Books & Resources

Think Rather of Zebra is a collection of insightful short stories adapted from more than 40 classic and modern folktales, reset in an urban neighbourhood. Stailey's two main characters, Pete and Carlos, tell stories and adventures from their poor neighbourhood through which the reader learns about the "hidden rules" of economic class. Each chapter relates to a section in A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Dr Ruby Payne, along with her questions to be used for discussion. The books is useful for understanding people from different economic classes, and builds mutual respect for the skills that arise naturally from each economic environment.

Marzano's Taxonomy is a must-have resource for all directors of curriculum and instruction, directors of staff development, principals and teachers. Developed by Robert J. Marzano and John S. Kendall, internationally recognised experts in the development and improvement of standards for education, this field-tested and proven reference contains the most current research on the nature of knowledge and cognition and a reflection of the movement to standards-based education. Based on three domains of knowledge and six levels of processing, this essential guide offers specific applications for designing and classifying educational objectives, creating assessments, redesigning learning standards, formulating curriculum and outlining a thinking-skills curriculum.

If it is our goal to see an increase in student levels of engagement, an improvement in student performance standards and learners skilled, then we have to rethink what our instruction. In Where Thinking and Learning Meet, Lane Clark challenges our individual and systemic educational beliefs and practices.

Now you can challenge your students with the complexities of energy needs, supplies and policies. As part of the Our Only Earth series for Years 7-10, this revised Australian edition of Our Only Earth: Energy Crisis informs students about the energy issues facing the world now and in the future, then empowers them to take action. Through fact cards, activities and journals designed to get students thinking about social and environmental sustainability, each book based on the integrated Our Only Earth framework explores real-life geographical issues and suggests possible solutions. As of 2014, the series has been updated to show correlations to the Australian Curriculum, both specifically within the subject of geography and generally across all learning areas.

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) research refers to experiments conducted to address problems in those fields that can be tested using the scientific method. The scientific method is an inquiry process used to systematically study, investigate and to provide explanations for observed phenomenon in the natural world. This method is used by STEM professionals to answer questions they have about important world problems and usually includes carefully orchestrating a situation that allows them to observe, measure and test their ideas.

With Hands-On Science: Simple Machines, students will investigate the concepts of force, work, power, efficiency and mechanical advantage. They will experience how simple machines, such as ramps, wedges, levers, pulleys and gears, operate. Engage their minds as they observe, investigate and examine the wonders of simple machines with these hands-on lessons! Simple Machines provides low-cost activities that increase conceptual understanding. With this resource, you get 17 hands-on activities in which students manipulate equipment, interpret data, evaluate experimental design and apply scientific methods and rich, engaging projects that correlate with Australian Curriculum: Science content descriptions for Years 7-10, that are easily integrated into any physical science or physics classroom.

The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units offers instructional modules on the basic concepts and elements of Understanding by Design (UbD), the "backward design" approach used by thousands of educators to create curriculum units and assessments that focus on developing students' understanding of important ideas. The eight modules are organised around the UbD Template Version 2.0 and feature components similar to what is typically provided in a UbD design workshop, including: Discussion and explanation of key ideas in the module; Guiding exercises, worksheets and design tips.

This guide offers instructional modules on how to refine units created using Understanding by Design (UbD) and how to effectively review the units using self-assessment and peer review, along with observation and supervision. The guide builds upon its companion and predecessor, The Understanding By Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units and is intended for use by individuals or groups in K–16 education who want to further develop their skills in UbD. Users can work through the modules in order or pick and choose, depending on their interests and needs.

In this series, two experienced practitioners of the flipped classroom explain a powerful approach to teaching where students watch recorded lectures for homework and complete their assignments, labs and tests in class. Discover how this "flipped classroom" approach helps struggling students, differentiates instruction and increases opportunities for classroom formative assessment.

Translating Data into Information to Improve Teaching and Learning helps educators think through the selection of meaningful data elements and effective data tools to strengthen their understanding of how to increase the quality of data and data reports at each educational level. Complementing her Using Data to Improve Student Learning series, she offers advice on collecting types of data useful to school improvement plans, improving the quality of data, planning for a data warehouse to translate data into information, data discovery and mapping, selecting analytical data tools, training for use of the data warehouse, and managing the warehouse. The final chapters comprise case studies demonstrating successful and problematic plans; the appendix contains rubrics for continuous improvement.

The Black Box series offers easy-to-read advice for teachers on how to implement the key techniques within formative assessment. This set includes: Inside the Black Box; Working Inside the Black Box; Primary Years; English; Maths; Science; Geography; ICT; Foreign Languages; Design and Digital Technologies; and Inside the Black Box of Assessment .