Hart shares the story of a high school student who was unmotivated by traditional academic work and on a downward trajectory--until he enrolled in a program that allowed him to take vocationally oriented classes at a community college while in high school. Content that was relevant and meaningful to him (EMT and firefighter training) led Max to…

Experienced and effective elementary physical education teachers are continually searching for new ideas to liven up their content. Holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas provide opportunities to integrate creative, theme-oriented lessons into the curriculum. In addition to more traditional holidays, unique holidays each month can…

While creativity has traditionally been an essential component of gifted education, the majority of creative teaching strategies neglect to address its multifaceted nature. As a result, attempts to encourage creativity are often fractured, and gifted students struggle to recognize how academic content and creativity go hand-in-hand. This article…

For the past several decades, student engagement has been an increasingly popular subject of research in higher education. The conversation around engagement has become even more critical in in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as institutions navigate a rapid shift to remote learning. A body of research indicates that an approach to…

Second language (L2) motivation research has been thriving for the past decades by emphasizing L2 motivation theories and describing the motivated learner, while relatively few studies have dealt with how to motivate students in a systematic way. Approaches in these studies either included investigations into the role of different motivational…

Mastery grading is an approach to grading in which students are assigned term grades based on whether they meet certain enumerated objectives, rather than accumulating points. In this note, I describe my experiences using a mastery system, which I call techniques grading, which applies the insights behind the standards-based and specifications…

This article addresses the issues faced by the young Aboriginal students in urban and rural settings, which hinder their achievement in mathematics and science. An effort is made to reveal the techniques and programs that address the under-representation of young Aboriginal students in these subjects at secondary and post-secondary levels.…

The purpose of this monograph is to advance thinking about transforming how schools play their role in addressing barriers to learning and teaching. In the process, the authors discuss embedding and framing the evolving literatures related to improvement and implementation sciences into a general intervention perspective. Part I of this monograph…

One of the major challenges of teaching science has been engaging students in discussions of concepts due to lack of perceived relevancy of topics to students' individual goals and societal issues. Science has been viewed as a set of abstract topics disconnected from the real world. To increase student motivation, self-efficacy, and interest in…

Many researchers have discussed the feasibility of teaching and learning practical skills, such as playing a musical instrument, through distance education. One of the central issues considered in music education is that of motivation, leading educators to wonder how students might remain motivated when learning music at a distance. In this…

Reflecting on one's own emotions and seeing teaching as an emotionally complex engagement can enrich a teacher's experience, pedagogy, and students' motivation and response in class.

With some creative thought and effort, teachers can intentionally turn their diplomas into effective environmental cues. By creating a diploma wall, teachers can encourage student engagement and motivation. Diplomas on display become more than part the office decor as they connect students to thoughts and behaviors needed for college success.…

Physical activity levels and participation in sport-related activities is, in many cases, decreasing. This decrease has been associated with the quality of physical education, which in turn may be determined by the motivational climate. This article aims to provide practical applications, derived from self-determination theory, that may help…

In a time when students around the globe continue to pursue their higher studies in English-speaking countries, educators also continue to explore innovative teaching methods and approaches in order to support learning. Universal design for learning (UDL) is an innovative teaching framework that has recently drawn considerable attention among…

Based on the study of virtual learning systems, motion learning theory, and instructional design theory, a virtual fitness trainer app named TRAINIME has been developed to be used as one of the tools to teach exercise for fitness education programs. This paper describes the design and development as well as the evaluation of the developed app. The…