Active Learning Strategies for the Mathematics Classroom

Active learning involves students engaging with course content beyond lecture: through writing, applets, simulations, games, and more (Prince, 2004 Prince, M. 2004. “Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research.” Journal of Engineering Education 93: 223–232.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). As mathematics is often viewed as a subject area that is taught using more traditional methods (Goldsmith &; Mark, 1999 Goldsmith, L. T., &; J. Mark. 1999. “What is a Standards-Based Mathematics Curriculum?”. Educational Leadership 57: 40—44.[Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), there are actually many simple ways to make undergraduate mathematics courses more active, starting with the discussion of the syllabus. This article describes simple ways to turn course introductions, review of prior knowledge, and formative assessment into active learning experiences for students.     

The Humanities vs. Careerism

ABSTRACT

Integrating research in the classroom experience is recognized as potentially important in enhancing student learning (Price 2001 Price, J. N.. 2001. “Action Research, Pedagogy and Change: The Transformative Potential of Action Research in Pre-Service Teacher Education.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 33 (1): 43–74.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Schmid 1992 Schmid, T. J. 1992. “Classroom-Based Ethnography: A Research Pedagogy.” Teaching Sociology 20 (1): 28–35.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This article asks if student integration as research subjects augments their learning about political science. A quasi-experimental project focused on media usage, construction, and influences on the political context of election competition finds that participation as research subjects fostered increased awareness among students of their own media usage, of media effects on politics and of politics in general. Findings also suggest that this process of learning happens within the context of students' pre-existing ideological frameworks despite experimental controls over ideological exposure.     

A Technology Integration Education (TIE) Model for Millennial Preservice Teachers: Exploring the Canonical Correlation Relationships Among Attitudes,Subjective Norms,Perceived Behavioral Controls,Motivation, and Technological,Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) Competencies

Intellectual goods can follow the same pattern as physical goods with the product life cycle of birth, growth, maturity, and decline. For the intellectual good of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK), its birth began with Shulman (1986 Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 1987 Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1–22.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was used to test the relationships among five of the 12 constructs in the technology integration education (TIE) model developed by Holland and Piper (2014 Holland, D. D., &; Piper, R. T. (2014). Technology integration education (TIE) model: Millennial preservice teachers' motivations about technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) competencies. Journal of Education Computing Research, 51(3), 257–294.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Based on the patterns of cross-loading correlations, this study found that there were limited correlational relationships between the set of independent variables and the set of dependent TPACK variables. For this pilot study, the sample consisted of 90 elementary education majors and 51 secondary education majors.     

Student Disengagement in English-Speaking Montréal

This article discusses how student disengagement is conceptualized by English-speaking youth attending English urban public schools in Montreal, Quebec. School dropout is theorized as being a culminating event in a process of school disengagement (Rumberger, 2011 Rumberger, R. W. (2011). Dropping out: Why students drop out of high school and what can be done about it. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Using 2 qualitative methods (maps and interviews) in a grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2014 Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [Google Scholar]), a theory of disengagement is presented and supported by existing literature in student engagement and school dropout. Student disengagement is framed from a socio-ecological perspective (Lawson &; Lawson, 2013 Lawson, M. A., &; Lawson, H. A. (2013). New conceptual frameworks for student engagement research, policy, and practice. Review of Educational Research, 83(3), 432–479.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in a move away from its predominant conceptualization as an individual trait. In doing so, we highlight some issues of urban education in Montreal, addressing such themes as inequity, low-income status, experiences of failure and the pass/fail paradigm, the elementary/secondary school transition, normativity, and, finally, the public/private distinction in schooling.     

