The paper describes a graduate course deploying innovative instructional materials (e.g., the use of novels to provide context for theoretical constructs) and learning activities (e.g., community asset mapping) to engage issues of leadership in rural settings. Prior to describing the course itself, the paper develops a rationale for the importance…

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess Egyptian Agricultural Technical School (ATS) teachers' implementation of active learning strategies in their classrooms. Methods: The Stages of Concern Questionnaire was administered to 230 participants in active learning workshops. After eliminating headmasters, supervisors and people no longer…

The purpose of this study was to describe the qualities of preservice early childhood teacher response to a multicultural children's literature project, and to evaluate the project as a means for developing culturally responsive teaching practices in preservice early childhood teachers. Surveys and reflection papers on the project from two reading…

This paper is a reflection on the way that a background in sociocultural theory and research actually saved my teaching career by allowing me to shift from being a dispenser of knowledge to a cultural neophyte attempting to understand where he is. Teaching then is understood as a reading exercise which is undertaken in a particular place which…

Focusing on reading methods and practices in rural Indian Mexico at the turn of the twentieth century, this article explains why schooling had little impact in terms of literacy in Spanish yet played a successful political and ceremonial role resulting in what I call a ritual literacy. At the time, the emerging educational system did not consider…

Attracting and retaining quality teachers to rural and remote areas has been a challenge over the last decade. Many preservice teachers are reluctant to experience a rural and remote practicum and may not consider applying to teach in such areas when they graduate. Education departments and universities need to explore innovative ways that will…

This paper reviews research on small rural primary schools in Finland and analyses it under three thematic foci: the relationship between the local rural school and the surrounding community, the small rural primary school as a learning environment, and the teachers' profession in this context. Over 30% of Finnish primary schools are small rural…

How has the new interactive distance education system facilitated by satellite technology been utilised and incorporated by teachers and learners? Has it changed the ways teachers deliver education to remote students? What have been the implications for the curriculum delivered via distance education? How has it affected the ways learners interact…

This article elaborates the concept of educational projects, a term that signifies consistent constellations of institutions, financial resources, social actors, ideologies, theories of knowledge and attendant pedagogies that shape local cultural practices of schooling. The article demonstrates the utility of the concept of educational projects…

Science in rural and remote schools has received unenviable press around the world. The political and administrative spotlight has fallen on the inadequate physical resources available to rural schools (Hawkes, Halverson and Brockmueller, 2002), inadequate professional development (Howley, Chadwick and Howley, 2002), and the problems…

Developing strategies for engaging mathematics activities is always a challenge. Teachers seek out new resources and online activities to excite students and support their learning. Mathematics through Movement offers an active learning strategy requiring few resources, and a bit of imagination, to achieve a variety of outcomes across mathematics…

This investigation explored the role of the home supervisor (usually a parent) in creating meaningful learning environments for young students' numeracy development. The case study data (from four home sites in remote areas of Australia) illuminated the role that the supervisor plays in developing student's numeracy in distance-education learning…

State assessments are taking over our classrooms. This study provides a descriptive account of how the testing culture affected students and instruction during one school year in two small, rural Mississippi secondary mathematics classrooms. Throughout this school year, engaging instructional activities were sacrificed for more traditional drill…

This paper reports aspects of a large-scale project conducted in rural and remote regions of Australia. The study was designed to assess teaching and learning practices in early childhood programs with a particular focus on literacy, numeracy and the use of information and communication technologies. Programs had been specifically designed for use…

Inquiry-based learning was used to enhance an undergraduate molecular biology course at Georgia Southern University, a primarily undergraduate institution in rural southeast Georgia. The goal was to use a long-term, in-class project to accelerate higher-order thinking, thereby enabling students to problem solve and apply their knowledge to novel…