Educators can connect life to learning to transform the classroom experience using contextual teaching and learning strategies and assignments such as open educational resources, service learning projects, active learning labs, practical technological applications, and collaborative assignments.

A quasi experimental study tested a contextual teaching and learning (CTL) model for integrating reading and mathematics competencies through 13 introductory Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses. Volunteer CTE Lead Teachers with assistance from academic teachers, developed integrated units. The purpose of this study was to determine whether students who participated in CTE courses that integrated core mathematics and reading standards performed better on a test of mathematics and reading skills compared to students who participated in traditional, non-integrated courses. The treatment group consisted of students in the 13 introductory courses taught by the CTE Lead Teachers and the control group consisted of students in all other sections of the 13 introductory courses not taught by CTE Lead Teachers. After a 26-week intervention, 9th and 10th grade student Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) reading and mathematics scores were analyzed to determine if the mean change in post-test scores was greater in the treatment group than the mean change in scores in the control group. An ANCOVA and multiple regression analysis of quantitative data revealed that the integrated CTE courses were statistically significant in improving reading treatment group scores, but not statistically significant in improving mathematics treatment group scores. The study is significant because it seeks to address a gap in the literature on academic and CTE integration and to provide evidence that a partnership between academics and CTE can contribute to student achievement as measured by state assessments.

This thesis looks into cross-cultural music-making in higher education byexploring the plausible outcomes of the teaching of three Brazilian music teachers thatcame to a Swedish university to teach Brazilian music to Swedish students in theLinnaeus-Palme exchange project between the said university and a Brazilian universityin the 2010s. Through interviews the three Brazilian music teachers have given theirview of the teaching that took place, what they taught and why, and what methods theywere using. Comparing the answers to current literature, this thesis shows that there areboth musical gains that lead to musical maturity in working with new unknown materialwith insider teachers as well as gains in terms of cultural competence, a culturalawareness, when getting the chance to study with insider teachers that introduces thestudent to traditions and cultural values through the methods of their teaching. Culturalawareness is a useful competence when working in a multicultural society and aglobalized world, hence universities with music education should consider finding waysof letting students study with insider teachers.