Narrative Thinking and Storytelling for Problem Solving in Science Education


Book Description

The 21st century has seen no shortage of historic problems, which has begged the question, How is society preparing today’s young people to take on these challenges? There have been a fair number of obscure but promising approaches that warrant testing but do not currently attract the level of attention needed to secure the necessary resources for a proper test. Narrative Thinking and Storytelling for Problem Solving in Science Education is an essential academic publication that focuses on the use of storytelling to respond to the fundamental need to share experiences while also inspiring world-changing solutions through the stimulation of curiosity, imagination, and reflection. Focusing on this widespread, powerful, and multifaceted form of communication, this book centers on the use of storytelling as a narrative and rhetorical technique in scientific knowledge, research, teaching, and learning. Covering topics such as digital storytelling, narrative schema, and mediation, this powerful reference source is ideal for researchers, scientists, instructional designers, communication specialists, and academicians.




Penguin Problems


Book Description

Have you ever thought: I have so many problems and nobody even cares? Well, penguins have problems too! Discover them in this hilarious collaboration from Jory John (All my friends are dead. and Quit Calling Me a Monster!) and Lane Smith (The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales)! This penguin has come to tell you that life in Antarctica is no paradise. For starters, it is FREEZING. Also, penguins have a ton of natural predators. Plus, can you imagine trying to find your mom in a big ol’ crowd of identical penguins? No, thank you. Yes, it seems there is no escaping the drudgery of your daily grind, whatever it might be. Or perhaps we’ve just learned that grumps are everywhere. . . . This book is sure to tickle kids’ funny bones and will elicit appreciative sighs from the adults reading it aloud. "We are all Mortimer [the main character in Penguin Problems]." —The New York Times “Bursting with humor.” —Kirkus Reviews “The snark level is cranked up high.” —The Horn Book, Starred “Will be right at home with fans of Jon Klassen’s This Is Not My Hat.” —Booklist “Classic comedy.” —Publishers Weekly “Rib-tickling.” —School Library Journal




Interdisciplinary Approaches Toward Enhancing Teacher Education


Book Description

Regardless of the discipline or country, creating quality education is multifaceted. At the center of any schooling practice are the educators, their schools, and the teacher education programs that license them. As the schools and faculties of education strive to provide the best practices to pre-service or in-service teachers, it becomes more critical to increase the quality of teacher education via various means to keep up with the demands of schooling in the 21st century. Interdisciplinary Approaches Toward Enhancing Teacher Education provides an overview of how innovation and research experience can enhance teacher education programs with a focus on competencies, skills, and strategies future teachers will need to cope with while teaching students’ learning with diversity and facing linguistic, social, and environmental challenges. The book particularly investigates the potentiality of educational technology, innovative techniques, and digital storytelling to enhance education and bilingualism in intercultural contexts and multilingual settings. Covering topics that include performance assessment, teacher training, and professional development, and including many practical and diverse examples, this book is intended for TESOL, second or foreign language learning, and CUL programs and teacher-training institutions, as well as teachers, researchers, academicians, and students in interdisciplinary areas that include science, history, geography, language learning, bilingualism, intercultural competencies, classroom interaction, gamification, and educational technology.




Challenges and Opportunities in Global Approaches to Education


Book Description

In order to develop student competencies in K-12 and Higher Education environments, evidence-based tools and concepts are essential in ensuring the development of student skills and proficiencies. Evidence-based pedagogical practices leading to student learning preferences culturally and internationally are essential to educational success. Challenges and Opportunities in Global Approaches to Education is an essential research publication that provides evidence-based tools and concepts to develop student competencies in the K-20 environment. Chapters in the monograph cover topics in a theoretical context such as how technology, online learning, and culture inform evidence-based development of student competencies. This book is essential for curriculum teachers, designers, instructional designers, administrators, professionals, researchers, academicians, and students concerned with the management of expertise, knowledge, information, and organizational development in different types of educational communities and environments.




Imaginative Science Education


Book Description

This book is about imaginative approaches to teaching and learning school science. Its central premise is that science learning should reflect the nature of science, and therefore be approached as an imaginative/creative activity. As such, the book can be seen as an original contribution of ideas relating to imagination and creativity in science education. The approaches discussed in the book are storytelling, the experience of wonder, the development of ‘romantic understanding’, and creative science, including science through visual art, poetry and dramatization. However, given the perennial problem of how to engage students (of all ages) in science, the notion of ‘aesthetic experience’, and hence the possibility for students to have more holistic and fulfilling learning experiences through the aforementioned imaginative approaches, is also discussed. Each chapter provides an in-depth discussion of the theoretical background of a specific imaginative approach (e.g., storytelling, ‘wonder-full’ science), reviews the existing empirical evidence regarding its role in the learning process, and points out its implications for pedagogy and instructional practices. Examples from physical science illustrating its implementation in the classroom are also discussed. In distinguishing between ‘participation in a science activity’ and ‘engagement with science ideas per se’, the book emphasizes the central role of imaginative engagement with science content knowledge, and thus the potential of the recommended imaginative approaches to attract students to the world of science.




