Ksenia S. Zhbanova

Emerging Qualities of Effective Teaching: Embracing New Literacies

Abstract In response to calls for changes in teaching and teacher education, the authors propose a framework for change called the Emerging Qualities of Effective Teaching Continuum. The continuum integrates critical components that identify the movement of education from a teacher-centered focus toward a focus in which teacher and student work together to shape the learning process in a technologically enhanced world. This new focus requires both students and teachers to embrace new literacies that have been reframed for the demands of a global context.

Pop-Up Constructions Motivate and Reinforce Science Learning for Upper Elementary Students

ABSTRACT Pop-up boxes and folder constructions support student inquiry while integrating art, craft, spatial, and creativity skills. Step-by-step illustrated directions for constructing pop-up boxes are provided with example images of pop-up boxes focused on ecological issues. Teachers used these pop-up constructions to assist fourth- and fifth-grade students in understanding environmental problems with youth-implemented solutions. Classroom testing showed that combining art with science through pop-up constructions allowed students to be creative, to have both minds-on and hands-on activity, and to use motor and spatial skills in constructing the pop-ups, along with paper engineering concepts in their pop-up designs. Teachers reported strong student engagement, collaboration, and productivity during the lessons, with students expressing enjoyment in the activity. Examples of two additional pop-ups addressing the topic areas of simple machines and ecosystems are provided.

Guardians of the Earth: Teaching Children to Care for All Living Things

Across cultures, people show affinity to nature, but today’s children have little contact to develop a strong bond. Children’s ways of knowing differ from the abstract, logical ways of adults, focusing instead on sensory and emotional perceptions. Children need to develop a love for nature through unstructured access to natural areas before learning about endangered species. Many factors affect human attitudes toward organisms: media portrayal, physical and behavioral attributes, genetic closeness to humans, cultural and religious factors, and perceived danger. Learning about local fauna and flora can influence preferences from charismatic species to appreciating more modest local organisms. Familiar animals are generally valued with education affecting these attitudes. Humane education programs of several approaches (curriculum-blended, literature-focused, and animal project-based) abound, but their efficacy has not been well documented in the literature. A recent humane education program by the authors is discussed along with examples of animal poetry that the author developed for use with first and second grade students.