For over a decade, scholars have reported on the importance of research-practice partnerships (RPPs), particularly for bridging the gap between academia and K-12 institutions. This brief, co-written by Katrina K. Morrison, Ed.D., Abdul-Malik Muhammad, Ed.D., and Ngozi Magena, M.S., aims to support developing understandings of successful…

This comprehensive, top-selling text presents theories, assessments, planning tools, resources, and technologies relevant to modern career development in a practical approach that shows theory and research in action. With four chapters devoted to career development in educational settings, it analyzes the various aspects of career development…

For the forty-third time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented online during the annual AECT Convention. Volume 2 contains 15 papers dealing the practice of instructional technology including instruction and training…

In this action research study, 24 preservice middle level educators participated in simulated interdisciplinary teams for a semester. The impact this authentic pedagogy had on preservice teachers' developing knowledge of middle school teaming is documented through student artifacts (e.g., journals, assignments), tape-recorded interviews, and field…

Designed for education majors and minors in all subjects and as a resource for experienced teachers, the central theme of this book is writing to learn. The chapters are entitled: (1) Writing across the Curriculum; (2) Writing as a Process; (3) Levels of Writing; (4) Journals; (5) Writing as a Means for Learning; (6) Improving Writing Skills; (7)…

Discusses writing instruction and the use of educational computer programs; provides a theoretical framework that includes cognitive tool partnerships, learning theory, writing research, and the Vygotskian theory of mediated learning; and describes a prompting tool that used the macro language of IBM's WordPerfect with college and middle school…

Recounts the experience of four instructors in a middle-level teacher education program who are attempting to integrate the curriculum as a model for their students. They explain the context of their work, describe the curriculum and their integration efforts, and report what they believe students have learned and what teachers have learned from…

Argues that teachers need a comprehensible and flexible view of what counts as a written text in the larger world outside the classroom. Discusses two cases that demonstrate working with middle schoolers and their writing. Discusses the kind of knowledge about written text that teachers of writing need, and offers recommendations for teacher…

Author and environmental educator Tom Wessels discusses how to infer a landscape's history from plants and other clues found on site. Reading the landscape enables people to develop a stronger connection to place. Understanding historic landscape changes is essential to understanding current environmental issues. He also discusses his teaching…

This article describes an effort to employ cooperative team learning (CTL), specifically the Jigsaw technique, as a vehicle for helping prospective middle school teachers enrolled in a social studies methods course translate theory into practice. Recommendations are made for broader implementation of CTL in middle school teacher education…

A science teacher and her mentor reflect on their participation in the Learning Research Cycle, a professional learning model that bridges research and practice in both university and public school contexts. Teachers do scientific research in scientists' laboratories, then bridge their scientific experiences with the design of new classroom…

One teacher researcher recently completed a Ph.D. in education through "practitioner" research; that is, research in her own classroom. This research examined the talk that unfolded between young adolescent students in the course of everyday classroom activities in her English and Pastoral Care classrooms and in the Technology Studies…

Teachers who had received a specialized preparation for middle level teaching were studied to determine the effectiveness of such a preparation program and to help form a knowledge base from which teacher education institutions could document, design, and implement middle level preparation programs. The paper reviews the literature investigating…

Describes Indiana University's Teacher as Decision Maker Program, a graduate-level teacher education program offering middle/secondary school certification plus a master's degree. It serves individuals making career changes and is based on research in teacher education. Its theoretical framework integrates pedagogical schemata, professional…

Examined effectiveness of a teacher education program emphasizing skills and knowledge needed in multicultural, multilingual urban middle school settings. Found that candidates were already culturally/linguistically sensitive, and became more so during the program; felt prepared to meet student needs; and still had difficulty envisioning the…