Teachers using interactive whiteboards (IWB) effectively can engage and motivate students with a range of digital resources to explore science's role in making sense of our world and to construct knowledge of key scientific concepts. The case study research described in this paper illustrates how interactive pedagogies in the IWB classroom were…

An action research study was conducted using the Rainbow Dots strategy to evaluate its effectiveness on reading comprehension skills in a third-grade class with students both with and without a specific learning disability. Results of the study indicated that students' overall performances in reading comprehension have increased. Students also…

Gay and lesbian issues are often silenced in teacher education programs. Such silencing has serious consequences for teachers who feel unprepared to discuss such issues in their classrooms. Challenging the silence regarding gay and lesbian issues that often permeates early childhood classrooms, we share a teacher's critical inquiry into teaching…

From October to December 2005, six biology associates were employed to progress the connection between curriculum implementation and the continuing professional development of teachers at regional level. The associates worked with one hundred biology teachers in Teacher Design Teams (TDTs) and together they produced eighteen innovative classroom…

Increments in educational budgets have been devoted to professional development for teachers to help them accommodate their practices to the realities of their classrooms. Previous research has suggested that despite this significant investment, there has been little, if any, positive change. This begs the question of what else might be done to…

In this action-research study, a third-grade teacher explores the impact of student blogs on the quality of their mathematical discussions. The teacher introduced math blogs to facilitate a productive online discussion focused on multistep story problems. (Contains 2 figures.)

This article discusses six teaching strategies identified by teacher-researchers as supporting their goal to improve learning and teaching for all children in the intercultural setting of a kindergarten in "Aotearoa" New Zealand. As a Centre of Innovation, the kindergarten received government funding for a 3-year action research project…

This study reports teachers' learning through action research on students' conceptual understanding. The study examined (a) the teachers' views about science teaching and learning, (b) the teachers' learning about their teaching practices and (c) the conditions that supported the teachers' learning through action research. A total of 14 elementary…

There is a longstanding recognition in the field of language education that teachers must continually reshape their knowledge of teaching and learning. This knowledge is developed initially in teacher education programs, then becomes part of teachers' education throughout their careers through reflective practice. Reflective practice occurs when…

In an educational context, local, ecologically valid tests can reflect the use of literacy and thinking tools. These tests present a challenge to central, content-focused, high-stakes testing, and to transmission approaches to teaching. They require teachers to accept knowledge as a verb, and to design assessment protocols that reflect…

In this action research study, 24 preservice middle level educators participated in simulated interdisciplinary teams for a semester. The impact this authentic pedagogy had on preservice teachers' developing knowledge of middle school teaming is documented through student artifacts (e.g., journals, assignments), tape-recorded interviews, and field…

This inquiry investigates action research as a tool to facilitate reflective practice in undergraduate preservice teachers. Typically utilized in graduate programs, action research is a viable tool for increasing preservice teachers' systematic classroom-based inquiry. This process is examined through a theoretical framework of narrative inquiry,…

This article explores the idea that teachers can improve their practice through reflection and action research. The author discusses the constructivist and socio-constructivist roots of action research. The case study explores the use of a project to improve learner autonomy and cooperation. Students made key decisions about the project content,…

This article reports an action research project in which children, their teacher and the author, and an advisory teacher from a Local Authority collaborated as co-researchers in a project to improve working relationships in the classroom. Both appreciative enquiry and emancipatory research informed the project. This article focuses on one aspect…

Should political science educators use debate for teaching their undergraduate students? This article argues for incorporation of academic debate into curriculum of undergraduate courses. It demonstrates the process of arriving at a decision favorable of debate through exploration and analysis of competitive reasons, arguments, and evidence for…