Search results for: Active learning

In this article, the authors were interested to examine how innovative information technology (IT) classroom applications are integrated into teacher professional development. The authors conducted an exploratory study of The National Science Foundation (NSF) -funded Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) projects. The authors found that these projects share practices not always found in STEM professional development, including the involvement of youth in the active learning process and an emphasis on STEM career connections with both teachers and students.

In this study, the authors introduce the digital backpack as a means for creating a rich learning experience for students of multiple ages. Development, design, and refinement of the digital backpack are grounded in the theoretical framework of Universal Design for Learning(UDL). The UDL framework provides multiple solutions that support student learning. The findings show that the digital backpack provides a structure for districts and teachers to proactively plan how to they can support diverse learners in a project-based learning environment. In addition, it was found that the students with the least amount of technology experience were able to complete the project in the most efficient fashion.

This study examines the instructional steps that the author took, based on gaps between what was happening in a graduate literacy class she taught and what she had intended to happen. This study describes the ways that the author re-imagined the class and what came about when she created a pedagogical approach that featured multi-genre inquiry. The author found that the multi-genre approach led to moments of inter-discursivity as teachers extended their understandings by appropriating language from one genre into another.

Microteaching Lesson Study [MLS] combines elements of Japanese lesson study and microteaching. A case study of MLS was conducted with 18 prospective teachers in an initial course on learning to teach. Active learning involving meaningful discussion, planning, and practice, support from a knowledgeable advisor, collaborative deliberation-in-process, and opportunity to trial, analyse and revise were aspects of MLS revealed as centrally important for prospective teacher learning through MLS.