Self-directed learning is a concept that has been in circulation for centuries, though the topic experiences lulls and surges as contemporary theories identify advantages or improvements to better align the topic with contemporary learning environments. Self-directed learning is an instructional strategy where students accept a leadership role in their own learning practice and an increasingly significant learning technique for undergraduate students performing in a technologically and globally advanced college arena. Self-Directed Learning and the Academic Evolution From Pedagogy to Andragogy is an essential reference book that supports a student shift from passive pedagogical learning to active andragogical exploration and specifically shift from seeking mastery of basic skills to recognizing and reassessing the structure of personal assumptions, expectations, feelings, and actions. It fills the gap between theory-laden academic books designed to help academic faculty incorporate self-directed learning activities into their courses and the self-help books designed to help motivate individuals to learn new skills. This book is designed to specifically empower college students to accept a leadership role in their academic journey. Covering topics such as self-directed learning, lifelong learning, educational leadership, and competency-based education, this book is a foundational resource for teachers, instructional designers, administrators, curriculum developers, academicians, researchers, and students.

Teaching genres of fiction, non-fiction, and media need not intimidate new to middle school teachers who may be recent college graduates or veterans transitioning from elementary or high school. Here are strategies for designing culturally relevant lessons that include firm and fair grading guidelines, plans to teach literary terms specific to various genres, and suggestions for selecting appropriate texts that appeal to and expand horizons of diverse students in classrooms across the nation.

Research-based insights and practical advice about effective learning strategies In this new edition of the highly regarded Why Don't Students Like School? cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham turns his research on the biological and cognitive basis of learning into workable teaching techniques. This book will help you improve your teaching practice by explaining how you and your students think and learn. It reveals the importance of story, emotion, memory, context, and routine in building knowledge and creating lasting learning experiences. With a treasure trove of updated material, this edition draws its themes from the most frequently asked questions in Willingham's "Ask the Cognitive Scientist" column in the American Educator. How can you teach students the skills they need when standardized testing just requires facts? Why do students remember everything on TV, but forget everything you say? How can you adjust your teaching for different learning styles? Read this book for the answers to these questions and for practical advice on helping your learners learn better. Discover easy-to-understand, evidence-based principles with clear applications for the classroom Update yourself on the latest cognitive science research and new, teacher-tested pedagogical tools Learn about Willingham's surprising findings, such as that you cannot develop "thinking skills" without facts Understand the brain's workings to help you hone your teaching skills Why Students Don't Like School is a valuable resource for both veteran and novice teachers, teachers-in-training, and for the principals, administrators, and staff development professionals who work with them.

Over the past 50 years the Department of Science Teaching at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel was actively involved in all the components related to curriculum development, implementation, and research in science, mathematics, and computer science education: both learning and teaching. These initiatives are well designed and effective examples of long-term developmental and comprehensive models of reforms in the way science and mathematics are learned and taught. The 16 chapters of the book are divided into two key parts. The first part is on curriculum development in the sciences and mathematics. The second describes the implementation of these areas and its related professional development. Following these chapters, two commentaries are written by two imminent researchers in science and mathematics teaching and learning: Professor Alan Schonfeld from UC Berkeley, USA, and Professor Ilka Parchman from IPN at the University of Kiel, Germany. The book as a whole, as well as its individual chapters, are intended for a wide audience of curriculum developers, teacher educators, researchers on learning and teaching of science and mathematics and policy makers at the university level interested in advancing models of academic departments working under a common philosophy, yet under full academic freedom. Contributors are: Abraham Arcavi, Michal Armoni, Ron Blonder, Miriam Carmeli, Jason Cooper, Rachel Rosanne Eidelman, Ruhama Even, Bat-Sheva Eylon, Alex Friedlander, Nurit Hadas, Rina Hershkowitz, Avi Hofstein, Ronnie Karsenty, Boris Koichu, Dorothy Langley, Ohad Levkovich, Smadar Levy, Rachel Mamlok-Naaman, Nir Orion, Zahava Scherz, Alan Schoenfeld, Yael Shwartz, Michal Tabach, Anat Yarden and Edit Yerushalmi.

This book introduces readers to process-based understandings of leadership, providing language and tools for engaging in the leadership process for all involved. This practical book was designed for college student leaders and educators or professionals who work with student leaders on college campuses. However, it is also accessible for high school students and graduate students to reflect on their identity, capacity, and efficacy as leaders. Based on their experiences as leadership educators, the authors offer grounding concepts of leadership and examples illustrating the complexity of culturally relevant leadership learning. Identity (who you are), capacity (your ability), and efficacy (what you do) are important for students to explore leadership development. These three concepts are core to this book, filling a gap in college student development literature by defining, illustrating, and questioning how they matter to leadership learning. Framing leadership as a journey, this resource offers key learning opportunities for students to engage with others through a range of contexts. Each chapter is organized with various features, engaging readers to get the most out of this book. Features include "call-in boxes" to prepare for learning and "pause for considerations" to apply to personal experiences. Chapters conclude with personal reflection questions, discussion questions, and activities to take leadership learning further. The features are designed to be accessible for utilization in classes, organizations, community work, groups, and individual reflection opportunities.

