Research has shown that when Merrill's First Principles of Instruction are used as part of an instructional strategy, student learning increases. Several articles describe these principles of instruction, including specific methods for implementing this theory. However, because teachers and designers often have little time to design instruction,…

The purpose of this article is to chart improvement in student achievement by use of a new teaching strategy. An additional goal is to discover if an increase in student achievement might also increase students' interest, motivation, and sense of value in learning the subject (in this case, secondary social studies education). A third goal is to…

A great deal has been written in the English as a second language (ESL) literature on what vocabulary building entails and on how vocabulary should be taught. There is, however, little consensus on methodology and there are few good vocabulary texts. In order to develop a procedure for vocabulary building in ESL, some recent articles on vocabulary…

A competency-based, introductory social science course for college students is described. Objectives of the manual are twofold--first, to present the complete set of materials which have served as the basis of a one semester social sciences course at the University of Louisville over three years, and, second, to offer suggestions regarding…

Discusses the difficulty of reflection in teaching given the norms of the profession and the context of the work. The article describes research on ways teachers adapt and tailor lessons to changing circumstances and class populations, and reports on teachers' reflective practices. (GLR)

The CAG "Communicator" focus is on serving gifted students in California. This document consists of the four issues of "communicator" issued during 1997. Featured articles include: (1) "The Gifted Student At Risk. It Can't Be True" (Judy Roseberry); (2) "Tech Net-Technology and At-Risk Students" (Judy Lieb); (3) "Reviving Ophelia: Saving the…