Curriculum and Instruction

Science education is reasonably constructed around a vision of authentic scientific practices. Yet, this vision of science is clearly a construct as seen when viewing its changes throughout the last 120 years, as well as viewing it through different theoretical perspectives. While there are diverse descriptions of science and its enactment, going back to Dewey and Peirce, the mission of science is commonly considered to be about the advancement of theory through inquiry where problems serve a central function.

Beyond the challenge of constructing an understanding of scientific inquiry as theory development where the diversity in perspectives of scientists is seen as essential, there is the challenge of devising pedagogy and approaches that effectively promote this vision. There are a rich mix of approaches working at solving different parts of this complex problem. One such approach is called, "Knowledge Building" (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006). This approach seeks to scaffold classroom communities such that they develop and grow into a complex community where progressive science-theory improvement emerges. It is considered that these sorts of communities where innovation is the norm have relevance beyond the fields of science and STEM: innovation and knowledge creation is becoming the essential practice of the knowledge age.

The Knowledge Building approach is designed to support the growth of classroom communities to become communities where progressive scientific inquiry is at the center of their daily activity, similar to that of communities of professional scientists. To effectively support this kind of classroom community development, the approach must take into account the unique assets and needs presented by the ever-increasing iv diversity of thinking and knowing that are emergents of the students' cultures, developmental levels, neurological diversities and networks of communities. Overall, this research sought to support and augment classrooms as they strive to grow into classroom communities of scientific inquiry.

The research occurred in two stages. It first used philosophical methods to generate a simple, high-level model of problem-solving made possible by Popper's World-3 conception. This conception is a keystone in some epistemologies developed to support approaches aimed at helping students grow in knowledge-innovation practices. The visual problem-solving model that was developed seeks to provide students and teachers with a very simple yet flexible model allowing them to describe, analyze and reflect on the state of their community's knowledge improvement and through this understanding adaptively and effectively respond.

The second stage of research utilized hybrid philosophical-empirical methods to develop a framework that describes science in terms of its mission to progressively improve theory through the iterative solving of and subsequent unfolding of new knowledge-problems. These research methods involved an iterative process where promising theories are tested on their ability to describe students' actual online knowledge-building discourse in a satisfying way. In this iterative process, empirical classroom data informed and yet also constrain the theory generation which was informed by diverse theoretical perspectives. These theoretical perspectives included for example, ideas of scientific practices, theories of design such as design thinking and v understandings of classroom diversity as represented in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) which were intentionally founded upon theories of culturally responsive pedagogy. The developed framework seeks to scaffold teachers as they design and enact lessons aimed at growing communities of diverse scientists. Taken together, the products of this research seek to provide conceptual structures to aid the students and teachers in classroom communities as they seek to grow into complex communities of scientists, and to aid researchers as they seek to support and lead this process.

Individuals with visual impairments are often underrepresented in art classes and in public art venues because of the traditional emphasis on the visual nature of art. Many students who are visually impaired report being excluded from art courses and being unable to attend gallery exhibitions because necessary accessibility features were not available. With an emphasis on universal design principles, a series of art workshops were offered to individuals with visual impairments that encouraged participants to explore art concepts including approximate perspective and create pieces using a variety of art media. To showcase the possibility that multi sensory art offers to art patrons, both visually impaired and sighted, a community rallied around the cause of creating an inclusive art gallery exhibition that invited all participants to touch the art.

Ancient and Modern China Collide in Multimedia Puppetry Extravaganza

Performance Review: Ping Chong and Shaanxi Folk Art Theater: Cathay: Three Tales of China. 
Performed at the New Victory Theater
Reviewed on 11/12/06
Translated (into Japanese) by Hidecki Ohara

Concurrent enrollment refers to partnerships between postsecondary institutions and schools through which secondary school students can complete a university class taught by a qualifying secondary school teacher at their secondary school. We propose that concurrent enrollment programs are an under-recognized tool for extending the impact of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The context of our study is an equity-focused university course in algebraic mathematical modeling that is also offered through concurrent enrollment in over 30 secondary schools to over 800 secondary students annually in our state of Minnesota, U.S.A. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of secondary school teachers’ experiences implementing the inquiry pedagogy and the equity goals of the course. Several results are important for UDL. Teachers (1) describe equity in social terms of race, ethnicity, income, immigration, and language status in addition to measures of academic success; (2) perceive improv...

Exposure to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers is essential for urban education in order to diminish deficit-based assumptions about who can succeed in STEM. Prepare2Nspire (P2N) acts as an extracurricular tutoring outlet for in-school mathematics learning as well as an opportunity for youth to become exposed to STEM careers through various methods. First, undergraduate mentutors of color represent a number of STEM academic majors. Second, P2N invites STEM professionals of color to discuss how they use various mathematics skills within their career. The purpose of introducing students of color to underrepresented college students and STEM professionals is to motivate participants to visualize themselves within these career fields and strive for excellence.

This article presents a description and discussion of the new K-12 English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards from Minnesota and the WIDA Consortium Standards which Wisconsin is adopting. Issues in their implementation are outlined from the perspective of content-based instruction (CBI), local curriculum control and collaboration among teachers.

■ UNESCO finds that,“worldwide, one in five adults, or some 860 million people are still illiterate, two-thirds of them women”(UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2004). This population of second language (L2) learners who do not read or write any language is worthy of investigation, particularly if, as Hill (1970) pointed out, it is still common for undereducated individuals in remote places of the world to learn to speak and understand L2s.

Abstract: This article presents an annotated bibliography of research works about digital/technology tools for literacy instruction, discourse/cultural analysis, literacy, literary response/literature/narrative, media-information literacy/media use, professional development/teacher education related to English/language arts, reading, second language literacy, and writing.

The complex relationship between literacy in one's first and second languages (L1 and L2 respectively) and oral skills in one's L1 and L2 has been only partially examined. Table 1 shows that until recently there have been two primary research emphases:(1) the impact of L1 oral forms (C) on the acquisition of L2 oral forms (D), and (2) the impact of L1 literacy (A) on the acquisition of L2 literacy (B)(eg, Cummins, 1981).

High quality schooling experiences are essential for adolescents who come to the US as immigrants or refugees. This is particularly true if they arrive with little prior formal schooling and low print literacy. 1 The important role of quality schooling for future employment and academic goals is documented in a number of ethnographies of high schools (eg, Lopez, 2003; eg, Olsen, 1997; Valenzuela, 1999).

This article explores the issues of race and religion as they pertain to adolescent Somali immigrants and their lives at school, among their families, and in their communities. Research from a number of contexts offers a range of perceptions, held by Somali youth and adults, not commonly available in the media.

Three times since 1999, the University of Minnesota has organized a small, carefully planned opportunity for language teacher educators to meet—the International Conference on Language Teacher Education. 1 It is special for many reasons; due to its size, it supports a great deal of exchange among participants, and it is focused, which generates in-depth conversation on issues that are most important to teacher educators.