This book provides illustrations of urban school-university partnerships recognized by the Shirley Schwartz Award of Council of Great City Schools. The authors share their work by blending practitioner and researcher voices to offer other school and university based educators, policy makers, and foundation leadership potential solutions to the complex problem of preparing educators and enhancing teaching within urban schools. In each chapter, the authors describe their urban partnership story, the greatest challenges they faced, how they responded to those challenges, and evidence of impact. Given that each partnership is unique, the authors conclude each chapter by offering a set of questions for discussion. This book serves as an excellent resource for educators interested in establishing urban school-university partnerships that improve educator quality, strengthen the pipeline of urban educators, and expand Pk-12 students' learning experiences. The book is divided into three sections: (1) Teacher Candidate Preparation, (2) Teacher Professional Development, and (3) Principal Development.

This book explores Singapore's language education system. Unlike previous volumes, which discuss the bilingual requirement for learning, it focuses on Singapore's quadrilingual system, bringing together articles on each of the four languages - English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil - as well as articles that examine more than one language. It highlights past successes, current concerns, and future directions for language education. The book focuses on classroom pedagogy in all four official languages, showcasing how languages are taught and learned in Singapore as a basis for better understanding the system "from the inside out." The authors present empirical, classroom-based studies on language pedagogy in all four languages, as well as updated information on the current socio-political context and how it has influenced attempts at pedagogical innovation. Consideration is given to the dialectical relationship between policy and practice. The chapters also include discussions of pre-school-age learning, influences of language policy, home literacy practices, and commentaries by international language-in-education scholars. This approach also provides a basis for international comparison - especially for those who are interested in fostering English proficiency while maintaining one or more national languages. The volume is particularly important in light of the continuing international efforts to integrate English into national educational systems where it is not the dominant language.

Creative teaching as well as teaching creativity are cutting edge issues in psychology today as recent academic and popular media coverage has shown. This volume expands on that interest with chapter authors drawn from interdisciplinary areas. It includes examples of creatively teaching across the education system, including preschool, K-12, undergraduate, and graduate level education. The variety of subjects covered by the chapters include psychology,math, science, and reading. In addition to creative teaching which may lead to enhanced learning and achievement in students, as well enhanced creativity,another focus is teaching with the objective to enhance creativity.

In this groundbreaking book, the author advocates that many relational collapses are the result of ineptitude rather than ill will. That is, they are the result of a lack of skills rather than a lack of goodwill. As this book puts it, many of societys relational problems may be competency related. This might be good news since competencies can be learned. The purpose of this book is to take a careful look at how such competencies can be developed. Beginning with the view that if such competencies can be learned, they must first be defined and have standards set for them, it asks the question, Can competency standards be designed for soft skills? It is argued that the answer is yes. Locating itself in the workplace context (where adults often spend most of their lives), but relevant to life in general, this book shows how theoretically sound competency standards can be developed for selected soft skills. This is done by adapting a methodology used to specify workplace competency standards. The book also notes a number of practical and ideological issues that must be considered at implementation. This book shows how standards for three such skills have been developed and provided with a preliminary workplace validation. The skills selected are related to interpersonal skills and are derived from the framework of emotional intelligence competencies popularised by Goleman. This is an important book for those in business studies.

'Brimming with useful ideas from start to finish... As usual, Jon's knowledge, wisdom and passion for all things education shine through. A brilliant read.' - Pete Jackson, Assistant Headteacher, @PeteJackson32 Looking to develop your skills so you can be successful as a head of year? Striving to get into pastoral leadership as a middle leader? Then Succeeding as a Head of Year is the ultimate guide for you! Adopting an easy-to-follow, chronological approach, Jon Tait takes you through everything you need to know to be an outstanding head of year: * Applying for your first post * Navigating interviews * Leading a team of form tutors * Managing student behaviour * Working with parents * Supporting specific year groups With tips on finding the right post and sailing through the interview process and advice on day-to-day practice and challenges, this is the ideal compendium for navigating this role. Written by an experienced pastoral leader and including case studies with aspiring, current and former middle leaders, this book is filled with practical, honest and open guidance to help you succeed as a head of year.

