Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Field-Based Science Education With A Community Service Learning Focus, William Robertson

Departmental Papers (TE)

Field-based program of studies for future teachers provides opportunities for powerful learning through a dialectical union of reflection and action. Methods courses in academic disciplines are linked with seminars and coursework on community partnerships, critical pedagogy and culturally responsive education. This article illustrates the processes of planning, implementation and evaluation of this approach, highlighting the impacts of community service learning on parents, families, students, and schools with a focus on validating native language literacy, increasing parental involvement and providing conceptually correct science education. The project indicates that two-way dual language programs with a strong parent engagement component can help improve …

El Uso De Preguntas Y Descubrimiento En El Contexto De Química, William Robertson

Departmental Papers (TE)

This article, written in Spanish, describes the impacts of an effort to increase the teaching abilities of a group of Chemistry Peer Leaders working with undergraduates in fundamental Chemistry classes. The provided abstracts, in Spanish and English, describe the overall approach and the results obtained from the study done in the fall of 2005. A partnership between the College of Education and the College of Science at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) which was developed in order to strengthen the pedagogical methods within the context of chemistry content for student Peer Leaders. The goal was to enhance …

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of A Ninth- And Tenth-Grade Academy Program On Student Attendance, Discipline, And Achievement, Sandra Wooten

All Dissertations

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of an Academy Program on freshman and sophomore attendance, suspensions out of school, PLAN and PSAT scores, and the number of students retained in ninth and tenth grades. With the Academy Program at Gaffney High School, the amount of time spent in mathematics and English language arts classes was doubled, staff development was provided, instructional methods were changed, data was analyzed to modify instruction, and successes were celebrated. School data from two years before and two years after implementation were examined to determine whether any significant differences existed. Results …

An Inquiry Into Retention And Achievement Differences In Campus Based And Web Based Ap Classes, Michael Barbour, Dennis Mulcahy

Education Faculty Publications

A decade ago the Advanced Placement (AP) program was introduced into the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Initially, schools embraced this opportunity to provide their students with opportunities that were previously unavailable. However, within a few years the AP program was relegated to urban and large regional high schools. Few smaller, and particularly rural schools, were able to offer AP courses only to the brightest one or two students taking it as an independent study. In 1997-98, schools began to delivery AP courses in a web-based method. The purpose of the study is to examine the retention rates and …

Imperfect Tense [10th Grade], Sarah Gamboa

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

No abstract provided.

French Revolution [10th Grade], Jenna Smith

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The students will recognize that there are many different causes that can lead to a revolution. The students will know the different causes of the French Revolution and the effects of that revolution. The students will explore what the French citizens desired to gain from the revolution. There should be an understanding the results of a revolution may or may not have an effect on the lives of citizens. Revolutions do not always equal immediate progress, which is mirrored in the aftermath of the French Revolution. The performance assessment design will give the students to start a revolution where they …

Imperfect Tense And The Past [10th Grade], Leigh Sheppard

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

No abstract provided.

Great Gatsby [11th Grade], Kathleen Fenske

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit focuses on exploring The Great Gatsby and how the time period and culture in which the novel is written plays a vital part in the author s overall message in the novel. One of the key understandings to this unit is how good literature makes a statement on culture, but great literature is timeless and universal and provides a lens to view our own lives and society. Through an examination of the 1920s culture, the students will be able to understand Fitzgerald s message about the 1920s. They will further examine this through a group project where they …

Reading, Writing And Voice [9th Grade], Faith Fugit

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The Houston Academy of International Studies is a public charter school that opened in HISD in fall 2006. As the freshman English teacher for HAIS, I wrote this unit during summer 2006, before many rules, routines and procedures for the school were hammered down. This unit is planned for the fall semester and aims to help students explore the concepts of literary and social voice while using their own voices authentically to shape our new school. As an opportunity to exercise voice, students participate in a semester-long school-improvement project for HAIS. Throughout our study of literary and social voice, students …

Latin America [9th Grade], Ruth Anderson

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The students will recognize that where we live influences how we live. The students will know what important physical features of Latin America are and how Latin Americans have adapted to these various environments, how physical and human characteristics affect life in Latin America s rural regions, how the people of the Caribbean and Central America are affected by landforms and climate, what economic and environmental challenges the rainforests of Latin America face, how natural resources are utilized, how vertical climate zones affect agriculture, and in which ways Andean cultures have adapted to their physical environment. The students will recognize …

