The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas

This study aims to assess the effect of experiential learning coupled with thinking-based learning (TBL) pedagogy in developing higher-order thinking skills. We utilized OLabs, a virtual lab, as a mode of experiential electronic learning for the topic “chemical reactions.”

The proliferation of mobile technology, particularly cell phones, in educational settings has sparked substantial debate in recent years. Academic studies have extensively examined the challenges associated with student cell phone use during class time, highlighting issues such as decreased learning, achievement, and participation. Despite the negative impacts, students express a strong desire to retain the right to use their devices, underscoring the need for policies that consider student perspectives. Research suggests that involving students in the establishment of cell phone policies can lead to increased compliance and engagement. Educators play a crucial role in navigating the role of cell phones in education by fostering open communication, collaboration and empowering students to make responsible technology decisions. Strategies such as the 3Cs - construct, collaborate, and create - serve as effective means to engage students in meaningful learning activities while mitigating distractions. Additionally, research reveals that cell phones also have productive uses for conducting research, communicating, and accessing information. By embracing technology as a tool for learning and hearing students’ perspectives, educators can create inclusive and supportive learning environments that maximize the benefits of cell phones while addressing individual student needs and concerns.

Since ChatGPT launched in 2022, teachers and administrators have had the challenge of using generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) effectively while minimizing the negative consequences of its presence in schools. Today, AI-enabled lesson plan generators such as Diffit and MagicSchool AI are widely available to teachers, but no research has explored the quality of the lesson plans these tools produce. This leaves administrators with few guidelines to support teachers’ effective use of these products. This study addresses this need by using qualitative content analysis methods to compare the outputs from these AI lesson plan generators. We analyzed the extent to which these outputs matched an evidence-based lesson planning framework: Universal Design for Learning/Universal Design for Transition (UDL/UDT). Results show that AI-generated lesson plans have minimal alignment with UDL/ UDT and require teacher-initiated modifications to successfully support learners with diverse needs. These findings suggest that the products of AI lesson plan generators may lack the specificity needed to provide novel ideas for experienced teachers, although they may be useful for teachers in their inductive years, or occasionally for experienced teachers. We conclude with suggestions to align AI-produced lesson plans with the UDL/UDT tenets of engagement, representation, and expression.

Principals are critical for disrupting systems that bar racially diverse students from learning opportunities and belonging in schools. Issues of inequity due to systemic racism have been ongoing and politically heightened in the United States as the nation navigates racial tensions within school systems. Research on antiracist school leadership has resulted in important, timely, and relevant frameworks for practice and popular strategies and programs, including courageous conversation and restorative justice programs. However, the process of how to practice antiracist leadership remains difficult and elusive in the translation of theory to praxis. Particularly, principals are rarely trained to develop healthy communication styles and effective conflict resolution skills, especially in conversations about racism. Borrowing from the field of counseling, this article details Gottman’s Four Horsemen model of conflict and their resolutions at the interpersonal level. This article frames the model within school contexts for principals to practice and empower their communication skills around race when setting antiracist and equitable school agendas. Recognizing the Four Horsemen and practicing the antidotes to conflicts are important skills for principals to effectively engage in difficult, contentious, and often emotional conversations around racism and its impacts on racially diverse students. Recommendations for principals and preparation programs are provided.

Nationally recognized social justice standards guide educators in developing social justice education. Absent from the guidance are tools to conduct initial formative assessment or to measure the impact of related instruction. To fill that gap, an academic researcher and 10th-grade teacher used a 3-phased, 9-step process to develop, pilot test, and evaluate a self-assessment tool called the Social Justice Educational Assessment Scale (SJEAS). In Phase 1, the team created the SJEAS items, aligning each with the Learning for Justice 9th–12th-grade social justice learning outcomes to ensure content validity. In Phase 2, they pretested the questions, revised the scale, and administered it to 322 student participants. Next, they conducted inter-item and total-item correlation tests and principal component analysis to ensure internal consistency. In Phase 3, they evaluated the SJEAS. Preliminary results indicate the SJEAS could provide educators and curriculum coordinators with a practical formative assessment and impact evaluation tool for social justice education aligned with nationally recognized learning outcomes. Complementary data, including classroom assignments and student discussions, would further enhance its value.