This descriptive study identifies best practice for field trips for middle school social studies students, applies these principles in collaboration with the National Park Service at the Springfield (Massachusetts) Armory National Historic Site to offer a Civil War program to area students based on local documents and artifacts, and creates a model for other practitioners to develop local history programs. Based on the research, it describes elements of a successful field trip, defined as an effective learning experience which is fun and runs smoothly. The Civil War—Soldiers, Civilians and Armory Workers program was considered successful by the 736 middle school participants from urban, suburban, private and homeschool groups over three years. The basic program was modified for each group to address student needs and revised over time. Responses to the open-ended 3-2-1 Reflections measure were remarkably consistent across groups and years; participants considered the program successful. Participants reported learning about each major educational objective; longer activities were most often mentioned. Most respondents offered historical facts with very few errors. Most spontaneously offered positive comments while only 10% made negative remarks. Suggestions for improvement included having more and longer activities and less talking. Based on this research and the literature, models for best practice are presented for classroom teachers, for the Civil War program, and for historic sites. These each describe in detail the phases of effective field trips: (1) collaboration between teacher and site to set educational objectives, connect the setting and its resources to academic goals including state standards, and determine logistics; (2) classroom pre-trip activities to relate the trip to the curriculum and become familiar with activities; (3) during the field trip to engage in hands-on, authentic learning activities; and (4) post-trip activities to process what was learned. Recommendations for sites include offering one basic program tailored to individual needs, attending to volunteers, updating the program, and providing 21st century amenities. For participants, a successful field trip has activities that are hands-on, connected to curriculum, inquiry-based, authentic, set in the past, new, collaborative, multi-sensory, and creative; it also has good timing, passionate presenters, and welcoming facilities.

This research study examined the long-term effects of a professional development study tour to Southeast Asia that took place in 2001. Participants included ten public school teachers from Western Massachusetts, which has a significant population of people of Vietnamese and Cambodian descent. Funded by a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad grant, the purpose of the study tour was to increase teacher awareness, knowledge and understanding of contemporary Southeast Asia so that they could more effectively address the educational needs of students representing diverse cultural backgrounds, particularly immigrant and refugee youth, through the development of culturally relevant curricula and lesson plans. From 2007 to 2009, this researcher conducted a series of phenomenological interviews with nine of the original participants to investigate more deeply how their personal and professional lives were impacted by the study tour experience. The decision to interview using a phenomenological approach was based on the belief that in order to more fully understand how and why individuals constructed meaning(s) from certain experiences, it was essential to have some contextual knowledge of that person’s life, including those formative episodes that helped establish their original worldview. Analysis of study tour impact areas revealed areas of personal and professional growth particularly as it pertained to the development of sociocultural consciousness, cultural understanding, sensitivity and empathy towards students of diverse cultural backgrounds. Another finding was that the experience of being an “outsider” in another country provided the context for teachers to explore and critically reflect on issues related to their own social and cultural identities. Further analyses revealed that the overall impact of the study tour varied based on the participant’s prior intercultural and life experiences. Participants with less experience and practical knowledge of issues of multiculturalism and identity were more likely than their counterparts to come away from the experience with more profound changes to their worldview. This study is theoretically grounded with research in multicultural education, experiential education, transformative learning, global education and study abroad.

The current case study evaluates a program of professional development aimed at engaging two groups of elementary teachers in communities of practice (CoPs) focused on improving teachers' vocabulary instruction and students' vocabulary learning. The professional development program took place over five months in the 2008-2009 school year. The purpose of the evaluation was to evaluate the merit and worth of the professional development program and identify changes that could be implemented by the primary evaluator in future efforts to develop and refine an effective method for teaching teachers about vocabulary instruction. An explanatory case study design was used to achieve a deep understanding of the program using both quantitative and qualitative data analyses. The evaluation measured aspects of collaborative practices engaged in by teachers over the course of the program, as well as teachers' instructional practices and students' learning before and after program implementation. Evaluation questions were designed to explore the theory that teacher collaboration leads to increases in teacher knowledge and skills, which in turn lead to increases in teachers' classroom use of new knowledge and skills, which ultimately lead to increases in student achievement. Overall, the evaluation was successful in that it was able to clearly describe the collaborative practices engaged in by teachers, provide evidence of teacher and student learning, and provide extensive insights into changes and improvements that were then implemented in an extension to the CoP in the same district during the subsequent school year. Additionally, the evaluation uncovered key variables that may act to impede teacher collaboration.

