Education Commons^™

Characterizing Students’ Thinking: Algebraic Inequalities And Equations, Kien H. Lim

Kien H Lim

This paper presents the findings of a study that explores the viability of using students’ act of anticipating as a means to characterize the way students think while solving problems in algebra. Two types of anticipating acts were identified: predicting a result and foreseeing an action. These acts were characterized using Harel’s framework, which involves the concepts of mental act, way of understanding, and way of thinking. Categories for characterizing acts of predicting and foreseeing were identified and developed based on thirteen 11th graders’ responses to problems involving algebraic inequalities and equations. The quality of students’ acts of predicting and …

Reflection In Action: Constructive Narratives Of Experience, Nilofar Vazir

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper examines narratives of experience from teachers’ lives. It locates teachers as academic constructors of knowledge and uses the cases of reflective practice and inquiry in the development of self‐knowledge. I explore teachers knowledge in light of my own understanding from literature, research findings on beginning teachers, reflections on my personal experiences; my development as a teacher overseas and in my country Pakistan. Most importantly as self‐reflection I offer Pakistan’s move to construct professional knowledge and my own attempt as a teacher educator to aspire towards that goal.

A Pakistani Teacher Educator’S Self-Study Of Teaching Self-Study Research, Ayesha Bashiruddin

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper describes a teacher educator’s self-study of work with her M.Ed. students at a private international university in Pakistan. This systematic inquiry highlights changes and improvements in teaching drawn from experiences of practice based on autobiographies. Analysis shows that improvement in teaching came from the author’s learning through self-study. Analysis also reveals implications for teacher educators and teacher education in general.

Extending The Conversation: New Technologies, New Literacies, And English Education, Janet A. Swenson, Carl A. Young, Ewa Mcgrail, Robert A. Rozema, Phyllis Whitin

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

The authors contend that new technologies have developed new literacies and new ways of thinking that are reshaping our lives. In the rapidly changing world, they argue, these new literacies and their practices must become central to effective English education programs. To frame their argument, they introduce the notion of "technological" pedagogical content knowledge to bridge the perceived binary of technology and English education. Throughout, they analyze how reflection on new technologies and integration of them into coursework for specific purposes is an educational, political, and even a moral imperative.

Holocaust [8th Grade], Allison Grant

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit students will read Night by Elie Wiesel as a means for discovering the atrocities of the Holocaust. Our study will provide them with the opportunity to uncover the following understandings: prejudice generates powerful feelings which can lead to violent consequences and human suffering, suffering produces significant change in humans, and effective communication of the change in an individual can promote the growth of human society. As students read the nonfiction book and conduct research on the historical events surrounding the Holocaust they will answer the questions why does different matter? and can hope and despair coexist? Through …

U. S. Constitution [8th Grade], Ben Altman

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit, students will explore the U.S. Constitution. They will begin by analyzing the issues and debates of the colonial era that brought about the need for a more structured centralized government. They will then study the processes of creation and ratification, and examine how these processes have contributed to the documents longevity and success. They will further that examination by evaluating the actual words of the document. The culminating performance assessment will require students to create their own constitutional plan for the governance of their history classroom. They will present their plans to the class and examine the …

Cultural Justice [7th Grade], Kathleen Fenske

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit focuses on cultural justice and how the type of justice implemented depends on the culture. The unit focuses on the 3 essential questions: What is justice? Is there truly justice for all? And is one culture's system of justice better than another? Along with these three questions, the unit also focuses on the 4 types of justice: revenge, retribution, rehabilitation, and restoration. This unit begins with reading Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelson, a story about a boy, Cole, who is sent to live alone on an island instead of being sent to jail for committing a crime. …

Why Learn Spanish? [7th Grade], Leigh Sheppard

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

No abstract provided.

Matter [6th Grade], Anne Cowell

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit students will identify matter by its chemical and physical properties and begin learning how to write sections of a lab report. Students will also practice using scientific equipment especially graduated cylinders, beakers, and triple beam balances.

What Is Measurement? [8th Grade], Catherine Risinger

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this 8th grade unit, students will bridge their understanding of measurement from 7th grade Math to a new level which is required for the further development of Mathematical Skills. Students will gain a better understanding on the needed skills when solving for both direct and indirect measurement. Through the performance assessment students will design in small groups a 4,000 square foot home. Not only will students complete a scale drawing of their design they will also be building their design as well. This allows students to appreciate the amount of details that are required in the buildings that we …

Family [7th Grade], Amy Nichols

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit, students will explore the different forms and meaning family can take. Throughout, there will be an emphasis put on a fluid definition of family. From the traditional mother-father-children to friends who are like brothers to a woman caring for her aging boss, this unit will use age-appropriate literature to guide an exploration of what family can look like. In turn, there will also be opportunities for exploration of how families choose to represent and define themselves. Additionally, there will be study of the importance of point of view. A story and a situation--can change dramatically depending on …