Digital knowledge maps are 'at a glance' visual representations that enable enriching, imaginative and transformative ways for teaching and learning, with the potential to enhance positive educational outcomes. The use of such maps has generated much attention and interest among tertiary education practitioners and researchers over the last few years as higher education institutions around the world begin to invest heavily into new technologies designed to provide online spaces within which to build resources and conduct activities. The key elements of this edited volume will comprise original and innovative contributions to existing scholarship in this field, with examples of pedagogical possibilities as they are currently practiced across a range of contexts. It will contain chapters that address, theory, research and practical issues related to the use of digital knowledge maps in all aspects of tertiary education and draws predominantly on international perspectives with a diverse group of invited contributors. Reports on empirical studies as well as theoretical/conceptual chapters that engage deeply with pertinent questions and issues raised from a pedagogical, social, cultural, philosophical, and/or ethical standpoint are included. Systematic literature reviews dealing with digital knowledge mapping in education are also an integral part of the volume.

This Handbook serves as a starting point for critical analysis and discourse about the status of women in outdoor learning environments (OLEs). Women choose to participate actively in outdoors careers, many believing the profession is a level playing field and that it offers alternatives to traditional sporting activities. They enter outdoor learning primarily on the strength of their enthusiasm for leading and teaching in natural environments and assume the field is inclusive, rewarding excellence regardless of age, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, or ethnicity. However, both research and collective experiences in OLEs suggest that many women feel invisible, relegated, marginalized, and undervalued. In response to this marginalization, this Handbook celebrates the richness of knowledge and practices of women practitioners in OLEs. Women scholars and practitioners from numerous fields, such as experiential outdoor education, adventure education, adventure therapy, and gender studies, explore the implications of their research and practice using poignant examples within their own disciplines. These insights emerge from similar life experiences as women and outdoor leaders in the 1970s to the present. Social inequalities still abound in OLEs, and the Handbook ensures that the contributions of women are highlighted as well as the work that needs to be done to make these spaces inclusive. Global in perspective and capacious in content, this one-stop volume is an indispensable reference resource for a diverse range of academics, including students and researchers in the fields of education, psychology, sociology, gender studies, geography, and environment studies, as well as the many outdoors fields.

This edited book promotes thinking, dialogue, research and theorisation on multiple ways of making connections in mathematics teaching and learning in early childhood education. The book addresses some key challenges in research, policy and practice in early childhood mathematics education. It examines diverse ways for learning experiences to connect young children to mathematics, and the importance of forging connections between mathematics and young children's lives as key elements in their engagement with mathematics. Each chapter provides research or theoretical provocations and pedagogical implications for connecting children's lived experiences and ways of learning in mathematics teaching. The chapters are drawn from a range of international authors who raise important ideas within the overall context of current research and consider the theoretical and practical implications of their research. As such, the book advances current thinking on mathematics teaching and learning for children in the early years from birth to eight years with an emphasis on children aged birth to 5 years. It considers the purpose and value in connecting mathematics teaching and learning to children's lives, and provides provocations for both educators and researchers on the many under-researched and under-represented aspects of early years mathematics teaching and learning.

This practitioner-based book provides different approaches for reaching an increasing population in today's schools - English language learners (ELLs). The recent development and adoption of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS-ELA/Literacy), the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, the C3 Framework, and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) highlight the role that teachers have in developing discipline-specific competencies. This requires new and innovative approaches for teaching the content areas to all students. The book begins with an introduction that contextualizes the chapters in which the editors highlight transdisciplinary theories and approaches that cut across content areas. In addition, the editors include a table that provides a matrix of how strategies and theories map across the chapters. The four sections of the book represent the following content areas: English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. This book offers practical guidance that is grounded in relevant theory and research and offers teachers suggestions on how to use the approaches described.