In the last decade, the development of new technologies has made innovation a fundamental pillar of education. Teaching innovation is characterized by digital, technological, and didactic elements and processes to improve design-thinking in the teaching field. Therefore, teaching innovation includes the evolution of both teaching and learning models to drive improvements in educational methodologies. In this context, one of the research areas that has been most relevant to date in teaching innovation is university communities and higher education centers. Teaching innovation is a pioneer in the understanding and comprehension of the different teaching methodologies and models developed in the academic area. In this way, teaching innovation is a process that seeks validation in the academic and teaching communities at universities in order to promote the improvement of teaching and its practices and uses in the future characterized by digital development and data-based methods. The development of new teaching innovation methodologies and practices at universities is the challenge of the 21st century for the development of a resilient and efficient education. Therefore, this edited book aims to compile and study the major practices and case studies of teaching innovation developed in recent years at universities. In this way, teachers and educators can use the contributions presented in this book based on teaching processes, practices, case studies, and interactive activities. In this digital era, this book can be used as a sourcebook on study cases focused on teaching innovation methodologies as well as on the identification of new technologies that will help the development of initiatives and practices focused on teaching innovation at universities.

Higher learning has seen an increase in web-based distance education programs, which coincides with advancements made in educational technologies. As these programs are on the rise, it becomes increasingly more important to ensure that instructional designers are prepared to accommodate the needs of these academic institutions. Developing a culture of collaboration through the optimization of instructional design methods is part of the profession's identity but has gotten overshadowed by the pressures of thinking of courses as products. Optimizing Instructional Design Methods in Higher Education is an essential reference source that discusses the importance of collaboration, training, and the use of new and existing models in supporting instructional designers to formalize and optimize curriculum development in higher education. It covers the importance of adapting, adjusting, and re-evaluating models based on learner needs in relation to both the process of learning and outcomes. Featuring research on topics such as human resource development, academic programs, and faculty development, this book is ideally designed for educators, academicians, researchers, and administrators seeking coverage to support design thinking and innovation that encourages student learning.

This book is a methodological guide intended for those who wish to better understand how to conduct research in the education and training sciences. It is organized into three main parts. The first part deals with postures, emphasizing the idea that engaging in a research process involves taking a different stance from that of a social or professional actor. For example, this may require converting a professional or social question into a research question or reflecting on the use of a social vocabulary in research. The second part concerns practices, that is, how research is conducted: the definition of a research question based on findings, theoretical exploration and problematization, the production of empirical information and its analysis and restitution. The third and final part concludes by focusing on the diversity of research forms; not only research cultures specific to disciplinary fields and approaches, such as action research, collaborative research or research training, but also the design choices in terms of multi-, inter- or trans-disciplinarily.

The possibilities of gaming for transformative and equity-driven instructional teaching practice are more robust than ever before. And yet, support for designing playful learning opportunities are too often not addressed or taught in professional development or teacher education programs. Considering the complex demands in public schools today and the niche pockets of extracurricular engagement in which youth find themselves, Playing with Teaching serves as a hands-on resource for teachers and teacher educators. Particularly focused on how games - both digital and non-digital - can shape unique learning and literacy experiences for young people today, this book's chapters look at numerous examples that educators can bring into their classrooms today. By exploring how teachers can support literacy practices through gaming, this volume provides specific strategies for heightening literacy learning and playful experiences in classrooms. The classroom examples of gameful teaching described in each chapter not only provide practical examples of games and learning, but offer critical perspectives on why games in literacy classrooms matter today. Through depictions of cutting-edge of powerful and playful pedagogy, this book is not a how-to manual. Rather, Playing with Teaching fills a much-needed space demonstrating how games are applied in classrooms today. It is an invitation to reimagine classrooms as spaces to newly investigate playful approaches to teaching and learning with adolescents. Roll the dice and give playful literacy instruction a try. Contributors are: Jill Bidenwald, Jennifer S. Dail, Elizabeth DeBoeser, Antero Garcia, Kip Glazer, Emily Howell, Lindy L. Johnson, Rachel Kaminski Sanders, Jon Ostenson, Chad Sansing, and Shelbie Witte.

The book is unique in that it mixes theory and practical applications in rethinking traditional social studies education. It focuses on essays integrating media, popular culture, and alternative texts for teaching and learning in social studies and history education through a social education lens. Social education integrates social studies, media/popular culture, and cultural studies all within a social justice framework. The text provides 20+ curriculum themes with strategies to connect in teaching and learning, along with resources to extend depth of understanding. In addition, the pedagogical philosophy inherent in the essays is student-centered learning focusing on issues, problem, and project-based instruction. Although the themes are generally social studies and history focused, the links to media and popular culture can be integrated in other disciplines.

Despite the key role played by second language acquisition (SLA) courses in linguistics, teacher education and language teaching degrees, participants often struggle to bridge the gap between SLA theories and their many applications in the classroom. In order to overcome the 'transfer' problem from theory to practice, Andrea Nava and Luciana Pedrazzini present SLA principles through the actions and words of teachers and learners. Second Language Acquisition in Action identifies eight important SLA principles and involves readers in an 'experiential' approach which enables them to explore these principles 'in action'. Each chapter is structured around three stages: experience and reflection; conceptualisation; and restructuring and planning. Discussion questions and tasks represent the core of the book. These help readers in the process of 'experiencing' SLA research and provide them with opportunities to try their hands at different areas of language teachers' professional expertise. Aimed at those on applied linguistics MA courses, TESOL/EFL trainees and in-service teachers, Second Language Acquisition in Action features: * Key Questions at the start of each chapter * Data-based tasks to foster reflection and to help bridge the gap between theory and practice * Audiovisual extracts of lessons on an accompanying website * Further Reading suggestions at the end of each chapter