Who Am I? [7th Grade], Lisa Shay, Judy Shaw

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this three week unit students will gain a better understanding of themselves and how their life experiences and environment have shaped them. Students will also understand that by gaining self-knowledge they are better able to set goals for their future. In order to better understand themselves, students will first examine others lives and obstacles that these individuals have overcome to achieve some level of success. Through this examination students will be able to discover that the past doesn t have to decide their future. They will gain an insight into how certain individuals have triumphed despite difficulties and have …

Conflicts In Literature [8th Grade], Erin Phillips

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit, students will gain a greater understanding of conflict and its implications on life. The reading of short stories, biographies, and newspaper articles will guide the students in exploring the understandings that conflict brings about change, conflict is a catalyst of fiction, and that conflicts in literature can be applicable to our own lives. Performance task #1 invites students to delve into a newspaper article identifying the essential component of every story, (Does every story have a conflict?) conflict. The purpose is to locate the conflict and arrive at the conclusion that conflict is the determining factor of …

Historical Sources [7th Grade], Beth Mcphail

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit introduces the concepts and skills associated with historical research and interpretation. Students will learn how to identify primary and secondary sources and how to interpret sources in a variety of formats. They will learn how to identify bias and some of the reasons it exists. Students will apply these skills of analysis and interpretation in a performance assessment that asks them to interpret a variety of sources about a historical event. Students will create a presentation for their peers in which they explain this event, based on their source analysis. The purpose of this unit is to prepare …

Survival Stories [6th Grade], Allison Grant

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit students will read historical fiction and nonfiction texts focusing on the tragedy of the Titanic. The readings will provide them with the opportunity to uncover the understandings that the genre of a text not only determines its purpose but also informs our approach to reading and that survivors make adjustments or adaptations in their lives in order to overcome significant challenges or difficulties. As students read the historical fiction book Voyage on the Great Titanic accompanied by various newspaper articles and nonfiction sources on the sinking of the ship, they will answer the question why does genre …

Obstacles: The Study Of Life's Hurdles Through Reading And Writing Personal Narratives [7th Grade], Nilima Patel

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The study of writing and reading is all too often carried out separately. Students learn how to read and write in isolation; such learning proves to be limited. This unit aims to integrate these two studies into one. Students will study authors and the strategies they employ when writing. These strategies will then be applied in their own writing. Such strategies include developing characters and ideas, organizing ideas using the plot components, and cultivating writing through tone and mood.

Responses From The Field, Roberta Weaver, Shauna M. Adams, Mary F. Landers

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

DeFiore (2006) provides a comprehensive review of elements that have shaped the state of special education in Catholic schools. The article speaks of the bishops’ vision without teeth and the theoretical support provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA). DeFiore discusses the demand for services that are not met because of a lack of resources, expertise, and funding. The article concludes by allowing that much has occurred over the past decade, but more is needed.

To meet this need, DeFiore states that diocesan and local leaders must face the challenge of inspiring the laity to …

Aesthetic Knowing: Essential To The Development Of Heart And Mind., Laura Howzell-Young, Susan Daniels

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Children are biologically wired to experience their world through rich sensory, affective, aesthetic, and imaginal experiences. Children thirst for art, music and movement, and these modes are utilized widely to learn the varied languages of literacy: the alphabet, numbers, vocabulary, body-sense and more. Yet, in response to meeting higher and more prescribed standards at the elementary and secondary levels, there is a tendency to narrow the curriculum, to consider art and music expendable, to view social-emotional development as external to the schoolhouse. This narrowing is happening just as our global culture is moving again toward multiple kinds of communication: toward …

Where Visual Literacy And Identity Meet: Adolescents Define Themselves Through Participation In A University Video And Art Enrichment Program, Susan Daniels, Patricia Little, Linda M. Reynolds, Alayne Sullivan

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This article summarizes a project that oriented one hundred and twenty-five gifted and talented middle-school students to university culture through a series of summer workshops that emphasized visual media. Various workshops introduced students to methods of video and art production. The middle-school students created short videos and artistic collages to represent their identity in response to two activities: (a) in-depth explorations of the California State University campus at San Bernardino; and (b) literary reading. Art and video production are revealed as a powerful means of middle-school students’ identity formation and expression; the work summarized herein gains credence through its alignment …

Developing High School Multiple Intelligence Learning Centers: An Action Research Project In History., Jessica Cannaday

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Research that provides results which can be almost instantaneously put into use is looked on by some teachers as a path to better student learning. Accordingly, action research is a form of critical reflection that some experts believe can achieve instant change. Although, action research is sometimes denigrated as lacking in precision, the critical reflection necessary in any well done action research project demonstrates that such research while, not quantitatively rigorous can still be qualitatively useful. As such, the author discusses her own implementation of MI learning centers as a form of action research in the classroom.

