Science education at the upper secondary level presents an extremely diverse image. In some education systems, it is possible for students to abandon the discipline altogether; in others, program specialization may involve students' being enrolled in science-intensive tracks. In the latter case, the links between secondary and higher science education tend to be strong, especially for competitive-entry, science-based programs in subjects such as engineering and biomedical sciences. In this capacity, upper secondary science may be said to have created a new academic elitism.
This edited volume adopts a comparative approach to upper secondary science as it occurs in sixteen countries, focusing on such key topics as links with basic science education, issues in assessment, and the secondary/tertiary education interface. With contributions from a wide cross-section of countries, including Australia, Malaysia, Brazil, Nigeria, and Pakistan, Issues in Upper Secondary Science Education provides an unparalleled resource for understanding upper secondary science education systems around the world.

This book explores racism in American schools and provides possible solutions to this widespread problem. Dr. Donaldson documents recent incidents of racism and explores the manifestations of racism and its toll on our society. The major part of Donaldson's work focuses on the role of the arts in antiracist/multicultural education. She brings together the views of leaders in multicultural education with her own insights to substantiate the importance of the arts in fighting racism. Dr. Donaldson focuses her research on high school students, discovering that even high achievers perceive racism as a deterrent to their learning. The students most often perceive racism as a problem caused by adults, and Donaldson shows that multicultural arts can empower students to stand against this racism. Finally, Donaldson explores the reeducation of teachers in an antiracist, interdisciplinary curriculum development and implementation pilot study.

This book is designed to examine issues related to schools, violence, and society. Since the 1960s, crime and violence have been increasing in America's schools. This violence is not limited to inner-city schools, but has struck virtually every strata and socio-economic level of American culture and society. The prevalence of crime and violence occurring in our nation's schools has become the concern of policymakers on the national and state levels. Concern has spread to parents, educators, and students themselves. This edited volume reviews violence in society, school violence, and crime. Coverage includes past trends in school violence and describes the current extent of the problem, as well as tspects of its causes and prevention. The influence on the students and community of gang activity, gang-related issues, drugs, alcohol, and weapons on campus is discussed.

This open access book develops a theoretical concept of teaching that is relevant to early childhood education, and based on children's learning and development through play. It discusses theoretical premises and research on playing and learning, and proposes the development of play-responsive didaktik. It examines the processes and products of learning and development, teaching and its phylogenetic and ontogenetic development, as well as the 'what' of learning and didaktik. Next, it explores the actions, objects and meaning of play and provides insight into the diversity of beliefs about the practices of play. The book presents ideas on how combined research and development projects can be carried out, providing incentive and a model for practice development and research. The second part of the book consists of empirical studies on teacher's playing skills and examples of play with very young as well as older children.

This handbook covers such research issues in middle level education as advisory programmes, teaming, effective teachers, staffing, and teacher preparation programmes.

Mastering Primary Design and Technology introduces the primary design and technology curriculum and helps trainees and teachers learn how to plan and teach inspiring lessons that make design and technology learning irresistible. Topics covered include: * Current developments in design and technology * Design and technology as an irresistible activity * Design and technology as a practical activity * Skills to develop in design and technology * Promoting curiosity * Assessing children in design and technology * Practical issues This guide includes examples of children's work, case studies, readings to reflect upon and reflective questions that all help to exemplify what is considered to be best and most innovative practice. The book draws on the experience of a leading professional in primary design and technology, Gill Hope, to provide the essential guide to teaching design and technology for all trainee and qualified primary teachers.

The first book in the series Policy and Pedagogy with Under-three year olds: Cross Disciplinary insights and innovations establishes a path for the much-needed examination of the experiences of infants and toddlers in contemporary educational settings across the globe. Bringing together internationally renowned scholars in the field, it starts a series of discussions about the positioning of under-three year olds in contemporary practice and policy contexts. It takes an in-depth look at what this means for our understanding of under-three year olds and those who share their worlds. Featuring some of the most important contemporary topics in this pedagogical domain, such as care, well-being, belonging, professionalism and status, the contributors offer a kaleidoscope of perspectives for contemplating the new normality of very young children living their lives in group-based early childhood settings, and what gives rise to their current realities. It also explores some important policy directions and trends.

All students enter our math classrooms with ideas worthy of discussion. Some of the most effective breakthroughs come from short, intentional talks between students and teacher, yet planning for these moments can seem daunting. In her innovative book, Conferring in the Math Classroom, Gina Picha focuses on simple and transformative ways teachers can use math conferences, short conversations between teachers and small groups of students at work, to guide instruction, assess understanding, and build strong math thinkers. Inside you'll learn how to: Facilitate math conferences to listen to students, encourage them to share their math thinking, and build on their strengths Ask exploratory questions to gain insight into their math reasoning and plan the next steps for instruction Provide differentiated instruction based on the individual and group needs Picha includes teacher questioning guides, If-Then charts organized by grade level and math topic, and note-taking templates to help you get started with math conferring right away. This practical and accessible approach can help students deepen their math understanding, build confidence in their math abilities, and connect learnings between math subjects.

