareness and personal agency exercised by a group of 4th graders who engaged in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Social Justice, Grade 4, Critical Thinking, Art Education, Elementary Education,...
This study evaluates the effects of teacher candidates' having access to expert teachers' modeling analytic thinking as the experts read case studies used in teaching educational psychology. Videos which consisted of selected segments of multiple expert teachers thinking aloud were developed. In the first experiment, one of these videos was viewed by elementary-level teacher candidates participating in online database discussions using Knowledge Forum[R] 4.5. In Experiment 2, secondary-level...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Case Studies, Content Analysis, Preservice Teachers, Experienced Teachers, Expertise,...
The purpose of this study was to analyze (a) the acquisition and maintenance effects of the simultaneous prompting (SP) procedure on teaching to name objects to two participants with mental retardation, (b) the effects of multiple exemplar approach for generalizing the acquired skills over three non-trained examples (sample), and (c) the effects of presenting instructive feedback stimuli on acquiring non-target information. A multiple probe design across behaviors was used and replicated across...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Feedback (Response), Research Needs, Stimuli, Maintenance, Mental Retardation,...
4Kids.org is an online resource with an accompanying syndicated print publication created to promote safe access to websites and technology literacy. 4Kids.org, created by ALTEC at the University of Kansas in 1995, provides a variety of Internet-based activities as well as access to a database of websites reviewed for educational content, appropriateness, and commercial-free content. This review presents many 4Kids.org features while highlighting a resource designed to provide young people in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Internet, Youth, Children, Technological Literacy, Web Sites, Elementary Education,...
I argue in this article that identity as a mathematical thinker develops through self-directed learning within a supportive community of practice. The dynamic nature of identity as a mathematical thinker is illustrated by considering the experiences of primary pre-service teachers who undertook a mathematics and technology subject in their undergraduate education degree. The pre-service teachers developed their identity as self-regulating learners through setting goals, planning, organising,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Undergraduate Study, Social Environment, Mathematics Instruction, Independent Study,...
This research aims to understand to what extent primary school pupils who stay at the Institution of Social Services and Child Protection dormitories participate in social science lessons. Data were obtained from pupils staying at the Institution of Social Services and Child Protection dormitories and attending primary schools in Istanbul and Canakkale. Thirty pupils in Istanbul and fifteen pupils in Canakkale were interviewed and observed. Qualitative research methods are used in this...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Grounded Theory, Qualitative Research, Social Sciences, Dormitories, Social Services,...
Preservice elementary teachers need to be given the experiences of integrating mathematics with other subjects. They need to go into the classroom with the understanding that mathematics is not an isolated topic. This article describes a paper airplane activity that was presented in a class of preservice elementary education teachers to show how mathematics and science can be integrated with one another. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teachers, Elementary Education, Elementary School Teachers, Elementary...
This descriptive study investigated preservice teachers' understanding of the properties and relationships among parallelograms. Forty preservice teachers in a pre-methods mathematics course for elementary education provided written descriptions of the terms rectangle and rhombus. These responses were sorted into categories according to similarities in description. Results show that only nine respondents articulated adequate descriptions of rectangle and only 1 respondent articulated an...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teachers, Elementary Education, Preservice Teacher Education, Mathematics...
This article describes a program designed to foster authentic inclusion and excellence in an elementary school learning community and research results from the first phase of this on-going project. Actively Building Capacity for Diversity sees successful inclusion of students with exceptional needs as part of a continuum of excellent educational practices that respect individual differences in learners, address the whole person, start from where they are and challenge each student optimally, to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Inclusive Schools, Educational Quality, Educational Practices, Educational...
This one-year case study examined hybrid learning in two elementary teacher education courses, which incorporated the Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS) into the online portion of the coursework. Fifty-one elementary teacher candidates who were enrolled in two hybrid courses participated in the study. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from surveys designed to measure students' views of hybrid learning. Results showed that a majority of students held positive views,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Elementary Education, Education Courses, Blended...
This school-based reflective narrative explores how one inner London primary school raised their awareness of the language needs of Advanced Bilingual Learners (ABL) through an emphasis on developing and celebrating pupils' first language skills alongside English. It stresses the central role of the teacher in planning language learning environments which empower pupils to talk confidently in their first language without feeling marginalised. In this setting, no one language is viewed as being...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Multilingualism, Cultural Pluralism, Students, Participant Observation, Pilot...
Learning how to teach depends on the dynamic inter-relationships among many parts and people; however, research on learning how to teach has typically focused on confined aspects of teacher education (e.g., a specific methods course) over short periods of time (such as one semester). In response, Wideen, Mayer-Smith, and Moon (1998), in their review of the literature on teacher education, called for an ecological approach to studying the learning-to-teach phenomena. They argued that, "only...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Student Teachers, Holistic Approach, Learning...
Capital City Public Charter School was founded in 2000 with a vision of an academic program built on progressive principles and research on educational best practices. An Expeditionary Learning school and CES affiliate, Capital City was not standard fare for graduates of the average teacher training program. From the beginning, it was clear that a critical challenge would be the recruitment and retention of teachers who were committed to experiential education and skilled in active pedagogies....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Charter Schools, Experiential Learning, Teaching Experience, Teacher Recruitment,...
Educators often exclude socially maladjusted children (SMA) from a proper education due to serious disruptive behavior. Never the less, these children are entitled to services under section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. While SMA children are indeed difficult to educate, review of the associated literature suggests that methods to remediate and manage behavior patterns exists. This paper will explore effective education for SMA children and effective ways to manage their behavior...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Needs, Behavior Problems, Behavior Patterns, Disabilities, Social...
The field of international development has recently been consumed by a shift in contemporary educational discourse, one that moves Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) closer to the forefront of what is considered progressive policy formation. In Zambia, the current educational environment seems to indicate that the creation and continued development of ECCE programming may be premature and potentially damaging to an already tenuous primary school education system. This article aims to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Early Childhood Education, Child Care, Elementary Education, Educational Environment,...
This article is a description of the perceptions of pre-service teachers who have chosen to study in a teacher education program designed specifically to prepare them to work in urban elementary schools. Twelve volunteer participants were interviewed in the spring following their admission into the program. Participants and the researcher also made weekly interactive electronic journal entries. In this article, data related to pre-service teachers' reasons for deciding to teach in urban...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Urban Schools, Urban Teaching, Teacher Education...