In a number of Western nations, concern over literacy and numeracy standards has put huge political pressure on education systems to improve the situation. Here in New Zealand, the government has recently introduced literacy and numeracy standards designed to improve basic skills in these key fields of achievement. What is perhaps less evident is…

What constitutes a high quality teacher education program and what standards teacher candidates should meet before receiving their teaching credential? This volume advances deep understanding of the nature and sources of policy affecting the preparation of teachers in the U.S. and the conflicts or interconnections of these policies with the…

New technology has brought with it new tools for learning, and research has shown that the educational potential of video games resonates with scholars, teachers, and students alike. In "Augmented Learning", Eric Klopfer describes the largely untapped potential of mobile learning games--games played on such handheld devices as cell phones, Game…

This volume offers a close look at four cases of indigenous language revitalization: Maori in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Sami in Scandinavia, Hnahno in Mexico and Quechua and other indigenous languages in Latin America. Essays by experts from each case are in turn discussed in international perspective by four counterpart experts. This book is divided…

Parents, lawmakers, supervisors, and unions are among the many constituencies that demand influence, if not control, of the educational process. How does the school administrator balance all the needs of the various groups and still remain true to the ultimate, though most powerless constituency-the students? Through case studies and anecdotes…

This important and much-needed book is based on a longitudinal study of fifty new teachers during their first years in the classroom. It highlights the cases of ten, whose stories vividly illustrate the joys and disappointments of new teachers in today's schools. The book documents why they entered teaching, what they encountered in their schools,…

This book surveys both classical and current (mainly anthropological) literature in the field of literacy studies, combined with critical discussion of particular cases. The book explores questions of power, cultural form, and historical process as they are raised by and developed in studies of literacy, and draws on the history of literacy,…

Given the abundance of open education initiatives that aim to make educational assets freely available online, the time seems ripe to explore the potential of open education to transform the economics and ecology of education. Despite the diversity of tools and resources already available--from well-packaged course materials to simple games, for…

This book relates several case studies of language acquisition--for example, chimpanzees "learning" to speak at a higher level than so-called 'wolf' children and a father and mother who, against the advice of professionals, force their way into the closed world of an autistic son--to examine the threshold of language, that point…

This book examines the impact of anticommunism on American campuses, using Rutgers University (New Jersey) from 1950 through 1965 as a case example. Following an introductory chapter which provides background information, chapter 2 discusses the period January 1950 to August 1952, when Cold War politics intensified at Rutgers University and the…

In this book, two teachers share their experiences as researchers to confront and address the current disagreements about whether empirical research or narrative recounting is a better research model. In the book they seek to transcend these disagreements by endorsing an integrative approach that covers all aspects of practitioner inquiry, joining…

This book represents the first systematic exploration of Deweyan pedagogy in an actual classroom since studies of John Dewey's own laboratory school at the turn of the century. The co-authors dialogue back and forth in the book's introductory essays about the importance of John Dewey today and about their histories with John Dewey. Part I, using…

This book is about mathematics, teaching and learning and how these are affected by a constructivist philosophy. Chapter 1 presents background to the study of an investigative approach to mathematics teaching. Chapter 2 provides an account of constructivism as a philosophy of knowledge and learning and includes a rationale for both radical and…

This textbook analyzes successful innovations in education. The first chapter provides an overview of the book, which is followed by a review of classical studies and disasters that have accompanied innovation. Chapter 3 offers a series of separate stories about the different ways teachers have responded to changes, and chapter 4 tries to reverse…

This book shows teachers how to help their learners take an active role in becoming strategic thinkers and readers and how to develop meaningful lessons to aid students in their comprehension of text. The book delineates an arts-integrated curriculum that helps teachers teach reading comprehension strategies. It is an in-depth look at the effects…