This qualitative research multi-case study examined the biographical and classroom experiences of three small city New England high school social studies teachers to determine how they construct meaning out of their own beliefs and experiences regarding global education and technology. The study used in-depth phenomenological interviews and classroom observations to achieve its purpose. The school participated in the Global Connections & Exchange Program (GCE), a computer-mediated international project. The following steps were used for data analysis: (a) verbatim transcription of all audio tapes, (b) multiple readings of interview transcripts, observation notes, and artifacts, (c) codification and classification of all data, and (d) connection of categories and determination of the relationship between them using the constant comparative analysis method (Merriam, 1998; Rossman & Rallis, 2003; Corbin & Strauss, 1967). The results of this study support five thematic findings: (a) The teachers’ developed sense of global awareness and multi-perspectives was a result of their “spheres of influence”—social, cultural, historical, and environmental—as well as the opportunities and other circumstances that presented themselves during their formative years; (b) The teachers perceived that a majority of their values and beliefs about education, teaching, and learning were acquired outside their teacher education program; (c) The teachers’ values and beliefs influenced the ways in which they saw their role as a teacher, taking into account all aspects of teaching, from the ways in which teachers build classroom community to the ways in which they facilitate the content; (d) The teachers perceived that their teacher education programs offered no formal training as to how a teacher integrates both technology and global perspective into classroom practice; (e) Participation in the GCE Program provided teachers with the opportunity to experience supported authentic professional development in the areas of technology integration and global education in the classroom.

Teaching for social justice is the attempt by classroom teachers to use their position in the classroom to promote social and educational reform within and despite current educational conditions and mandates. However, while a growing number of K-12 teachers have published anecdotal reports of their attempts to teach for social justice in secondary classrooms (e.g., Bender-Slack, 2007; Christensen, 2000; Singer, 2005), there is great variability among these accounts, and scant evaluation of their impact on specific academic, behavioral/motivational, and attitudinal outcomes (see Grant & Agosto, 2008; Kelly & Brandes, 2008; Poplin & Rivera, 2005). This qualitative study addresses this research gap by offering a concrete framework for teaching for social justice that is informed by multiple education reform traditions (including democratic education, critical (Freirian) pedagogy, multicultural education, culturally responsive education, and social justice education) and associated with positive academic, behavioral/motivational, and attitudinal outcomes. Next, I present the results of a constructivist grounded theory analysis examining how twenty-four English Language Arts teachers conceptualize teaching for social justice, as well as a content (lesson plan) analysis detailing how they operationalize the practice through the use of standards-based curriculum. Findings indicate that secondary ELA teachers define teaching for social justice as having three primary dimensions: curriculum, pedagogy, and social action. These priorities are reflected in their curriculum, which addressed all four strands of the Massachusetts ELA Curricular Frameworks (Language, Reading and Literature, Writing, and Media) and a range of social justice topics. Additional study findings examine challenges associated with teaching for social justice, the impact of teachers’ identities and school contexts on their social justice practice, and variance in how teachers conceptualize and implement teaching for social justice according to their sociopolitical emphases. This study has several implications for policy and practice. Specifically, this study challenges critics’ attempts to portray social justice education as poorly aligned with academically rigorous content-area instruction (e.g., Will, 2006), offers curricular guidance to pre- and in-service teachers interested in transforming their own practice, and lays the foundation for future empirical research related to how teaching for social justice affects student outcomes.

