This case study examines the experiences of two fifth grade teachers as they dealt with district mandates while trying to address their high-poverty urban children's learning needs. It reveals their personal struggles that led to both compliance and resistance. In this case, the act of finding the space to engage in the intellectual and…

Almost every higher education institution is challenged to develop increasing numbers of staff to teach online or blended modes of learning. The process needs to be rapid, cost-effective and lead directly to practical outcomes. From our experience, we had little time, opportunity or the need to start from scratch, and we chose to adopt and adapt a…

University instructors are challenged to involve large student populations with varying pre-existing knowledge in authentic inquiry. We present a model in which students collaborate to design and run their own experiment and engage in peer evaluation. In the model, students in different lab sections of a multi-section course explore alternative…

In this article, we explore the potential of social media for production and distribution of ideas, public deliberation, and political participation, and as civil spaces and public platforms. We offer an analytical template for critically examining images, discursive structures, and multicultural civic participation promoted by websites aimed at…

This paper describes the Integrated Core (IC), the University of Utah's version of integrated curricula. We begin with a rationale for the IC, providing a background on the unique student demographics, and University-wide requirements that propelled our design. Our IC focuses specifically on active living, sustainability, and social justice as…

Rural teachers need ongoing, flexible professional development designed to encourage collaboration and curriculum development. Furthermore, rural school reform requires successful collaborations between schools and colleges to create leaders within schools. Therefore, this case study is a program review that investigates how social studies…

This study was undertaken to gain a better understanding of health promotion practices among college students and the relationship of stress and the practice of various health behaviors. Method: In Fall 2008, 319 students from a mid-size university participated in a cross-sectional survey utilizing the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Health…

This paper reports on the systematic development of a teaching methodology for two chemical engineering courses. The aim was to improve the quality of teaching to achieve expected learning outcomes more effectively. The development was carried out over a period of several years based on an action research methodology with data systematically…

This article reports upon research investigating the rapid rise to prominence of distributed leadership in schools in England. Distributed leadership is located within wider structural reforms of education in England as part of the New Public Management movement in public service delivery and the marked discursive shift to leadership which took…

Newcomer young men confront numerous obstacles that limit their chances for attainment and achievement. Using social and cultural capital frameworks and a case study methodology, this article examines how four Latino newcomer young men navigated an urban U.S. high school. It reveals how teachers and a counselor cultivated capital and how the young…

In this case study, I use an ethnographic-style approach to understand the funds of knowledge of immigrant families living in "colonias" on both sides of the US/Mexico border. I focus on how these "knowledges" and concomitant experiences impact the ways we perceive and treat immigrant students who have all too often been viewed…

Each week, U.S. government classes at the authors' school eagerly organize and participate in moot courts. When they began a search for a Supreme Court case study on substantive due process, they found that the only appropriate brief on the StreetLaw website--a treasure trove of student-accessible court case summaries--"Lawrence v.…

Various iterations of STEM have been in the forefront of national educational reform of science and math teaching over the last two decades. Most recently, STEM is being viewed as the integration of the sciences, math, technology, and engineering to solve authentic problems, rather than an individual collection of related subjects. This approach…

This study explores factors that influence decisions about transition and what works for children with Down's syndrome transferring from primary to secondary school. Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews to gain the views of support staff and parents of two children with Down's syndrome. One parent had chosen…

This paper discusses how practicing teachers conceptualize commercial off the shelf (COTS) videogames within classroom-based English language arts instruction. Understanding how today's teachers perceive virtual worlds and videogames as an instructional tool for schema building within literacy development will help researchers better understand…