Special Education Design and Development Tools for School Rehabilitation Professionals


Book Description

Educators who work with students with disabilities have the unique challenge of providing comprehensive and quality educational experiences for students who have a wide range of abilities and levels of focus. Pedagogies and educational strategies can be applied across a student population, though they tend to have varied success. Developing adaptive teaching methods that provide quality experiences for students with varied disabilities are necessary to promote success for as many of these students as possible. Special Education Design and Development Tools for School Rehabilitation Professionals is a comprehensive research publication that examines special education practices and provides in-depth evaluations of pedagogical practices for improved educational experiences for students with disabilities. Highlighting a range of topics such as bilingual education, psychometrics, and physical education, this book is ideal for special education teachers, instructors, rehabilitation professionals, academicians, school administrators, instructional designers, curriculum developers, principals, educational software developers, researchers, and students.




Overcoming Current Challenges in the P-12 Teaching Profession


Book Description

Teachers are constantly faced with a plethora of challenges, but none has been more prevalent in the 21st century than educating a diverse collection of students. In the midst of the current challenges in teaching P-12 students, pre-service teachers may be under district contract but may not be prepared for teaching students with disabilities, the homeless, second language learners recently immigrated to the United States, or students who face emotional challenges or addiction. Overcoming Current Challenges in the P-12 Teaching Profession is an essential reference book that provides insight, strategies, and solutions to overcome current challenges experienced by P-12 teachers in general and special education. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as global education, professional development, and responsive teaching, this book is ideally designed for educators, administrators, school psychologists, counselors, academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on culturally responsive teaching.




Participatory Literacy Practices for P-12 Classrooms in the Digital Age


Book Description

The ability to effectively communicate in a globalized world shapes the economic, social, and democratic implications for the future of P-12 students. Digitally mediated communication in an inclusive classroom increases a student’s familiarity and comfortability with multiple types of media used in a wider technological culture. However, there is a need for research that explores the larger context and methodologies of participatory literacy in a digital educational space. Participatory Literacy Practices for P-12 Classrooms in the Digital Age is an essential collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of integrating digital content into a learning environment to support inclusive classroom designs. While highlighting topics such as game-based learning, coding education, and multimodal narratives, this book is ideally designed for practicing instructors, pre-service teachers, professional development coordinators, instructional facilitators, curriculum designers, academicians, and researchers seeking interdisciplinary coverage on how participatory literacies enhance a student’s ability to both contribute to the class and engage in opportunities beyond the classroom.




Sociological Perspectives on Educating Children in Contemporary Society


Book Description

Children of the post-industrial society must achieve financial status by their own efforts sustained from early periods life and are supposed to be equipped with various qualities, both in terms of formal and informal education and extracurricular and leisure activities. Contemporary children almost inherently know how to use the devices of information technology, and through these devices, they encounter ideas, languages, etc. that are different from the ones immediately experienced within their social frame. Consequently, students themselves demand new inclusive teaching practices that expose them to global cultures. Sociological Perspectives on Educating Children in Contemporary Society is a collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of how culture influences the way children are educated. While highlighting topics including global economics, multicultural teaching, and education differentiation, this book is ideally designed for teachers, sociologists, school administrators, curriculum designers, course developers, academics, researchers, and students seeking current research on the interrelationship between children, education, and society.




Incorporating LGBTQ+ Identities in K-12 Curriculum and Policy


Book Description

Educators in the K-12 school environment work diligently to help at-risk students find success in the classroom. One particular group of at-risk students is the LGBTQ+ population. K-12 students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer often fear the repercussions of disclosing this information in the classroom environment. Homophobia from fellow students, faculty, and/or administrators can be in the form of bullying, lack of acknowledgement of identity, absence in curriculum, etc. There is a strong need for this group of students to be included in the landscape of curriculum design and policymaking. Incorporating LGBTQ+ Identities in K-12 Curriculum and Policy is a critical research publication that provides comprehensive research on inclusive curriculum design and education policy that specifically impacts LGBTQ+ students. Featuring an array of topics such as gender diversity, mental health services, and preservice teachers, this book is essential for teachers, counsellors, school psychologists, therapists, curriculum developers, instructional designers, principals, school boards, academicians, researchers, administrators, policymakers, and students.