Mathematics Achievement in the Netherlands and Appropriateness of the TIMSS Mathematics Test

Evaluators are frequently asked to assess the effectiveness of school programs implemented to improve academic achievement. School connectedness has been shown to be directly related to academic achievement (McNeely, Nonnemaker, &; Blum, 2002 McNeely, C. A., Nonnemaker, J. M. and Blum, R. W. 2002. Promoting school connectedness: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Journal of School Health, 72: 138–146. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and is therefore of interest to evaluators. The construct of school connectedness has been shown to consist of 3 elements: connectedness to adults in schools, connectedness to peers, and connectedness to the school (Karcher &; Lee, 2002 Karcher, M. J. and Lee, Y. 2002. Connectedness among Taiwanese middle school students: A validation study of the Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness. Asia Pacific Education Review, 3: 92–114. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). This paper reports the psychometric properties and factor analyses findings from a School Connectedness Scale (SCS) given to adolescents in 2 very different high schools in the Northeast, one a large urban school and one a medium-sized suburban school. The results indicate that the SCS is highly reliable with a stable factor structure across diverse populations. The broad applications of use for the instrument are discussed.     

School–Community Partnerships,Friend or Foe? The Doublespeak of Community With Educational Partnerships

In recent reform efforts, school–community partnerships have been touted as a means for promoting student success (Decker, Decker, &; Brown 2007 Decker, L.E., Decker, V.A., &; Brown, P.M. (2007). Diverse partnerships for student success: Strategies and tools to help school leaders. Lanham, MD: Rowman &; Littlefield Education. [Google Scholar]; Epstein 2010 Epstein, J.L. (2010). School/family/community partnerships: Caring for the children we share. Phi Delta Kappan, 92, 81–96.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and meeting student needs (Hands 2010 Hands, C.M. (2010). Why collaborate? The differing reasons for secondary school educators' establishment of school–community partnerships. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 21, 189–207.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Yet, despite any accolades, the motives and results of school–community partnerships are contested. Gary Anderson (1998 Anderson, G. (1998). Toward authentic participation: Deconstructing the discourses of participatory reforms in education. 715 American Educational Research Journal, 35, 571–603.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) points out that partnerships tend to be designed to graft members into prior objectives and goals instead of being designed to facilitate staff members in working together to redefine goals. Auerbach (2010 Auerbach, S. (2010). Beyond coffee with the principal: Toward leadership for authentic school–family partnerships. Journal of School Leadership, 20, 728–757. [Google Scholar]) echoes this concern, suggesting that the literature regarding school partnerships focuses primarily on academic achievement while operating under “limited school agendas or mandates for collaboration” which do little to promote “socially just” schools (p. 729). And, schools are egregiously unjust. Thus, in this article, I first evaluate the school–community partnership in a new light by broadly conceptualizing how community exists as a term within the public education system and considering the impact of the historical situatedness of communities and political lines on renderings of community. Second, I offer an understanding of how school–community partnerships are discussed in terms of doublespeak, illustrating how the very word community can be employed across a spectrum of different meanings, interpretations, and implications. Last, I argue that community partnerships have been promoted as educational reform with little prospect of challenging meta-narratives that tell a story of who has something to offer to our schools and who does not.     

Multilevel analysis of student civics knowledge scores

Compositional effects of scholarly culture classroom/school climate on civic knowledge scores of 9th graders in the United States were examined using the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) 1999 Civic Education Study data. Following Evans et al. (2010 Evans, M. D. R., Kelley, J., Sikora, J., &; Treiman, D. J. (2010). Family scholarly culture and educational success: Books and schooling in 27 nations. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 28, 171–197.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2014 Evans, M. D. R., Kelley, J., &; Sikora, J. (2014). Scholarly culture and academic performance in 42 nations. Social Forces, 92, 1573–1605.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), we conceived that the number of books at home, referred to as the home literacy score by IEA, can be an index of scholarly culture of the student's home, and its aggregated average constitutes scholarly culture of the classrooms/schools. The results obtained through multilevel analysis indicated that there were indeed large unique compositional effects and its effect size was comparable to that of mean parent education, individual level scholarly culture, and parent education. Implications of the results in terms of educational policy were discussed.     

