Play is an important dimension of learning for all students. When students are allowed to play, amazing things happen. Students start to tell stories, explore new concepts, and learn in authentic ways. Some of these experiences are constructed with peers, while others are created individually. Discoveries are made by connecting one student's ideas…

To meet the national and international call for creative and innovative engineers, many engineering departments and classrooms are striving to create more authentic learning spaces where students are actively engaging with design and innovation activities. For example, one model for teaching innovation is Innovation-Based Learning (IBL) where…

Organizations need to develop innovations to meet emerging problems and challenges due to increasing global competition, customer expectations, or market changes. Responding to these challenges requires employees to create solutions within their organizations, such as new products or processes. While some research has found crucial roles of…

Although much research has been conducted on sustainability, technology initiatives and practices, and their connection with leadership, more research needs to be worked on identifying the leadership practices within a technology innovation and their effect on sustainability. Leaders must be facilitators of change and supporters of teaching and…

Today's American public schools are expected to promote deeper learning and cultivate 21st-century skills in order to achieve equity and excellence for all students. Yet these goals, and the intellectually ambitious instruction they demand, fall far from the status quo of the schools most students attend, particularly in high-poverty school…

This dissertation is comprised of three interlinked studies investigating young children's authentic inquiry practices. The first article provides a literature synthesis of over two hundred and fifty in-depth cases of K-6 facilitated authentic inquiry learning environments. These cases reveal the wide-ranging authentic inquiry practices that are a…

Competency-based education (CBE) has become well-accepted as a powerful way to personalize learning. Today's advanced technologies have enhanced CBE even further. Practitioners in the field are seeking means to take advantage of technology to increase CBE's effectiveness and efficiency, especially for adult learners. Microlearning and digital open…

Enrollment into Arabic as a second language (ASL) in Dubai has increased steadily due to the high influx of expatriates' populations. Although Arabic is the primary language in Dubai, the government has mandated that Arabic be taught in all private schools for non-native Arabic speakers from grades one to nine. This was at the time when the…

Teaching in the 21st century requires the search for new and ongoing innovative practices. Such emerging practices in the field of teaching are reshaping the everyday normalities of how educators used to teach in the past. The Professional Learning Community (PLC) model is an emerging educational innovation and is considered as a powerful strategy…

Aspiring entrepreneurs give and receive support in growth-fostering interactions with seasoned entrepreneurs, mentors, peers, and others. This dissertation investigates viewpoints held by entrepreneurs about their experiences of effective mentoring support. Little is known about how an entrepreneur learns through interacting with different…

The Virtual Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Process Development Project provides the context for the two areas of the research presented in this dissertation. The first area, generally referred to as feedback in this dissertation, focuses on student learning and the interactions of students and instructors that take place in the project,…

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into how social entrepreneurs dedicated to violence prevention in Rio de Janeiro learn to take on the role of a social entrepreneur. Based on a two-tiered interview process with 27 social entrepreneurs in Rio de Janeiro conducted over a period of nine months, the study explores the breadth of…

The dissertation investigates the effect of a concept-based approach to teaching the Chinese temporal system to English-speaking university learners at the elementary level. The pedagogical framework, Systematic-Theoretical Instruction (STI), adopted in this study was proposed by Piotr Gal'perin and originated from Vygotsky's…

Technology is a learning and teaching tool that enhances students' communication, innovation, and critical thinking skills, also known as 21st century learning goals. Successfully using technology in the classroom to promote these learning goals, however, has presented some challenges for teachers. While research has identified a variety of…

Within the paradigm of Sociocultural Theory, and using Activity Theory as a data-gathering and management tool, this microgenetic case study examined the processes--the growth, change, and development--engaged in by student-teachers in a foreign language education program as they worked together to complete an activity. The activity involved…