2007


Book Description

Vol. 1 Report is also available (ISBN 9780215035080)




Schooling by Design


Book Description

Why, despite years of trying, have efforts to achieve lasting, effective school reform fallen short? What curricular and policy elements must be in place to move forward? How should the roles of teachers and education leaders be defined to best support the point of school? Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and other questions in Schooling by Design: Mission, Action, and Achievement. Building on the premise of Understanding by Design, their acclaimed framework for curriculum, instruction, and assessment, the authors present a compelling argument for using the same approach to reach a grand goal: the reform of schooling as a whole. In their view, reform rests on six pillars: * A relentless focus on the long-term mission of school: enabling learners to demonstrate understanding and mature habits of mind; * A curriculum and assessment framework that honors the mission and ensures that content "coverage" is no longer the accepted approach to instruction; * A set of principles of learning that support all decisions about pedagogy and planning; * Structures, policies, job descriptions, practices, and use of resources consistent with mission and learning principles; * An overall strategy that includes ongoing feedback and adjustment; and * A set of tactics linked to strategy, including a planning process that uses "backward design" to accomplish the key work of reform. Practical, insightful and provocative, Schooling by Design elaborates on each of these elements and presents educators with both the rationale and the methodology for closing the gap between what we say we want from school and what school actually delivers—for turning vision into reality.




Digital Geography


Book Description

The purpose of this volume is to provide a review and analysis of the theory, research, and practice related to geospatial technologies in social studies education. In the first section, the history of geospatial technologies in education, the influence of the standards movement, and the growth of an international geospatial education community are explored. The second section consists of examples and discussion of the use of geospatial technologies for teaching and learning history, geography, civics, economics, and environmental science. In the third section, theoretical perspectives are proposed that could guide research and practice in this field. This section also includes reviews and critiques of recent research relevant to geospatial technologies in education. The final section examines the theory, research, and practice associated with teacher preparation for using geospatial technologies in education.




Common Core Mathematics in a PLC at WorkTM, Grades 6–8


Book Description

This teacher guide illustrates how to sustain successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards for mathematics, grades 6–8. Discover what students should learn and how they should learn it at each grade level. Comprehensive research-affirmed analysis tools and strategies will help you and your collaborative team develop and assess student demonstrations of deep conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.




Common Core Mathematics in a PLC at Work®, Leader's Guide


Book Description

This leader companion to the grade-level teacher guides illustrates how to sustain successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards for mathematics. Discover what students should learn and how they should learn it. Comprehensive research-affirmed analysis tools and strategies will help collaborative teams develop and assess student demonstrations of deep conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.




Leaders in Social Education


Book Description

Research in social education over the last forty years has broken new ground in such areas as historical understanding, civic education, cultural studies, and curriculum and assessment. This collection is comprised of reflections on the professional trajectories of nineteen leading social studies scholars. Demonstrating that their professional interests have emerged from their autobiographies, the scholars write about their personal influences, professional choices, and contributions. The book reveals how social justice, difference and diversity, and a commitment to the ongoing project of democracy have been central to their work. The chapters in this volume reveal leading social educators’ determined sense of urgency about making the world a better place through their leadership in the field. Each essay provides students, practitioners, and researchers alike with background on the nineteen scholars. Also, the scholars provide lists of their favorite publications as well as the works of other scholars that influenced them. Taken together, the chapters in this volume offer thoughts on the past, present, and future of social studies.




