News

Associate Professor Jill Castek is the principal investigator on a new project supported by the National Science Foundation on how best to develop inclusive studio-based learning environments. Castek and Assistant Professor Blaine Smith will be collaborating across campus with Kevin Bonine, Jennifer Nichols, and Leslie Sult from UA Biosphere 2, and the UA Libraries,...

The Indigenous Teacher Education Project (ITEP) is a 4-year project in partnership with the Gila River Indian Community, Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Tohono O'odham Nation, and Tucson Unified School District to strengthen the learning experiences of indigenous students by addressing the need to increase the number of Indigenous teachers serving Indigenous students, schools, and communities. The project is led...

In an effort to provide teachers with curricular resources for incorporating anti-bullying lessons into social studies content, William Smith, Jina Yoon, and Charlotte Iurino are working to disrupt bullying behaviors in middle and high school. The initial phase of research includes outreach to social studies teachers, which was funded by the Smith Endowment.

In this study, Blaine Smith closely examines 10th-grade students as they collaboratively create multimodal projects connected to literature in multilingual ELA classes. Findings from this project will advance the field in understanding how students’ literacy-learning is revealed, and how it travels and transforms across different modalities in digital environments. The outcome will also aid English...

We often think shouting is the way to get our voice to carry, but evidence of whistle languages around the globe prove otherwise. Whistle languages were developed specifically for the efficiency of communication between people over distance. On the island of La Gomera, one of the smallest of the Canary Islands, ‘el silbo’ is one such ancient whistling language. A large community used ‘el silbo’ to get sometimes-urgent messages across the...

Assistant Professor Leah Durán is the recipient of the 2019 Urquides Laureate Award for her outstanding contributions in bilingual education on behalf of children. Experience teaching elementary school in bilingual and ESL classrooms in Texas drove Durán’s research to explore the relationship between language, literacy, and young children’s learning, with a focus on bilingual Latina/o children.

Durán served as the Richard Ruiz Scholar...

As an expert in youth literature, professor Kathy Short has held a passion for books since she was a child. Worlds of Words, the country's largest collection of global children's books, has grown from that passion and Short’s desire to connect children and books.

This literature collection aims to build bridges across global cultures and acts as a training ground for preservice and classroom teachers to...

Worlds of Words is a feature of the children/teen section at the Tucson Festival of Books. The WOW booth at the festival promotes global understandings through children’s literature and invites community members to visit the collection to expand their knowledge on global perspectives. In order to connect with the community at the festival, Worlds of Words intern, Lacy Nehls and her team engaged patrons in a space theme, Take One Giant Leap by...

Cooper Center for Environmental Learning was selected by the Angel Charity for Children for their $10,000 scholarship award. The impact of this award is tremendous and will fund overnight field trips at Cooper for 940 elementary students during the 2019-20 school year. These students from low-income schools and neighborhoods will have the opportunity...

The International Student Teaching Program, a new program at the UA operated by our college and Study Abroad, was established last year for students studying elementary education and mild to moderate special education at the university. The program, which is coordinated by the college's Maggie Shafer and Sylvia Munsen, provides UA students with an...