Ecology [10th Grade], Matt Simonds

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

By the end of this unit students will understand that organisms in an ecosystem are interdependent and that an ecosystem is made up of more than just the living things in it. Furthermore, they will be able to create, correctly label, and predict the effects of a given event on a food web. Throughout this unit students will practice creating and interpreting food webs & nutrient cycles. They will also practice using the appropriate vocabulary as listed in the unit below. In the performance assessment, students research an ecological issue of their choice and create a report containing an explanation …

Genre (And The Category Is...) [9th Grade], Kristen Dylla

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

Making sense of the world and its complexities looms a difficult task for students in the ninth grade. This unit focuses on the understanding that one way to do so is to categorize information and ideas. The discipline-specific part of the unit will utilize the idea of genre as a category for organization, an essential understanding for the study of any text. The unit is done at the start of the year so that for the rest of the year, students have their ideas of genre to help them make sense of texts read. It would be preceded by an …

Linear Inequalities [11th Grade], Maeve Goetz

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The students will be introduced to linear inequalities and systems of linear inequalities. The main understandings that I want to develop in my students are that there are many methods to solving math problems and that solving the problem is not always enough (mathematically correct solutions are not always the best solutions). They will need to analyze the solutions they develop to determine whether or not their answer is reasonable. Students will demonstrate their knowledge of linear equalities by solving them algebraically, graphically, and using a table. Students will compare and contrast linear equations to linear inequalities. They will explore …

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.

Exclusion Of Girls From Education In Rural Pakistan, Parvez Pirzado

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

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

Selected Works Temporary Series

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.

Starting Conversations With Content Area Peers [Out Of The Box], Jenelle Reeves

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

I offer three principles to guide you as you initiate conversations with content area peers: make it personal, make it positive, and make a connection.

Considering the importance of the relationship between ESOL professionals and content teachers, it is critically important to consider how you engage colleagues in conversation about effective English language learner inclusion. If you open your conversations with content area peers in a positive way, it will set the tone for harmonious, mutually beneficial relationships to follow.

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

Departmental Papers (TE)

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.

Initiating Change In Classrooms: Pathways And Challenges For East African Schools, Anjum Halai, Ruth Otienoh, Zeenat Shariff, Naomi Swat

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

This paper draws upon classroom-related findings from a set of impact case studies of whole school improvement in six primary schools that have been involved as “cooperating schools” in long-term school-university partnerships with the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (IED), and it’s Professional Development Centre in East Africa (PDC-EA). The IED approach for school improvement involves participating schools in multiple strands of professional development, including: a two-year masters degree programme that provides selected teachers with the pedagogical and leadership knowledge and skills to serve as Professional Development Teachers in their schools; Certificate in Education programmes (CEP) for teachers …

Change Agents’ Orientations To Change, Mir Afzal Tajik

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

This study explores five field education officers’ (FEOs) understanding of their dual roles as educational reformers and community developers in the rural, mountainous district of Chitral, Pakistan. In particular, it examines their specific actions and methods (strategies) and their underlying assumptions and core values (orientations) of change. These FEOs work as change agents in schools and in the local communities where schools have been established by the Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan (AKES,P). The study’s findings derive from empirical data collected through qualitative research methods, such as semi-structured interviews (individual and focus-group), non-participant observations, post-observation discussions, informal conversations and analysis …

Teacher Leaders: Experiences Of Pakistani Teachers In Leading School Improvement Activities, Mwanaate Shabaan, Rashida Qureshi

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Teachers As Leaders In The Pakistani Context, Nusrat Fatima Rizvi

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Science Education On The U.S./Mexico Border: Field-Based Studies For Future Teachers In Bilingual/Binational Schools, William Robertson, Judith Munter, Claudia Garcia

Selected Works Temporary Series

The University of Texas at El Paso’s field-based program of studies for future teachers provides opportunities for powerful learning through a dialectical union of reflection and action. Methods courses in academic disciplines are linked with seminars and coursework on community partnerships, critical pedagogy and culturally responsive education. This article illustrates the processes of planning, implementation and evaluation of this approach, highlighting the impacts of community service learning. Parents, students and future teachers interact in workshops that center on validating native language literacy, increasing parental involvement and providing conceptually correct science education. The project indicates that two-way dual language programs with …

Implementing The Texas Master Science Teacher Program, William Robertson, Elaine Hampton, Brian Giza

Selected Works Temporary Series

In 2004, the State of Texas authorized the Texas Master Science Teacher certification. This post-baccalaureate certification provided a much-needed opportunity for experienced science teachers to be formally recognized for their leadership roles at a time in which science instruction was being impacted by a number of sometimes competing state and national initiatives. This article describes the steps and lessons learned by the team that implemented the first Master Science Teacher program in Texas.