This book describes and discusses a practice-oriented approach to understanding and researching interprofessional simulation-based education and simulation. It provides empirical findings from research on this topic and is informed by practice-oriented perspectives. It identifies critical features of the simulation practice and discusses how these can be used in reforming simulation pedagogy. The book is divided into three sections. Section 1 sets the scene for understanding the practices of interprofessional simulation-based education and simulation. It provides a theoretical and methodological framework for the conceptualisation of practices and for the empirical studies on which the book is based. Section 2 revisits the dimensions of the simulation process/exercise, i.e. the briefing, simulation, and debriefing, and provides empirical analyses of how the practice of simulation unfolds. Based on these analyses, section 3 identifies and discusses how pedagogies for simulation can be reformed to meet the demands of future healthcare and research.

Information behavior has emerged as an important aspect of human life, however our knowledge and understanding of it is incomplete and underdeveloped scientifically. Research on the topic is largely contemporary in focus and has generally not incorporated results from other disciplines.

In this monograph Spink provides a new understanding of information behavior by incorporating related findings, theories and models from social sciences, psychology and cognition. In her presentation, she argues that information behavior is an important instinctive sociocognitive ability that can only be fully understood with a highly interdisciplinary approach. The leitmotivs of her examination are three important research questions: First, what is the evolutionary, biological and developmental nature of information behavior? Second, what is the role of instinct versus environment in shaping information behavior? And, third, how have information behavior capabilities evolved and developed over time?

Written for researchers in information science as well as social and cognitive sciences, Spink's controversial text lays the foundation for a new interdisciplinary theoretical perspective on information behavior that will not only provide a more holistic framework for this field but will also impact those sciences, and thus also open up many new research directions.

This practical guide for developing and using culture-centered counseling and interviewing skills is by well-known authorities on the subject. This guide examines culturally learned assumptions that all of us employ in managing and interacting with others and uses models of synthetic cultures for students, teachers, professional counselors, and interviewers in raising questions, interpreting, focusing on and mediating in multicultural situations.

The book comprises papers presented at the 7th International Conference on University Learning and Teaching (InCULT) 2014, which was hosted by the Asian Centre for Research on University Learning and Teaching (ACRULeT) located at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia. It was co-hosted by the University of Hertfordshire, UK; the University of South Australia; the University of Ohio, USA; Taylor's University, Malaysia and the Training Academy for Higher Education (AKEPT), Ministry of Education, Malaysia. A total of 165 papers were presented by speakers from around the world based on the theme "Educate to Innovate in the 21st Century." The papers in this timely book cover the latest developments, issues and concerns in the field of teaching and learning and provide a valuable reference resource on university teaching and learning for lecturers, educators, researchers and policy makers.

Drawing upon data from an Australian study, this book gives voice to beginning teachers navigating their way through their first year of teaching and discovering what it means to be professional learners. The chapters within provide rich insights into the ways in which beginning teachers make sense of the new and challenging experiences they face during the first year of teaching, and how these influence the development of their learner identities at this formative time of their careers. Professional learning, in response to teacher standards and associated accountability measures, often fails to acknowledge the importance of internal motivation and attitude to beginning teachers' sense of a professional learner identity. This book offers policy makers, teacher educators, school leaders, mentors and teachers a way of thinking about how beginning teachers can be supported to grow professionally and construct their identities as professional learners.

Fred Gann, founder of four alternative education programs, believes that all true alternative education programs exist for one fundamental purpose: to make a positive difference in a student's life. In "Groundwork, " Gann delivers a roadmap to re-engage disenfranchised students through an effective alternative education program.This step-by-step guide demystifies the principles of alternative education and outlines how to create a program in which each student assumes personal responsibility for his or her learning and experiences a framework for developing success. With personal examples and anecdotes, Gann provides a clear, accessible plan for the implementation of alternative programs in support of a district's traditional school setting. "Groundwork" examines the following: The four questions that must be asked when founding a new program The components of a true alternative educational program Five techniques for implementation Positive-based disciplinary practices Program longevity and the art of survivalIn "Groundwork, " Gann presents a blunt and uncompromising demand for educators to invest in kids and calls for public education to provide programs which reconnect at-risk youth with their educational environments.

