The author discusses the process of play in terms of six elements in the play cycle first introduced by Sturrock and Else in 1998 and revised by King and Newstead in 2020--precue, play cue, play return, play frame, flow, and annihilation--and their relation to Winnicott's concepts of "potential space" or the "third area," which…

Motivation is key to the generation of creative ideas, intrinsic motivation is the core driving force of creativity. Researchers believe that individuals with higher intrinsic motivation will produce higher novelty and flexibility. Creativity may also be influenced by environmental cues, which are objects in the environment that individuals can…

Our purpose was to explore the role of photocue reflection in the professional learning of physical education teacher educators. Five physical education teacher educators participated in a six-month professional learning experience focused on communication. Individual diaries including both photos and writing prompts, photocue reflective diaries,…

Many teachers struggle with implementing self-help eating goals for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). No group programs exist to target this important problem. We used findings from applied behavior analysis research and adapted single-subject interventions into a group-based eating program. In describing the program using two…

Teacher orchestration of the classroom is a demanding task because of the multitude of activities and the rapid pace at which these activities occur. Teachers must constantly be aware of the activities students engage in and the progress students are making, in order to be able to make informed decisions. Recent years have seen the development of…

Many ways exist to engage students without detracting from the mathematics. Certainly some are high-tech options, such as video games, online trivia sites, and PowerPoint® presentations that follow the same model as Jeopardy; but sometimes low-tech options can be just as powerful. One exciting way to connect with students is by incorporating…

The "Amazing Race" activity utilizes experiential learning by encouraging students to venture outside the classroom to collect and cite sources for an upcoming assignment. In the popular TV show, "Amazing Race," teams compete to complete tasks that take them around the world. Similarly, in this classroom activity, groups…

This study sought to maintain task engagement of a 4-year-old student with developmental disabilities included in a pre-K classroom while decreasing reliance of one-on-one support from a paraprofessional. To accomplish these goals, a withdrawal design (A-B-A) with a nested changing-criterion design was used to withdraw paraprofessional proximity.…

We report on a design based research study exploring how the organization of classroom activity impacts early elementary students' critical criteria for evaluating representations in science class. The ability to critique representations produced by others as well as one's own is an important practice when working with representations. Effective…

Students love to talk. So do teachers. When there's a balance in the classroom between student and teacher discourse, good things happen. When students assume increased responsibility for discussions, when they interact with a wide range of peers on diverse topics and supply evidence for their thinking, great things happen. Noted educators…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit abnormal development in the areas of communication and social interactions from the time of birth or soon after. Social skills are important not only for making friends, but also for doing well in school, finding and keeping a job, and navigating through life. Because of the increasing…

Current studies of power, influence tactics, and influence processes in virtual teams assume that these constructs operate in a similar manner as they do in the face-to-face (FtF) environment. However, the virtual context differs from the FtF environment on a variety of dimensions, such as the availability of status cues. The differences between…

Word finding difficulties in children are typically characterized by search behaviours such as silence, circumlocution, repetition, and empty words. Yet, how children's word searches are constructed (including gesture, gaze, and prosody) and the actions accomplished during interaction have not yet been researched. In this study, 8-year-old Ciara…

This facilitator's guide is designed to assist professional learning communities (PLCs) in applying evidence-based strategies to help K-8 English learners acquire the language and literacy skills needed to succeed academically. Through this collaborative learning experience, educators will expand their knowledge base as they read, discuss, share,…

These handouts, which are meant to accompany the facilitator's guide, are designed to assist professional learning communities (PLCs) in applying evidence-based strategies to help K-8 English learners acquire the language and literacy skills needed to succeed academically. The facilitator's guide uses a five-step process for collaborative…