Many music educators incorporate chamber music in their ensemble programs--an excellent way to promote musical independence. However, they rarely think of the large ensemble as myriad chamber interactions. Rehearsals become more productive when greater responsibility for music-making is placed on the individual student. This article presents some…

The gamic mode is an innovative way of authoring scholarly history that goes beyond the printed text or digital simulations by using digital game technologies to allow the reader to interact with a scholarly argument through meaningful choice and trial and error. The gamic mode makes the way in which the past is constructed as history explicit by…

Written to accompany the second edition of Todd Whitaker's best-selling title, "What Great Teachers Do Differently," this study guide can be used by facilitators and participants in seminars, book study groups, or other professional development events. The variety of activities and strategies in this book will help teachers engage in critical…

The ubiquity and familiarity of the world wide web means that students regularly turn to it as a source of information. In doing so, they "are said to rely heavily on simple search engines, such as Google to find what they want." Researchers have also investigated how students use search engines, concluding that "the young web users tended to…

Our three-year inquiry at the Gulf Islands Film and Television School (GIFTS), a community-based media arts educational center, presents a practical model illustrating how urban youth explore their own strengths and connect themselves to a learning space in a rural environment within the context of filmmaking. It also offers pedagogical insights…

ADAPT (Advancing Decision Making and Problem Solving for Teens) is a small-group intervention for middle and high school students who are at risk for substance use, aggression, truancy, poor school performance, and depressive moods. The ADAPT program's 12 sessions teach fundamental skills such as: (1) Effective problem solving; (2) Decision…

"Louisiana Believes" embraces the principle that all children can achieve at high levels, as evidenced in Louisiana's recent adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). "Louisiana Believes" also promotes the idea that Louisiana's educators should be empowered to make decisions to support the success of their students.…

This study presents an experiential exercise designed to heighten students' awareness of overconsumption in the United States and allow them to see how their own consumption habits are linked to larger social factors. Students engaged in the "Not Buying It" project--which involved refraining from purchasing all but essentials for a set…

When students first enter high school, the change can be overwhelming on many levels. All at once, or very nearly, they're dealing with an onslaught of new educational concerns, weighty academic decisions, different extracurricular options, unfamiliar teachers, and potentially bewildering social atmospheres. Meanwhile, former middle school…

Sex education is almost as sensitive a topic in public schooling as is the imposition of high-stakes testing. Both typically claim to be value-free contributions to the development of the student's cognitive, psychological and sometimes even moral maturity. Ironically each seems to short-change students in all three areas of development. The focus…

A framework using concepts from systems theory, theories of power, and the garbage can model of decision-making was developed for the purpose of teaching aspiring school administrators to analyze situations using a political lens. The framework is demonstrated in an analysis of the process that led to Ohio's establishing a school facilities…

"Who's Responsible?" is an educational experience designed to help participants explore a chain of events that can lead to a teen pregnancy. In this activity, participants read a scenario in which the main character has a boyfriend who would like to have sex with her without using a condom. After attempting to talk about sex and contraception with…

This bestselling book addresses a major instructional and policy concern in public education--how personnel and resources can best be utilized to develop strong instructional programs for a culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) student population. This meticulously updated second edition incorporates the experience that the authors have…

The book addresses the main issues concerned with the new development of learning processes, innovative pedagogical changes, the effects of new technologies on education, future learning content, which aims to gather the newest concepts, research and best practices on the frontiers of technology enhanced learning from the aspects of learning,…

Simulation games can play a critical role in enabling students to navigate the problem spaces of the past while simultaneously critiquing the models designers offer to represent those problem spaces. There is much to be gained through their use. This includes rich opportunities for students to engage the past as independent historians; to consider…