Among the plethora of action research books on the market, there is no one text exclusively devoted to understanding how to acquire and interpret research data. Action Research Methods provides a balanced overview of the quantitative and qualitative methodologies and methods for conducting action research within a variety of educational environments and community-based settings. The text provides balanced coverage of the historical and theoretical foundations for action research while addressing practical and ethical considerations in conducting action research. Key terms and end-of-chapter activities are included to reinforce concepts and engage teachers and researchers in critical reflection.

This book moves beyond the traditional constructivist and social-constructivist view of learning and development in science. It draws upon cultural-historical theory in order to theorise early childhood science education in relation to our currently globalised education contexts. The book argues that concept development in science for young children can be better theorised by using Vygotsky's concept of Imagination and creativity, Vygotsky's theory of play, and his work on higher mental functions, particularly the concept of inter and intrapsychological functioning. Key concepts are extracted from the theoretical section of the book and used as categories for analysis in presenting evidence and new ideas in the second section of the book. In this second part of the book, the authors examine how science knowledge has been constructed within particular countries around the globe, where empirical research in early childhood science education has occurred. The third part of the book examines the nature of the encounter between the teacher and the child during science learning and teaching. In the final part of the book the authors look closely at the range of models and approaches to the teaching of early childhood science that have been made available to early childhood teachers to guide their planning and teaching. They conclude the book with a theoretical discussion of the cultural-historical foundation for early childhood science education, followed by a model of teaching scientific concepts to young children in play-based settings, including homes and community contexts.

This book considers the views of participants in the process of becoming a mathematician, that is, the students and the graduates. This book investigates the people who carry out mathematics rather than the topics of mathematics. Learning is about change in a person, the development of an identity and ways of interacting with the world. It investigates more generally the development of mathematical scientists for a variety of workplaces, and includes the experiences of those who were not successful in the transition to the workplace as mathematicians. The research presented is based on interviews, observations and surveys of students and graduates as they are finding their identity as a mathematician. The book contains material from the research carried out in South Africa, Northern Ireland, Canada and Brunei as well as Australia.

In order to gain tenure, it is necessary to teach effectively, and judgments about one's teaching abilities are based in large part on student ratings. This book provides graduate students, junior faculty, and others with the information they need to develop an adequate teaching record for tenure. Topics discussed include the importance of communicating course goals and requirements, enhancing students' motivation, presenting subject matter clearly, establishing an examination and grading policy that students are likely to regard as fair, utilizing class time well, being available and helpful to students outside of class, encouraging students' curiosity and facilitating research, and selecting textbooks.

Do you remember a time when you used the right words at the right moment, and they made all the difference? With the aim of helping you repeat that experience every day, this book provides hundreds of examples of what we call "Best Practice Language" (BPL), a research-based technique designed to help teachers use words to improve student behavior - in the classroom and beyond. In their years of working at the K-12 levels, educators Hal Holloman and Peggy H. Yates have identified the exact phrases and key words you can use to handle: recurring disruptions, inappropriate outbursts, and students' low self-confidence, among other classroom realities. BPL will enable you to: Set your expectations clearly on the first day of school Prevent and resolve conflicts between students Create a safe haven for shy, apprehensive students Establish meaningful relationships with students built on trust Help students foster a respect for themselves, their peers, and for adults Maintain a positive classroom environment that encourages personal responsibility Whether you're a new teacher, a veteran teacher, a pre-service teacher, or school administrator, the tools in this book will help you use words effectively, in ways that resonate with students and provide them with clear and promising direction.

This book presents recent machine learning paradigms and advances in learning analytics, an emerging research discipline concerned with the collection, advanced processing, and extraction of useful information from both educators' and learners' data with the goal of improving education and learning systems. In this context, internationally respected researchers present various aspects of learning analytics and selected application areas, including: * Using learning analytics to measure student engagement, to quantify the learning experience and to facilitate self-regulation; * Using learning analytics to predict student performance; * Using learning analytics to create learning materials and educational courses; and * Using learning analytics as a tool to support learners and educators in synchronous and asynchronous eLearning. The book offers a valuable asset for professors, researchers, scientists, engineers and students of all disciplines. Extensive bibliographies at the end of each chapter guide readers to probe further into their application areas of interest.