In this current era of postmodernity, globalization, and new technological and social conditions, new approaches to literacy teaching are being introduced and examined. Studies that explore complexities of language teaching and learning in discourses of postmodernity as they relate to college contexts are significant for educators, researchers, and policy makers. This study employs a critical ethnographic lens to examine Arabic teaching and learning practices in one college campus in the United States post 9/11. It explores the dialogic construction of critical literacy events in the Arabic classroom where modern and postmodern discourses collide. Three questions guide the research: who are the students of Arabic and what are their investments in learning Arabic, how do uses of the Arabic language textbook shape curriculum instruction in the Arabic foreign language classroom in contexts of late modernity, and how can teachers of Arabic instantiate critical dialogues and allow a space for negotiated interpretations of modern textbooks in late modern classrooms. To address these issues, the study draws on post structural and sociocultural theories of language. To analyze ethnographic classroom data, the study adopts broad analytic strategies from interdisciplinary critical language approaches (Dyson, 1993; Fairclough, 2001; Janks, 2010; Rampton, 2006). Analysis of the data shows that the Arabic language learners relate to the social world through a mosaic of identities and investments influenced by contexts of postmodernity. The data also points to the role of the teacher in opening a space for the construction of plural voices of language learners that disrupts traditional perspectives of schooling. Implications of the study point towards a need for a new pedagogy that embraces new literacy practices informed by contexts of postmodernity. With new channels of multimodal communications, heterogeneous multicultural societies, and contexts of globalization, foreign language teaching and learning at the college level is in need for vital update that meets the new challenges (Byrnes, 2010; Kramsch, 2009; New London Group, 1996).

In the 1990s many educators asserted that interdisciplinary teams of teachers working with students in middle grades 5–8 were more effective than traditional instruction in isolated disciplines. Research reported elements of team teaching positively affect student learning, behavior, and achievement (Arhar, 1990, 1994; Arhar & Irvin, 1995; Dickinson & Erb, 1997; Flowers, Mertens & Mulhall, 1999, 2000; Mertens, Flowers & Mulhall, 1999). This study identifies the characteristics and practices of teaching teams that correlate with higher student performance in mathematics, reading and writing in the eighth grade. Student performance as measured by the New England Comprehensive Assessment Program (NECAP) was compared across teams teaching 7th graders in Vermont. The NECAP scores were adjusted to control for household income within each school district. The independent variables of teaching team characteristics and practices were measured by a team self-assessment survey developed using dimensions of teaching teams identified by the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS), an individual questionnaire completed confidentially about how team members work together, and a survey for principals to identify demographic characteristics of each teaching team. This study found: (1) teaching teams giving students greater roles in decision-making correlate positively with student performance in reading and mathematics; (2) teaching teams communicating with parents via email or website correlate positively with student performance in mathematics; and (3) three descriptors of internal teaching team dynamics are associated positively with student performance. The study also found elements of teaching teams that correlate negatively with student performance. These include: (1) team identity including, motto, logo or mascot, mission, song, apparel, and team awards for students; (2) the extent of control teaching teams have over instruction; and (3) the use of student advisory groups. Finally, the study explored the impact of how teaching teams are formed (careful consideration does not impact effectiveness), the integration of a special education teacher on teams (negative impact on student achievement), and overall school size (schools with larger enrollments performed better).

