This Special Issues Brief from the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR Center) and the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) outlines essential features for providing high-quality, structured, and sequenced opportunities to practice within teacher preparation programs. This brief is…

The relationships teachers build with their students are key to their academic success. Despite their likes, dislikes, or academic achievements, students yearn to feel a sense of belonging, a connection to someone or something within schools and classrooms. Whether a learning environment is face to face or online, students want to feel present.…

Much has been written about the characteristics of effective college teachers. However, skill sets have not yet been defined with any level of specificity. Also, instructors at community colleges have unique working conditions and challenges that influence how they teach. This paper illustrates the use of three studies conducted to build and…

This two-part series describes the structure of the stoichiometry course at North Carolina State University. The course had a variety of learning objectives, and several nontraditional pedagogies were used in the course delivery. This first paper outlines the course structure and policies, the preparation given to the teaching assistants who…

By 2025, 22 percent of the U.S. college-age population will be Latino, a level already exceeded in four states: California, Florida, New York, and Texas. However, today, only seven percent of Latinos ages 18 to 24 have an associate's degree or higher compared to 9 percent of African Americans, 16 percent of white, and 25 percent of Asians of the…

This activity packet, designed for elementary grades 2-4, provides educators with a series on hands-on interdisciplinary classroom and outdoor education activities that focus on aquatic life at Lake James State Park, North Carolina. The packet was designed to meet established curriculum objectives of the North Carolina Department of Public…

Stone Mountain State Park's environmental education learning experience, Our Changing Land, introduces the student to the geology of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with emphasis on Stone Mountain, through a series of hands-on activities. The learning experience is designed for grades 4-6 and meets curriculum objectives of the standard course of study…

This learning packet, one in a group of eight, was developed by the Jockey's Ridge State Park in North Carolina for Grades 4-6 to learn about animal adaptation and behavior in the dune environment. Loose-leaf pages are presented in 10 sections that contain: (1) introductions to the North Carolina State Park System, the Jockey Ridge State Park, the…

This document provides hands-on environmental education activities for the classroom and the outdoor setting of Jordan Lake State Recreation Area. The activity packet, designed for grades K-3, meets curriculum objectives of the standard course of study established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. It includes on-site…

This guide was developed for North Carolina teachers in early childhood education and focuses on how play-based center activities in kindergarten teach literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, and the arts. Development of the guide was based on educators' experiences and their understanding of how children learn. The guide's introduction…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. Its primary activity is annually surveying college students to assess the extent to which they engage in educational…

North Carolina and Dare County, with assistance from the federal government, are developing a seafood industrial park at Wanchese, a small residential community. The purposes of this park are to develop a major commercial seafood handling, processing, and distribution port in North Carolina; and to provide a home port with support facilities for a…

This practicum was designed to increase and expand the use of an environmental education center available in the Bladen Lakes State Forest in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. The immediate goal was to provide teachers with a new awareness of the offerings and availability of the site to increase the likelihood of participation with students. The…

The manual is intended to help new teachers in North Carolina provide education and related services to handicapped and gifted students. The first section discusses general resources for beginning teachers. Topics covered include getting the room ready, preparing to manage behavior, enjoying the first day of school, managing classroom problems,…

This learning packet, one in a group of eight, was developed by the Duke Power State Park in North Carolina for Grades 4-6 to learn to identify macroinvertebrates found in Lake Norman. Loose-leaf pages are presented in nine sections that contain: (1) introductions to the North Carolina State Park System, the Duke Power State Park, the park's…