This 15-volume set has titles originally published between 1929 and 1994 and is an array of scholarship on the early years of children, from birth to age seven. The set focuses on learning and education but also contains titles with perspectives on child development, parenting and various other issues in the area of early years. Individual volumes examine nurseries (both in the home and the school), playgroups, language development, teaching of mathematics and other curriculum subjects. This collection will be a great resource for those interested in the history of early years and education.

The current global marketplace demands more workers who are scientifically literate, yet few are being adequately prepared to meet that demand. Particularly underrepresented are women and minorities, who often lack the social and academic support that stimulate and sustain interest in science, math, and engineering. The authors of this book demonstrate that early intervention, especially during grades 4 through 8, can help overcome some of these obstacles. They show how increased career awareness and exposure to mentors and role models can help students see science and math-related careers as desirable and viable options. And they explain how test preparation, activity-based instruction, cooperative learning, and tutoring can help to improve academic outcomes. The authors also provide critical information on ten successful intervention programs, including MESA, Project SEED, and Operation SMART - and they offer practitioners specific guidance for developing, funding, and implementing similar programs in their own schools.

This book explores the constitutionality of religion-based charter schools. The method of analysis uses hypothetical charter schools to answer legal questions. The answers are grounded in law using the latest precedent. The background material before examining charters sets forth both the legal and policy contexts of religious charters schools. The legal context includes a detailed analysis of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution focusing on the most recent Supreme Court cases on that topic. The policy analysis examines the normative and structural dimensions of charter schools, which are then compared with voucher programs. The historical, political and educational contexts of charter programs are also examined. The book concludes that charter schools present an opportunity for parents and communities to form charter schools that will accommodate their beliefs; however, the constitution does not allow them to form schools that endorse their beliefs.

This book traces how a new school, physically designed as a modern learning environment, has come into being in New Zealand. A key feature is how it designs its curriculum for future citizens. The book explores how flexible curriculum and assessment options support the provision of a well-balanced, coherent and future-oriented learning programme. It also illustrates how the school is implementing its vision and copes with being different from other schools which understand and embody the New Zealand Curriculum as well as the NCEA qualifications system in more traditional terms. School leaders', teachers' and foundation students' thinking and perspectives about what it's like to become a new school are highlighted and shed light on what is possible within an evolving education system.

This is a comprehensive yet accessible guide to the teaching and learning of physical education in the primary school. By taking a developmental approach, readers are encouraged to plan lessons that are individually relevant, worthwhile and exciting for children, and to ensure that learning is at the heart of the physical education experience. In addition to covering all activity areas of the physical education curriculum, the authors provide guidance to ensure that the subject is planned, delivered, assessed and managed effectively. Teachers are encouraged to consider a range of issues that impact on subject delivery, and reflect on strategies and skills required for effective subject leadership. This book is invaluable reading for all in-service and trainee primary teachers, and those who work within wider school sports partnerships. It provides a theoretical and practical focus for those wishing to deliver high quality physical education in the primary school.

In education, there is an aim to construct an authentic framework of educational paradigms in order to provide a sharing knowledge system as a result of re-examining contemporary trends, educational currents, case studies from the classrooms, and educational psychology directions. It is an intellectual need of meta-comprehension and new educational approaches based on educational psychology outcomes. Analyzing Paradigms Used in Education and Educational Psychology is a critical scholarly book that discusses sophisticated paradigms from academic narratives and educational realities. Featuring a range of topics such as classroom management, lifelong education, and theology, this book is essential for researchers, teachers, educational psychologists, education professionals, administrators, academicians, practitioners, and students.

Most Americans believe that local school districts are the only means by which citizens may exercise control over public education. Kathryn McDermott argues to the contrary that existing local institutions are no longer sufficient for achieving either equity or democratic governance. Not only is local control inequitable, it also fails to live up to its reputation for guaranteeing public participation and citizen influence, Drawing upon democratic theory and the results of field research in New Haven, Connecticut, and three suburbs, McDermott contends that our educational system can be made more democratic by centralizing control over funding while decentralizing most authority over schools to the level of schools themselves while enacting public school choice controlled for racial balance.

To many people in Connecticut and elsewhere, the tension between equal opportunity for all students and local control of public education seems impossible to resolve. In 1996, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in Sheff v. O'neil that local control produces unconstitutional segregation of public schools. Nearly all of the state's 169 towns operate their own public schools, and, like the towns they serve, tire schools are generally homogeneous with respect to race and socioeconomic class. In the Sheff ruling, the court declared that making school districts coterminous with town lines "is the single most important factor contributing to the present concentration of racial and ethnic minorities in the Hartford public school system." At the same time, the court also acknowledged that the town-based school system "presently furthers the legitimate nonracial interests of permitting considerable localcontrol and accountability in educational matters."