Meaningful Assessment Promotes Meaningful Learning, Diane K. Brantley

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Since the enactment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965, America’s schools have faced enhanced scrutiny by the public sector. Larger demands have been placed on children to perform at increasingly higher levels of achievement in reading and math, often beginning as early as kindergarten. Teachers and institutions of higher education have also felt the surge of outside pressure to “perform” wash over them.

Gaining Options: A Mathematics Program For Potentially Talented At-Risk Adolescent Girls, Pamela Trotman Reid, Sally K. Roberts

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

In response to indicators that a decline in interest in mathematics occurs among girls—particularly those from low-income and minority groups—during middle school, the GO-GIRL (Gaining Options: Girls Investigate Real Life) program was designed to help potentially talented at-risk girls. The program aimed to build mathematical confidence, skills, and conceptual understanding by integrating mathematics and social science research in a single-sex, technology-rich environment supported by university student mentors. The program targeted seventh-grade urban girls from public and private schools. Participants met over the course of ten Saturdays to learn research methods, computer skills, mathematics, and descriptive statistics. Quantitative data from the …

Utilizing Web Based Technologies In Problem-Based Learning, William H. Robertson

William H. Robertson

This instructional strategy utilizes a Problem-based learning (PBL) approach to curriculum development and delivery. Each student is tasked with designing, developing, and reflecting on an appropriate grade level project that is published as a Web based curriculum. The content of the PBL focuses on a current real world science topic while concentrating on specific concepts and skills in both science and technology. The purpose of this integrative approach is to have the learner demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry that effectively integrates Web based technologies.

Teacher Education In Pakistan With Particular Reference To Teachers' Conceptions Of Teaching, Amin Rehmani

Examination Board

This paper discusses teacher education in Pakistan with particular emphasis on teachers’ conceptions of teaching in improving quality of education. This paper is based on an initial study that examines teachers’ conceptions of teaching in the context of Pakistan. The study seeks to explore whether teachers’ conceptions of teaching influence decision-making in classroom teaching. It describes conditions of teaching and learning in Pakistan and argues for reform in teacher education to improve quality of teaching and learning.

Understanding A Novice Teacher’S Learning To Teach In A Private School For Girls In Karachi, Pakistan, Haji Karim Khan

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative case study conducted in order to understand the learning experiences of a novice primary school teacher, Sajda (pseudonym), who was teaching in a private Community-Based English-Medium School in Karachi. During her appointment as a teacher she had an intermediate level academic qualification and had no exposure to any professional training course. The research question for the study was: How does a novice teacher experience her learning to teach in a private sector school in Karachi, Pakistan? Data for the study was collected through semi-structured interviews and field notes and was analyzed through …

Teaching For Quality Education In Environmental Education: Challenges And Possibilities, Abid Shah, Sadaf Jehangir

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

The paper is based on critical reflection about ‘innovative’ teaching strategies and learning experiences of a facilitator and learners about the environmental education course at Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development, Pakistan. This 16-week elective course on environment education was offered from October 2004 to February 2005. This paper examines “what teaching strategies and learning experiences are most effective in environmental education course for bringing about positive change in knowledge skills and attitude towards environment conservation?” Our findings indicate that the course has impacted learners in terms of knowledge and personal development, through the experiences of partnership, community interaction …

Understanding English Language Learners’ Needs And The Language Acquisition Process: Two Teacher Educators’ Perspectives, Alicja Rieger, Ewa Mcgrail

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Series Of Teacher Inservice Workshops: Teaching Comprehension Using Informational Text With Intermediate Students, Tracy Lynn Denney

All Graduate Projects

Best practices for teaching comprehension using informational text with intermediate students were researched. Using information and knowledge gained from this research, a series of teacher in-service workshops was created. Subjects addressed in the workshops include differences between narrative and expository text, expository text structures, reading as a metacognitive process, strategies for activating and or building background knowledge, strategies for building vocabulary, and effective use of graphic organizers. The workshops will be presented to the intermediate teaching staff at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School in Yakima Washington.

Clark County School District Attitudes, Perceptions, Barriers, And Desires For Field Trip Experiences, Allison Brody

Education about the Environment

Field trip opportunities are plentiful throughout Clark County, Nevada, including museums, parks, and designated locations within the nearly seven million acres of public lands surrounding the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The majority of these field trip destinations, which this paper will refer to as Informal Education (IE) sites, have education teams that can create and deliver programs and/or tours for classes. Many also offer professional development opportunities for teachers. Although the IE sites are rich in natural and cultural resources and provide abundant opportunities for authentic learning experiences, teachers may not think of some of the sites as prime destinations …

Review Of The Children's And Young Adult Literature Handbook: A Research And Reference Guide, Kathyanne W. Dobda

Michael Schwartz Library Publications

This article is a book review of The Children's and Young Adult Literature Handbook by John Thomas Gillespie