Hands-On Learning: A Problem-Based Approach to Teaching Microsoft Excel

The development of a student's ability to make data-driven decisions has become a focus in higher education (Schield 1999 Schield, M. 1999. “Statistical Literacy: Thinking Critically about Statistics.” Of Significance: A Topical Journal of the Association of Public Data Users 1 (1): 15–21. [Google Scholar]; Stephenson and Caravello 2007 Stephenson, E., and P. Caravello. 2007. “Incorporating Data Literacy into Undergraduate Information Literacy Programs in the Social Sciences; a Pilot Project.” Reference Services Review 35 (4):525–40. doi:10.1108/00907320710838354.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Data literacy, the ability tounderstand and use data to effectively inform decisions, is a fundamental component of information competence (Mandinach and Gummer 2013 Mandinach, E. B., and E. S. Gummer. 2013. “A systemic view of implementing data literacy in educator preparation.” Educational Researcher 42 (1): 30–37. doi:10.3102/0013189X12459803.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Stephenson and Caravello, 2007 Stephenson, E., and P. Caravello. 2007. “Incorporating Data Literacy into Undergraduate Information Literacy Programs in the Social Sciences; a Pilot Project.” Reference Services Review 35 (4):525–40. doi:10.1108/00907320710838354.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). This commentary highlights the structure of a data literacy course that aims to simultaneously teach problem-solving skills and Microsoft Excel skills through real-world examples and problem based learning. This commentary aims to provide insight to other educators teaching similar courses regarding using technology as a tool for developing a student's problem solving ability.     

Recruiting Prospective Students WithStories: How Personal Stories Influence the Process of Choosing aUniversity

The current study examined the use of narratives as persuasive recruitment tools for universities. This study analyzed students’ perceptions of four universities’ recruitment materials and used Fisher's (1984 Fisher, W. R. (1984). Narration as a human communication paradigm: The case of public moral argument. Communication Monographs, 51, 1–22. doi:10.1080/03637758409390180[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) narrative paradigm and the concept of regulatory fitas a lens. Student participants perceived narratives as persuasive after they had narrowed down their list of colleges. The results also revealed that stories that represented both the academic and social sides of college helped students visualize themselves at the university and made the idea of higher education more tangible. Five themes are explained and the study concludes with theoretical and practical implications.     

Fulfilling Their Dreams: Marginalized Urban Youths' Perspectives on a Culturally Sensitive Social and Emotional Learning Program

A growing body of research suggests educators need to focus on cultivating social and emotional competencies that youth will need to thrive in the new knowledge economy (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, &; Schellinger, 2011 Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., &; Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing student's social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82, 405–432. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). For marginalized urban youth, in particular, few have derived programs and interventions to assist with these competencies. This study illuminates the perspectives of 9 African American youth at risk for academic failure taking part in the Fulfill the Dream (FTD) program. FTD is a social and emotional learning curriculum emphasizing social justice and critical consciousness through the utilization of hip-hop culture. Information regarding the nature of the collaboration of this research project and recommendations for education professionals working with marginalized youth are discussed.     

The Role of Collective Efficacy in Closing Student Achievement Gaps: A Mixed Methods Study of School Leadership for Excellence and Equity

Previous research demonstrates that collective efficacy positively predicts students' academic achievement (e.g., Bandura, 1993 Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28(2), 117–148. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep2802_3[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Goddard et al., 2000 Goddard, R. D., Hoy, W. K., &; Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2000). Collective teacher efficacy: Its meaning, measure, and effect on student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 37(2), 479–507. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312037002479[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, unaddressed by the current literature is whether collective efficacy also works to reduce inequity by closing achievement gaps. To learn about the operation of collective efficacy, we designed a mixed-methods study, situated in the elementary and middle schools of one large urban district in Texas. Hierarchal linear modeling was employed to model the degree to which collective efficacy explained differences among schools in student mathematics achievement and the Black-White achievement gap. We also drew upon focus group data collected at 6 schools. We found that collective efficacy was associated with an increase in mathematics achievement as well a 50% reduction in the academic disadvantage experienced by Black students. Focus groups revealed the importance of school principals in supporting teacher collaboration and peer observation as well as a sustained focus on instructional improvement.     