Teaching Secondary Mathematics


Book Description

Solidly grounded in up-to-date research, theory and technology, Teaching Secondary Mathematics is a practical, student-friendly, and popular text for secondary mathematics methods courses. It provides clear and useful approaches for mathematics teachers, and shows how concepts typically found in a secondary mathematics curriculum can be taught in a positive and encouraging way. The thoroughly revised fourth edition combines this pragmatic approach with truly innovative and integrated technology content throughout. Synthesized content between the book and comprehensive companion website offers expanded discussion of chapter topics, additional examples and technological tips. Each chapter features tried-and-tested pedagogical techniques, problem solving challenges, discussion points, activities, mathematical challenges, and student-life based applications that will encourage students to think and do. New to the 4th edition: A fully revised and updated chapter on technological advancements in the teaching of mathematics Connections to both the updated NCTM Focal Points as well as the new Common Core State Standards are well-integrated throughout the text Problem solving challenges and sticky questions featured in each chapter to encourage students to think through everyday issues and possible solutions. A fresh interior design to better highlight pedagogical elements and key features A companion website with chapter-by-chapter video lessons, teacher tools, problem solving Q&As, helpful links and resources, and embedded graphing calculators.




Curricular Resources and Classroom Use


Book Description

Curricular resources include the different kinds of materials (digital or physical) that teachers use in or for their teaching (textbooks, lesson plans, etc.) and have a significant influence on students' opportunities to learn. At the same time, teachers play a crucial role as interpreters of such materials, so there is a complex relationship between curricular resources and their classroom use. This book aims to bridge these rather disconnected but highly related programs of research by describing, comparing, and exemplifying new research approaches for studying, in connected ways, both curricular resources and their classroom use, thereby supporting also investigation of the complex interplay between the two. In addition to implications for research, the book has implications for curriculum development and teacher education. Specifically, the book deepens understanding of how curriculum developers can better exploit the potential of curricular resources to support classroom work, and how teacher educators can better support teachers to use curricular resources in the classroom.




Perspectives in Curriculum Studies


Book Description

Perspectives in Curriculum Studies by Margaret Nalova Endeley and Martha Ashuntantang Zama is a comprehensive textbook for graduate students of Curriculum Studies and Instruction, and a guide for education practitioners wherein they articulate contemporary curriculum concepts, principles and applications in the field. With illustrations from informed African perspectives, the authors situate curriculum theory and practice in local contexts so that African scholars, educators, and others may be equipped with knowledge and skills to develop and maintain appropriate and relevant curricula for quality education. Framed in sixteen chapters, grouped in five parts, the text begins with the exposition of basic terminology, curriculum theory and foundations of the curriculum before delving profoundly into the curriculum development process. The latter portion gives the reader the opportunity to explore, analyse and evaluate different curriculum planning approaches and models, curriculum design dimensions and patterns, and procedures for the development of syllabuses, textbooks, and other curriculum materials. Also, Curriculum implementation tasks as well as strategies for evaluation of programs and courses are presented and discussed. Since curriculum and instruction are highly intertwined notions, instructional design is elaborately treated in two chapters bringing out its theoretical underpinnings and procedures. The book closes with global perspectives of curriculum development in practice. The goal here is to provide insights into trends, issues, and challenges not only in curriculum development but also in the curriculum field, which should generate action towards the improvement of curriculum practice and spur the search for new knowledge.




Standards for K-12 Engineering Education?


Book Description

The goal of this study was to assess the value and feasibility of developing and implementing content standards for engineering education at the K-12 level. Content standards have been developed for three disciplines in STEM education-science, technology, and mathematic-but not for engineering. To date, a small but growing number of K-12 students are being exposed to engineering-related materials, and limited but intriguing evidence suggests that engineering education can stimulate interest and improve learning in mathematics and science as well as improve understanding of engineering and technology. Given this background, a reasonable question is whether standards would improve the quality and increase the amount of teaching and learning of engineering in K-12 education. The book concludes that, although it is theoretically possible to develop standards for K-12 engineering education, it would be extremely difficult to ensure their usefulness and effective implementation. This conclusion is supported by the following findings: (1) there is relatively limited experience with K-12 engineering education in U.S. elementary and secondary schools, (2) there is not at present a critical mass of teachers qualified to deliver engineering instruction, (3) evidence regarding the impact of standards-based educational reforms on student learning in other subjects, such as mathematics and science, is inconclusive, and (4) there are significant barriers to introducing stand-alone standards for an entirely new content area in a curriculum already burdened with learning goals in more established domains of study.