The purpose of this qualitative case study describes and analyzes the perspectives of five elementary classroom teachers using the application of movement in their classrooms and the learning through movement perspective of two children from each classroom. The study looked at the relationship between teachers' abilities to construct movement-based active learning experiences for their students, and how students responded to this method of learning. The research design involved in-depth interviews with five teachers and ten children beginning September 28, 2007 and ending in November 2007. The interviews were structured and unstructured, audio-recorded, transcribed and then coded. Three observations of each classroom were also audio-recorded, transcribed and additional reflections were notated in field notes. Each teacher and their selected students were treated as a case study in and of itself. Once each study was analyzed as a case, a cross-case analysis was used to develop a more sophisticated description. To increase trustworthiness and to minimize common threats to validity, triangulation, member checking, and peer debriefing were used by the researcher. The researcher discussed the findings as they related to the three research questions that guided the study's purpose: (1) To what extent do the selected teachers use movement to engage students in the active learning process? (2) To what extent can the selected teachers assess when the children derive meaning of classroom concepts using a movement-based active learning process? (3) To what extent do selected teachers change their teaching based on movement-based active learning? The data revealed that students were motivated to learn and were engaged when teachers provided movement-based active learning in a safe environment that embraced problem solving and allowed students to make choices. The data also revealed that the teachers were more aware of student's success or need for remediation when watching their movement, listening to their interactions, and asking facilitating questions. Finally, the teachers changed the way they taught when they have the desire, comfort, and understanding of the new teaching process. Each teacher in this study wanted to continue the use of movement-based active learning and find additional ways to use it in other curriculum areas.

The purpose of my study was to explore and investigate how children respond to the use of a new learning center, which is focused on the concept of multiplication, and to the use of specifically designed learning games. The literature review presented supports the view that a structured approach to games, one where learners' tactics are specified and guided, does have a significant educational effect. This study was meant to be another test of the assumption that games are a valuable addition to our repertoire of methods for teaching and was based on the belief that games can generate enthusiasm and excitement; and students can become strongly motivated by the use of games. The study is significant because very few studies have dealt, empirically, with students "playing" educational games in the classroom. Through my in-depth study, I intended to find out what happens to students when they play; what they think; how they get involved in the game; and how an educational game, as part of a learning center, can be included in the classroom. Mainly, I would like to emphasize in my study the unique part played by the educational game in the curriculum. The effectiveness of the use of the new learning center, in terms of construction of personal knowledge, and construction of social knowledge, was demonstrated. Playing with the games appears to have increased the students' involvement in the process of social interaction which resulted in them creating a microcosm of society, and also creating their own knowledge of the concept of multiplication. The results also indicate that playing, as a part in the learning process, appears to have had a great impact on the students' academic performance, in terms of their math and social skills. This study has demonstrated that an inclusion of educational games can provide an important form of interaction needed in the classroom.

Educators are pressed to take seriously their obligation for improving success in school for failure-expectant children and for changing the means used to achieve learning outcomes. This dissertation describes the processes, activities and suggested strategies for integrating staff development, parent outreach and after-school skill support for a small group of low-income Black children targeted for retention at the fifth grade. The project comprised three elements: an after-school skills development/homework hurdle program; a staff development program focusing on encouraging high teacher expectations for all children and a parent outreach program. The project sought to enable minority, failure-expectant children to experience success. Teachers practiced positive interactional and support skills designed to demonstrate an understanding of how their behaviors and expectations impacted on student achievement. The after-school project and staff development component incorporated characteristics drawn from the effective-schools research, such as: (a) the principal's leadership and attention to the quality of instruction, (b) school climate contributing to teaching and learning, (c) high expectations for performance of all students, (d) teachers committed to bringing all children to at least minimum mastery, and (e) assessing and monitoring student achievement. The project had positive effects on student achievement as measured on standardized tests and report card grades, as well as student behaviors. Teachers held higher expectations, practiced effective teaching strategies, and interacted more with colleagues and parents. Educators have a strong knowledge base for school improvement activities among current staffs, but there are no fixed methods or standard blueprints to explain how to combine people, ideas and programs to create a setting that meets all the diverse needs presented by poor and minority children with a history of limited academic achievement. Viewing change as a process, the after-school project directly assisted at risk students in ways that helped teachers modify their strategies and organizational routines to meet educational needs of Black, failure-expectant children. With commitment and accountability for success, learning outcomes increased through staff development, parent outreach, attention to learning readiness, social competencies, and mastery of basic skills. Failure-expectant students came to think of themselves as capable of learning; and their gains helped teachers see the importance of positive expectations. The principal also increased a repertoire of school improvement strategies.