Education Commons^™

Research: What Potential Does It Hold For Teacher Practitioners?, Anthony Williams, Peter Kilgour

Peter Kilgour

The teaching profession finds itself at the crossroads

at this time. because the crowded curriculum

and the emphasis on core competencies including

literacy and numeracy can have the tendency to push

research training into the background. The question

should be asked though, is research capability a skill

practicing teachers should be engaging with? Is

reconstructing the curricula of universities to make

research preparation a priority worth pursuing?

The following paper considers the issue of research

and what it can add to teacher practitioners’ “arsenal”

of capabilities. The authors believe that there is value

in reconsidering the curriculum of teachers, as …

Research: What Potential Does It Hold For Teacher Practitioners?, Anthony Williams, Peter Kilgour

Anthony Williams

No abstract provided.

Topic 5: Rawlsian Ethics, Lee Eysturlid

Lee W. Eysturlid

John Rawls (b. 1921, d. 2002) was an American political philosopher in the liberal tradition. His theory of justice as fairness envisions a society of free citizens holding equal basic rights cooperating within an egalitarian economic system. His account of political liberalism addresses the legitimate use of political power in a democracy, aiming to show how enduring unity may be achieved despite the diversity of worldviews that free institutions allow. His writings on the law of peoples extend these theories to liberal foreign policy, with the goal of imagining how a peaceful and tolerant international order might be possible.

Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk

Adam Kotlarczyk

Why Tolkien? Let us start with the obvious—if cynical—question, almost certain to come from a skeptical administrator or colleague: why would any serious, self-respecting English teacher want to teach an author whose work is about dragons, fairies, and the fantastic? With all the increased attention to standardized testing and with the demand for rigor in read- ings in the average English curriculum, choosing a popular text might raise eyebrows among critics. The question that an English teacher may be asked (or indeed, may ask him- or herself) is: doesn't teaching Tolkien as "serious" literature just fan those flames?

Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk

Adam Kotlarczyk

Why Tolkien? Let us start with the obvious—if cynical—question, almost certain to come from a skeptical administrator or colleague: why would any serious, self-respecting English teacher want to teach an author whose work is about dragons, fairies, and the fantastic? With all the increased attention to standardized testing and with the demand for rigor in read- ings in the average English curriculum, choosing a popular text might raise eyebrows among critics. The question that an English teacher may be asked (or indeed, may ask him- or herself) is: doesn't teaching Tolkien as "serious" literature just fan those flames?

Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk

Adam Kotlarczyk

Why Tolkien? Let us start with the obvious—if cynical—question, almost certain to come from a skeptical administrator or colleague: why would any serious, self-respecting English teacher want to teach an author whose work is about dragons, fairies, and the fantastic? With all the increased attention to standardized testing and with the demand for rigor in read- ings in the average English curriculum, choosing a popular text might raise eyebrows among critics. The question that an English teacher may be asked (or indeed, may ask him- or herself) is: doesn't teaching Tolkien as "serious" literature just fan those flames?

The Use Of Visual Arts As A Window To Diagnosing Medical Pathologies, Katrina A. Bramstedt

Katrina A. Bramstedt

Observation is a key step preceding diagnosis, prognostication, and treatment. Careful patient observation is a skill that is learned but rarely explicitly taught. Furthermore, proper clinical observation requires more than a glance; it requires attention to detail. In medical school, the art of learning to look can be taught using the medical humanities and especially visual arts such as paintings and film. Research shows that such training improves not only observation skills but also teamwork, listening skills, and reflective and analytical thinking. Overall, the use of visual arts in medical school curricula can build visual literacy: the capacity to identify …

Sexual Minority Youth Perspectives On The School Environment And Suicide Risk Interventions: A Qualitative Study, Philip A. Rutter, Nancy L. Leech

Nancy Leech

This qualitative study explored the experiences of five gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents' perspectives on their schools' acceptance of their sexual orientation, and perceptions of these schools' approach to suicide risk intervention. Focus groups were tape recorded, transcribed, and analyzed through constant comparative analysis. Themes that emerged from the data included participants feeling judged by school counselors and teachers, feeling unsafe at school, and concerned about school staff's response to suicide risk and interventions. Implications for school counselors, teachers and administrators are discussed.

Learning Environments That Support The Development Of Multiplicative Thinking, Derek Hurrell, Lorraine Day

Derek Hurrell

Given the right learning environment primary aged children can and do develop the capacity to think multiplicatively. Through vignettes taken from interviews with a Year 5 class during a research project, the optimal conditions for the conceptual development underpinning multiplicative thinking is examined.

Learning Environments That Support The Development Of Multiplicative Thinking, Derek Hurrell, Lorraine Day

Lorraine Day

Given the right learning environment primary aged children can and do develop the capacity to think multiplicatively. Through vignettes taken from interviews with a Year 5 class during a research project, the optimal conditions for the conceptual development underpinning multiplicative thinking is examined.

Problem-Based Learning And Self-Efficacy: How A Capstone Course Prepares Students For A Profession, Joanna C. Dunlap

Joanna Dunlap

Problem-based learning (PBL) is apprenticeship for real-life problem solving, helping students acquire the knowledge and skills required in the workplace. Although the acquisition of knowledge and skills makes it possible for performance to occur, without self-efficacy the performance may not even be attempted. I examined how student self-efficacy, as it relates to being software development professionals, changed while involved in a PBL environment. Thirty-one undergraduate university computer science students completed a 16-week capstone course in software engineering during their final semester prior to graduation. Specific instructional strategies used in PBL--namely the use of authentic problems of practice, collaboration, and reflection--are …

Transitioning From Students To Professionals: Using A Writing Across The Curriculum Model To Scaffold Portfolio Development, Lori Elliott, Nancy Daily, Lori Fredricks, Meadow Graham

Lori Elliott

Teacher educators have found portfolios to be a valuable way to judge readiness for student-teaching and initial certification as well as an effective means of examining and validating teacher preparation programs. Tension exists between using the portfolio as a product for evaluation and maintaining its focus as a personal examination, synthesis, and reflection on becoming a teacher. This qualitative action research study was designed to explore the effects of incorporating writing workshops built on Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) principles into the initial portfolio process required of students during their first semester in an undergraduate middle-grades teacher-education pro- gram. Findings …

Effectively Communicating With English Language Learners Using Sheltered Instruction, Geeta Verma, Lisa Martin-Hansen, Jerald Pepper

Geeta Verma

Sheltered instruction is not a commercial program but is a set of instructional practices used specifically with English Language Learners (ELL). It embeds existing instructional strategies such as wait time, visual organizers, group work, and allowing students to actively respond for immediate feedback. Sheltered instruction "integrates lesson knowledge and concepts with opportunities to practice using English by reading, writing, listening and speaking" (Colburn and Echevaria 2001). This article describes the four elements of sheltered instruction (Group work, Wait time, Group-response technique, Supplemental materials).