During the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years at a public high school in El Paso, Texas the author developed and led an after-school arts-based literacy class. This arts-based literacy class was part of the design of a larger ethnographic study spanning the same timeframe that examined how Texas' high-stakes accountability policies shaped…

To promote the integration of aesthetic education into chemistry education, this study designed activities to photograph precipitation reaction experiments with a smartphone, thereby combining experimental inquiry with artistic creation across disciplines. These activities were divided into (i) perceiving, (ii) appreciating, (iii) exploring, and…

This qualitative study examines how an "international" high school in New York City responds to the needs of refugee students. It asks: "What are the specific academic needs of secondary-level refugee students? How does one school meet their needs, and what challenges are encountered?" To complement one-on-one semi-structured…

A simple but accurate method for measuring the Earth's radius using a video camera is described. A video camera was used to capture a shadow rising up the wall of a tall building at sunset. A free program called ImageJ was used to measure the time it took the shadow to rise a known distance up the building. The time, distance and length of…

Using a South Los Angeles charter school of approximately 650 students operated by a non-profit charter management organization (CMO) as the primary field site, this two-year, ethnographic research project examines the implementation of a one-to-one tablet computer program in a public high school. This dissertation examines the variety of ways…

This article proposes an indirect method to evaluate the corrosion rate of iron nail in simulated seawater. The official procedure is based on the direct measurement of the specimen's weight loss over time; however, a highly precise scale is required and such equipment may not be easily available. On the other hand, mobile phones equipped with…

This paper describes a simple activity for plotting and characterizing the light curve from an exoplanet transit event by way of differential photometry analysis. Using free digital imaging software, participants analyse a series of telescope images with the goal of calculating various exoplanet parameters, including size, orbital radius and…

In this paper we tell a story about how we partnered with a Chicago high school in order to turn the school inside out by displaying larger-than-life teacher portraits and statements at street level throughout the community. This paper explores how public art and activism can help teachers and students develop notions of civic literacy and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on the many dimensions of the principal's positionality by using a unique research approach to link the experiences of the policy implementing principal to embodiment. Design/methodology/approach: The researchers employed a form of critical policy analysis that utilized…

This paper discusses potential strategies and sources for approaching uncomfortable topics and reviews the challenges facing teachers who choose to do so with the topic of genocide as an example. Using a variety of techniques, including graphic organizers, political cartoons, comic books and graphic novels, films, children's and young adult…

Research has demonstrated that many students and some teachers do not consistently apply the conservation of energy principle when analyzing mechanical scenarios. In observing elementary and secondary teachers engaged in learning activities that require tracking and conserving energy, we find that challenges to energy conservation often arise in…

In this critical discourse analysis of six high-school world geography textbooks, we explore how constructions and representations of North Africa and Southwest Asia have served to reinforce Orientalist discourse in formal curriculum. Visual and written representations in these textbooks were overwhelmingly confounded by a traditional/modern…

The Moon appears to be much larger closer to the horizon than when higher in the sky. This is called the "Moon illusion" since the observed size of the Moon is not actually larger when the Moon is just above the horizon. This paper describes a technique for verifying that the observed size of the Moon is not larger on the horizon. The technique…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how a curricular choice majors program influenced teacher motivation and student performance at a charter high school in Pennsylvania from the perception of the administration and teachers. The theoretical foundation for this study was the attribution motivation theory. This theory…

The activities described here allow students to explore the concept of diffusion with the use of common equipment such as computers, webcams and analysis software. The procedure includes taking a series of digital pictures of a container of water with a webcam as a dye slowly diffuses. At known time points, measurements of the pixel densities…