In Connecticut and elsewhere, it has often seemed necessary to choose between local control and equity in public education. and local control has almost always won. McDermott argues that rather than seeing local control and equity as conflicting goals, policymakers should regard them as equally important components of democracy in public education. In her view, a truly democratic system of education should both encourage citizen participation in school governance and contribute to the formation and maintenance of a social order in which equality of opportunity prevails over hierarchies of privilege. Centralizing distribution of resources and using controlled choice to end racial isolation would provide greater equality of opportunity, while decentralizing management of schools would expand citizen participation.

McDermott's conclusions break new ground in our understanding of local school governance itself and call into question the conventional wisdom about local participation. These findings should interest those who study school governance and reform -- especially in an urban setting -- as well as policy makers, administrators, teachers, students, and citizens eager to improve their schools.

Collins International Primary Maths supports best practice in primary maths teaching, whilst encouraging teacher professionalism and autonomy. A wealth of supporting digital assets are provided for every lesson, including slideshows, animations, tools and games to ensure they are rich, lively and engaging. Each Workbook page has three levels of challenge which allow learners to practise and consolidate their newly acquired knowledge, skills and understanding of the mathematics they are learning. Provides support as part of a set of resources for the Cambridge Primary curriculum framework from 2011. This title is endorsed by Cambridge Assessment International Education.

Collins International Primary Maths supports best practice in primary maths teaching, whilst encouraging teacher professionalism and autonomy. A wealth of supporting digital assets are provided for every lesson, including slideshows, animations, tools and games to ensure they are rich, lively and engaging. Each lesson is based on a 'big idea', providing an engaging, exciting theme which is anchored in a real-life international context. Activities, exercises and investigations provide opportunities for learners to apply their knowledge, skills and understanding of the mathematics they are learning. Provides support as part of a set of resources for the Cambridge Primary curriculum framework from 2011. This title is endorsed by Cambridge Assessment International Education.

Asal and Harwood explore how today's information technology is changing how we educate and are educated. Focusing on the United States, with useful insights from the classroom digital revolution in a few other key places (the United Kingdom, Australia, and India), the authors investigate the impact of today's technologies on education -- how they impact teachers and teaching, children and learning, and the intersection of teaching and learning. For example, they tell us what the educational impact of having over 60% of America online is. The authors explain exactly how new technologies are changing the learning environment in and out of the classroom with a focus on the effects on K-12 education. Chapters include vignettes about children who are integrating information technologies into their lives at school and at home and those children who for a variety of reasons, most notably, socio-economic, have found themselves excluded as full members of the first digital generation. There are also accounts from K-12 teachers who are incorporating technology into their classroom environments. Using closed-circuit cameras, electronic cheating, and distance learning are all also discussed at length.

Yellow Pig's Family is a new look at the family using the colors of the rainbow; Yellow Pig Goes To The Zoo is a whimsical look at this familiar experience, using the popular vehicle of opposites to guide the young visitor; Yellow Pig's Day tells of a typical day in the character's life; Yellow Pig Goes to School puts a positive air of excitement into a potentially scary experience and Yellow Pig Talk is just for the fun of talking. In each of these books the author use a familiar structure and phrasing which young children enjoy. The repetition of key phrases and the simple construction make it ideal for young readers, and the whimsy of the characters lends itself readily to illustration.

Rethinking Private Higher Education takes the university as a core institution in modern nation states, which is currently undergoing a serious revision. It offers fresh insights into the actual meaning of 'private' in different higher education contexts, contributing to a deeper understanding of the actual effects of global policies in local contexts through ethnographies. This book explores how private universities were established, their context and history, and their changing business models and operations. The strengths of this book are its ethnographic detail, which shows the complexity and fast changing forms of private higher education, and its reluctance to jump to simplified labelling of public and private. It is a model for further ethnographic studies of local developments in higher education. Contributors are: Ayca Alemdaroglu, Daniele Cantini, Carmela Chavez Irigoyen, Enrico Ille, Sylvie Mazzella, Alexander Mitterle, Annemarie Profanter, and Susan Wright.

This book is a concise and accessible guide to observation as a tool for supporting learning for children aged 0 - 5. It provides comprehensive coverage of the what, why, and how of observation, brought to life with extensive case studies and contextualised alongside other crucial Early Years' topics, including child development and play. This book encourages readers to consider their own context and practice, with reflective questions at the end of each chapter and specific chapters on linking observations to the curriculum and sharing insights with parents and colleagues. The focus on both learning and self-reflection makes 'Observing Learning in Early Childhood' ideal for students, newly qualified teachers, and current practitioners alike. Dr. Stella Louis is a freelance early years consultant, with 34 years' experience of working with children and families across the UK, South Africa and Australia.

This book makes a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary argument for investing in effective early childhood education programs, especially those that develop in children their proven natural capacity to construct knowledge by building meaningful relationships. Recent insights in the fields of law, policy, economics, pedagogy, and neuroscience demonstrate that these particular programs produce robust educational, social, and economic benefits for children and for the country. The book also provides legal and political strategies for achieving these proven benefits as well as pedagogical strategies for developing the most effective early childhood education programs. The book concludes by making visible the wonderful learning that can take place in an early education environment where teachers are afforded the professional judgment to encourage children to construct their own knowledge through indispensable learning relationships.