Young adolescents have unique basic and developmental needs. Middle level educators are best able to reach and teach young adolescents when they understand students' needs and when the school environment, including its organizational structures and teacher practices, are responsive to these needs. Findings from a recently conducted…

Just as science education is too often limited to the acquisition of facts, technology education is too often limited to proficient use of technology. Neither of these goals fully realize a robust definition of science and technology literacy. To achieve greater science and technology literacy, students must understand the natures of both science…

In this article, the author describes her use of dramatic performance to promote tellability in narrative writing within a seventh and eighth grade English and language arts classroom. By experiencing dramatic performance, the students were able to actively and physically perform the writing process: brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing.…

Teachers, parents, and librarians are constantly looking for methods and materials that engage students as readers and motivate them to increase the time they spend reading. In this article we describe findings from a study of middle schoolers' magazine reading habits that gave us a close look at the power of magazines as supplemental supports for…

Cyberbullying and threats of Internet predators, not to mention the enduring consequences of postings, may lead to dangerous, unspeakable consequences. Cyberbullying and threats of Internet predators through social networking sites and instant messaging programs are initiating numerous problems for parents, school administrators, and law…

This qualitative study examines how a group of social studies teachers working in a suburban middle school with a predominantly affluent and white student body conceptualize multicultural and global education. The data reveals that several of the teachers experienced difficulties conceptualizing multicultural and global education, used them…

Teachers are novices at any stage of their careers when they are faced with incidents that disrupt their expected patterns of teaching and learning. A first-day-of-school incident experienced by the author illustrates the evolution of a teacher's personal pedagogical theory construction, which is ultimately illuminated through the lens of Nel…

Dividing by zero can be confusing for students at all levels. If teachers are to provide clear and understandable explanations of this topic, they must possess a strong conceptual understanding of it themselves. In this article, the authors present qualitative data on fourth- through eighth-grade teachers' perceptions of division by zero. They…

"Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" outlines essential features crucial to teaching mathematics so that all students have opportunities to learn mathematics content with conceptual understanding. Although the document outlines extensive goals for the teaching and learning of mathematics, the majority of classrooms fall short in its…

In this article, the author presents an innovative approach to teaching multiplication facts for children in middle school or younger. After introducing the dangers of some contradictions that persist, relating a brief summary of related research and guidelines regarding math facts and their relation to strategic approaches to more complex math,…