Strengthening Experiential Learning: Innovative Virtual Engagement Strategies of Community Education Organizations

This study focused on the impact of COVID-19 on K-12 access to community education organizations such as museums, theaters, and art studios. Participants from five community education organizations were interviewed to explore and understand their experiences of developing and promoting virtual resources. While each organization responded differently, three approaches for adaptation and innovation were critical: existing virtual presence, collaboration, and responding to e-learning fatigue. Organizations found that the leveraging of technology in the short term may enhance K-12 access to their resources in the future.

Are Teachers Approachable or Unapproachable: Insights From Undergraduate University Students

This research examines the student perceived characteristics informing a student’s choice in deciding to approach or not to approach a teacher in a university setting. Semi-structured interviews gathered perceptions from 10 final semester undergraduate students at a Pakistani university. 12 teachers were discussed in the data clearly demarcating 7 approachable and 5 unapproachable teachers. Thematic analysis identified substantial number of previously unreported characteristics of approachability in addition to those already existing in the literature and a comparatively large number of new unapproachable characteristics. The results of this research will inform discussion of approachability by teachers at universities within Pakistan and beyond.

Exploring Educative Components to Conceptualize an Effective Implementation of Reading Discipline Curricula in Pre-service Teacher-Education Program

The curriculum implementation literature has recently focused more on identifying and measuring the key components of the innovative curriculum needed to achieve desired outcomes. However, most of this work centers on curriculum implementation external to the field of teacher education. In this article, we report on our identification of the educative components that form one component of the framework for conceptualizing the implementation of newly developed reading curricula for a Bachelor of Education Elementary program. The results suggest that prerequisite knowledge about reading instruction and knowledge of the entire reading program are necessary for an effective implementation of curriculum change in the discipline of reading.

The Design of Curriculum in Human Education Through Daisaku Ikeda Children’s Stories

Human education teaches students that everyone has value, and each person should embrace their uniqueness, knowing diversity creates richness, not conflict, in the world. It is essential to show teachers concrete examples about how to create an environment where students can practice dialogue skills, develop global citizens’ character, and embrace their individuality. In this regard, our instructional design on human education may help teachers and researchers see the practicability of connecting humanity with K-12 curricula as well as develop a newfound respect for the need for human education.

The Representation Strategies of Preschool Children When Solving Numeracy Task

Identifying and addressing the knowledge gap in early numeracy is crucial, given the strong associations between early numeracy skills and later school success. The purpose of this study is to establish current viewpoints and ideas on children’s numeracy development via three forms of representation: manipulative, symbolic, and static. The Children’s Numeracy Task was used to assess eleven preschool children’s numeracy knowledge via a semi-structured interview. The task was also designed to be presented in the three mathematical representations: concrete, static, and symbolic. The findings indicate that preschool children are more likely to use symbolic representation in solving a given task. This study highlights perspectives on how to apply various representations as pedagogical and assessment strategies to address the children’s readiness for a mathematics lesson at the primary school level.

Students’ Metacognitive Competencies: Effect on Mastery of Learning Strategies and Outcomes

This paper discusses the constructs of students’ metacognitive competencies and its effect on mastery of learning strategies and enhancing learning outcomes in the context of high school in Shanghai, China, where Learning to Learn curriculum has been implemented for years. 780 students from three types of typical high schools in Shanghai participated in a questionnaire survey. Result of a structural equation model shows that metacognitive knowledge, planning, monitoring, and evaluation constitute students’ metacognitive competencies which effectively predict mastery of learning strategies and their student learning outcomes. Pedagogies for metacognitive teaching for effectively implementing the Learning to learn curriculum are proposed.

Real Time Experience of Participants in Higher Education During The Coronavirus: A Case Study

This case study explored the real-time experience of participants in the Arab Academic College for Education in Haifa, Israel, during the coronavirus pandemic. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with management, administrative staff, faculty and students. Participants' stories reveal that feelings of stress and isolation gave way to new learning and self-discovery, a new relationship with time, and the creation of new knowledge on the personal and institutional levels. Strong, coordinated leadership, combined with legal and financial security, facilitated the transition to online learning and allowed the college to emerge from the crisis successfully. Implications are drawn for dealing with future crises.

Cross-Institutional, Interdepartmental UDL Infusion in Elementary Education Teacher Preparation Curriculum

The following describes a journey of collaboration across disciplines to support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) curriculum and assessment enhancements in an Elementary Education teacher preparation program within a college of education (COE). As a collaborative partner with a public university in Florida, a public state college in Florida completed a review and enhancement of the Elementary Education teacher preparation curriculum using The Roadmap for Educator Preparation Reform to create an overt and measured use of the Universal Design for Learning framework. This project was supported through a grant from the Florida Department of Education FLDOE 171-5015A-8CC01.