Predicting Faculty Integration of Faith and Learning

Concern regarding the secularization of Christian higher education has prompted researchers to investigate the extent that faith and learning is integrated at a faculty level and what factors might predict faculty integration (Lyon, Beaty, Parker, &; Mencken, 2005 Lyon, L., Beaty, M., Parker, J., &; Mencken, C. (2005). Faculty attitudes on integrating faith and learning at religious colleges and universities: A research note. Sociology of Religion, 66, 61–69.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This research attempted to replicate Lyon et al.’s (2005 Lyon, L., Beaty, M., Parker, J., &; Mencken, C. (2005). Faculty attitudes on integrating faith and learning at religious colleges and universities: A research note. Sociology of Religion, 66, 61–69.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) logistic regression model predicting faculty integration of faith using survey responses gathered as part of Phase II of the Council for Christian Colleges &; Universities (CCCU) Denominational Study (Rine, Glanzer, &; Davignon, 2013 Davignon, P., Glanzer, P., &; Rine, P. J. (2013). Assessing the denominational identity of American evangelical colleges and universities: Part III. The student experience. Christian Higher Education, 12, 315–330. doi:10.1080/15363759.2013.825127[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Respondents included 2,074 faculty from 55 institutions. The first model used in this study suggested that the most powerful predictors of faculty integration are full-time employment status, earning a degree from an institution that shares the same denominational affiliation, and a match between the faculty member's religious denominational affiliation and the institutional affiliation. A second logistic regression model added faculty academic specialization as a predictor of integration to investigate if that model was a better fit. Results suggested that religion and philosophy instructors are the most likely to integrate faith into their teaching, and professors specializing in computer science, math, and engineering were the least likely. As faculty are considered the primary influence on the integration of faith and learning, existing faculty and institutional administrators concerned with maintaining faith in the classroom may want to consider the contributing factors discussed.     

Reading Achievement in the Middle School Years: A Study Investigating Growth Patterns by High Incidence Disability

Numerous research studies (e.g., Anderson, Kutash, &; Duchnowski, 2001; Lane, Carter, Pierson, &; Glaeser, 2006 Lane, K. L., Carter, E. W., Pierson, M. R., &; Glaeser, B. C. (2006). Academic, social and behavioral characteristics of high school students with emotional disturbances or learning disabilities. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 14, 108–117. doi:10.1177/10634266060140020101[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Volpe, Dupaul, Jitendra, &; Tresco, 2009 Volpe, R. J., Dupaul, G. J., Jitendra, A. K., &; Tresco, K. E. (2009). Consultation-based academic interventions for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Effects on reading and mathematics outcomes at 1-year follow-up. School Psychology Review, 38, 5–13.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Wei, Blackorby, &; Schiller, 2011 Wei, X., Blackorby, J., &; Schiller, E. (2011). Growth in reading achievement of students with disabilities, age 7 to 17. Exceptional Children, 78, 89–106.[Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) have shown that students with disabilities generally exhibit lower reading scores than their peers without disabilities. However, questions remain about the possibility of longitudinal differences among high-incidence disability classifications (e.g., speech/language impairments, SLI; emotional disturbances, ED; learning disabilities, LD; and attention deficit disorders, ADD). This study investigated growth patterns in reading achievement among middle school students from 5th to 8th grade with different high incidence disability classifications on one state's high-stakes assessment. After a repeated measures analysis of variance and post hoc testing, results reveal that students identified as LD and SLI evidenced more growth in reading than those classified as either ADD or ED. In light of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 legislation, findings about the various growth patterns are discussed with respect to policy, measurement, and practical implications.     

