Many students believe that math is something one learns about, but they do not understand that it is a tool for learning about other concepts. Mathematics is a language used to describe the relationship between objects, events, and time. Learning math requires that a student interacts with a system of symbols just as a person interacts with…

Recently, much attention has been placed on the issue of bullying in schools, both in the United States and in foreign countries. Countries like Norway, Sweden, Japan, and Australia have been at the center of attention on issues related to bullying. It is generally believed that incidences of bullying are quite common among middle school students…

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS), this report examined the prospective relationships between educational expectations and academic achievement among students (n = 10,262) surveyed and tested in Grades 8, 10, and 12. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that between Grades 8 and 10 the path from achievement to…

Wireless devices and the networks that support them are becoming more common in Alberta schools. WiFi is a wireless networking technology that allows computers and other devices to communicate over a wireless signal. Typically the signal is carried by radio waves over an area of up to 100 meters. Through the implementation of a WiFi network,…

Education leaders are re-examining acceptable use policies in light of the increasing use of highly mobile information technologies. While acceptable use policies were developed to manage and control behaviour, a digital citizenship policy takes a more comprehensive approach by recognizing the important role of education in preparing digital…

Medical doctor and geologist Dr. Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden selected more than 30 scientists, technical personnel, and artists, including photographer William Henry Jackson and painter Thomas Moran, to join the survey of the Yellowstone region in northwest Wyoming territory. Thomas Moran was an accomplished artist when he joined the survey to…

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Whatever its merits as a matter of policy, it was a historic legislative achievement. No prior administration had successfully pushed national health reform through Congress, despite several attempts. Understandably, the mood at the act's…

Teaching about China can often be difficult because Chinese culture is very different from the culture of most American students. Students in social studies classes can find it hard to relate to such a distant and unfamiliar country. As China becomes a more and more integral part of the social studies curriculum, teachers must find effective…

In this article the author reflects on her visits to American schools to talk about the experiences she describes in "Red Scarf Girl." In her book, she explains picture by picture, story after story how she and her family lived in darkness, how they were brainwashed, and about the concentration of power in China. She stresses that American kids…

Today's schools and teachers are challenged with meeting the demands of specific content standards, high stakes assessment, and developing students from diverse backgrounds to be capable of competing in a global market. These twenty-first century students must not only possess critical thinking skills and the ability to process information, but…

"Kony 2012," the video by Invisible Children that went viral in March, offers an extraordinary teaching moment, as millions of teens across the country now know and care about a Ugandan warlord named Joseph Kony and the abducted children forced to serve in his militia. Many of these American young people hope to play a role in bringing him to…

One study, covering the last 25 years, reports that undergraduates in college complete about 30 percent of assigned work. Would it be surprising--in these days of DVRs, Internet, texting, email, and video games--if high school and middle school students' homework completion rates were even less? What are teachers to do? Comprehension strategies,…

When the author was growing up in East Los Angeles his mother told him about the "classy" gangsters of East L.A. who wore Zoot Suits. Through research, he learned that the Zoot Suiters were much more than well-dressed Latinos: they had a sense of honor and pride and exhibited class under adverse circumstances. In August of 1942, Jose Diaz, a…

The author truly believes that the marginalization of social studies is not only harming the profession, it is jeopardizing the democracy. But if social studies is in jeopardy, consider the colleagues in the arts and music. Art and music programs have been reduced or eliminated in thousands of schools throughout the nation. Marginalizing art and…

On Monday, September 17, 1787, 39 delegates to the Federal Convention in Philadelphia signed the Constitution of the United States, along with Major William Jackson, who had served as the secretary of the Convention. That same day, Jackson received instructions to leave for New York City on Tuesday and carry the document to Congress. All of these…