The Emotional Learning of Educators Working in Alternative Provision

Working with pupils who are on the edge of exclusion is not an easy job; in fact, it is more than just a job. This study investigates the emotional involvement of educators (teachers and mentors) working with pupils who have been permanently, or are at risk of being, excluded from mainstream education This article presents different forms of emotional learning that take place in educational practice. Specifically, it explores the emotional relationships that educators have with pupils and each other. It also draws on the concept of emotional geography (Hargreaves, 2001a Hargreaves, A. (2001a). The emotional geographies of teaching. Teachers College Record, 103, 1056–1080.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2001b Hargreaves, A. (2001b). The emotional geographies of teachers' relations with colleagues. International Journal of International Research, 35, 503–527. [Google Scholar]) to theorize the emotional interactions that the educators are expected to have with their pupils, because overcoming emotional distance is seen as a vitally important part of their work as educators of excluded pupils. The research shows that emotional learning is understood by educators as a dynamic process that they can play a part in shaping, rather than being a passive process in which they are silent actors, and that harmful experiences can have a constructive outcome.     

Interrogating Discursive Data: How News Media Narratives Assemble Truths About the Teaching Profession

This project provides a framework for interrogating the language often used in media reporting on education, and making those often hidden ideological underpinnings more visible. Explored through this analysis are the language, metaphors, logic, and rhetorical devices used by various news media reporting on educational concerns, and in particular the concerns revolving around teacher quality and teacher preparation, which allow the construction and circulation of specific kinds of knowledge and assert certain kinds of truths. This analysis is guided by the premise that education writ large, which includes the profession of teaching as well as the field of teacher preparation, is charged with helping students, our youngest citizens, develop an understanding of the practices and problems of people-power, self-rule, and shared governance in our democratic society. If education primarily involves preparing students for democratic citizenship, as a long history of scholarship has established (Barber, 2001 Barber, B. (2001). An aristocracy of everyone. In S. J. Goodlad (Ed.), The last best hope: A democracy reader (pp. 11–22). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. [Google Scholar]; Bean &; Apple, 1995 Beane, J. A., &; Apple, M. W. (1995). Democratic schools. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. [Google Scholar]; Beard, 1937 Beard, C. (1937). The unique function of education in American democracy. Washington, DC: National Education Association. [Google Scholar]; Dewey, 1916 Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. New York, NY: Free Press. [Google Scholar]; Bode, 1937 Bode, B. H. (1937). Democracy as a way of life. New York, NY: Macmillan. [Google Scholar]; Giroux, 1989 Giroux, H. (1989). Schooling for democracy: Critical pedagogy in the modern age. London, England: Routledge. [Google Scholar]; Gore, 1993 Gore, J. (1993). The struggle for pedagogies: Critical and feminist discourses as regimes of truth. New York, NY: Routledge. [Google Scholar]; Gutman, 1999 Gutmann, A. (1999). Democratic education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; McLaren, 2001 McLaren, P., &; Farahmandpur, R. (2001). Educational policy and the socialist imagination: Revolutionary citizenship as a pedagogy of resistance. Educational Policy, 15(3), 343–378. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904801015003002.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Nussbaum, 2010 Nussbaum, M. (2010). Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [Google Scholar]), educating citizens to critically examine, analyze, and understand social worlds is essential to democracy.     

Student Perceptions of Autonomy-Supportive Instructional Interactions in the Middle Grades

Autonomy support in classrooms is believed to coordinate students' inner motivational resources in ways that enhance student engagement (e.g., Jang, Kim, &; Reeve, 2012 Jang, H., Kim, E. J., &; Reeve, J. (2012). Longitudinal test of self-determination theory's motivation mediation model in a naturally occurring classroom context. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(4), 1175–1188. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028089[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Yet, to our knowledge, no study has investigated student-generated interpretations of the motivational significance of their teachers' autonomy-supportive practices. Interpretations gathered from students' responses to video clips of their own teacher were studied with a diverse sample of students (N = 59, 50.8% male, 64.4% African American) in six urban classrooms from fourth- to eighth-grade class sections. Through this method of cued video response, we explore whether or not students experience the significance of autonomy-supportive instructional events or interactions as motivational theory predicts. Our results suggest that consideration of the social and relational features of the classrooms within which teachers enact autonomy support may identify influential contextual factors relevant to how and why autonomy support is linked to positive outcomes.     

Involvement of working memory in mental multiplication in Chinese elementary students

The authors' aim was to examine the relation between two-digit mental multiplication and working memory. In Study 1, involving 30 fifth-grade students, we used digit span backward as an abbreviated measure of working memory. In Study 2, involving 41 fourth-grade students, working memory comprised measures of phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and central executive (i.e., updating) based on A. Miyake et al. (2000 Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., &; Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49–100.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). In Study 1, working memory measured through the use of digit span backward explained unique variance in response time. In Study 2, participants' accuracy and response time were most susceptible to phonological loop influence. The findings support the argument that multiplication facts are stored in a verbal form and the retrieval of multiplication facts relies more on verbal modality. Unique features of Chinese mathematics instruction of mental multiplication were discussed. The findings suggested that the involvement of different subcomponents of working memory in mental arithmetic may be subject to instructional, contextual, and linguistic factors.     

A mixed methods comparison of teachers' lunar modeling lesson implementation and student learning outcomes

The authors compare three teachers' adaptations and implementation of a lunar modeling lesson to explain marked differences in student learning outcomes on a spatial-scientific lunar assessment. They used a modified version of the Practices of Science Observation Protocol (P-SOP; Forbes, Biggers, &; Zangori, 2013 Forbes C., Biggers, M., &; Zangori, L. (2013). Investigating essential characteristics of scientific practices in elementary science learning environments: The practices of science observation protocol (P-SOP). School Science and Mathematics, 113, 180–190.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) to identify ways in which features of inquiry were emphasized in each classroom. Additionally, classroom communities of practice were categorized as task-based or practice-based (Riel &; Polin, 2004 Riel, M. &; Polin, L. (2004). Learning communities: Common ground and critical differences in designing technical support. In S. Barab, R. Kling, &; J. Gray (Eds.), Designing for virtual communities in the service of learning (pp. 16–52). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). The authors found that student learning outcomes were related to the fidelity with which the teachers implemented the lesson. Teachers with higher P-SOP scores fostered more of a practice-based learning community than task-based one, which also paralleled greater student learning gains. Although the students' scores did not differ by teacher on the preassessment, they did differ significantly on the postassessment, indicating that the curricular choices and learning communities developed by the teachers impacted what students were able to learn.     

Examining a motivational treatment and its impact on adolescents' reading comprehension and fluency

The authors' purpose was to examine adolescents' reading motivation in relation to standardized assessments of reading comprehension and fluency. After a reading pretest, 60 ninth-grade students (M age = 14.9 years) were randomly assigned to two groups. Compared to those in the control condition, those administered brief oral feedback intended to improve motivation indicated an increased focus on mastery goals and greater perceived control during a reading posttest. No differences were found with regard to four other aspects of motivation. Students in the treatment condition, including struggling readers more specifically, did not score better on the posttest measures of reading comprehension or fluency. Hence, results failed to replicate Zentall and Lee's (2012 Zentall, S. S., &; Lee, J. (2012). A reading motivation intervention with differential outcomes for students at risk for reading disabilities, ADHD, and typical comparisons: ‘Clever is and clever does’. Learning Disability Quarterly, 35, 248–259. doi:10.1177/0731948712438556[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) findings with younger readers. Findings are discussed with regard to the theoretical and practical implications for understanding reading motivation.     

Teaching for Wisdom in an Intergenerational High-School-English Class

Although the psychological benefits of intergenerational learning environments have been well documented, no study has yet investigated wisdom as an outcome of intergenerational classroom engagement. In this study, Elders between the age 60–89 were recruited to participate in a high-school English classroom. We hypothesized that participating in an intergenerational high-school classroom would benefit both Elders and Students by fostering the conditions for both groups to develop greater psychological wisdom. Our findings indicate that both Elders and Students actively engaged the five dimensions of wisdom identified by Webster (2003 Webster, J. D. (2003). An exploratory analysis of a self-assessed wisdom scale. Journal of Adult Development, 10(1), 13–22.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2007 Webster, J. D. (2007). Measuring the character strength of wisdom. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 65(2), 163–183.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) during their time in the intergenerational class. Further, we find that while Students and Elders both demonstrated aspects of wisdom, they understood the concept of wisdom in strikingly different ways.