Maria Andree focuses on an immigrant student whose error in a laboratory activity leads to a novel, colorful outcome that she excitedly shares with peers. After engaging in class activities for a few weeks she returns to her earlier dislike of science, saying: "I hate science, particularly Chemistry." The classroom activity system…

The numbers of disconnected youths (adolescents and young adults aged 16 to 21 who have dropped out of school and who don't have jobs) in adult education programs continue to grow at the Turning Point Educational Center in Brooklyn, New York. These youths can be particularly challenging to teach. They often have negative attitudes toward what they…

This paper, which is particularly centered on the student's learning process, is the first half of a detailed study of selectivity in Whitehead?s philosophy of education. Here, by setting forth the analogy between the creative process exhibited in Whitehead's Theory of Prehensions and the learning process through an interpretation of the term,…

The author asserts that teachers must interest children more directly in the actual process of learning. She suggests having students keep "learning logs" in which they reflect back over their classwork and examine their intentions, observations, and feelings during the school day. She presents examples from several such student diaries.…

Explores using Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences for folklore analysis. States that when listening to folktales, linguistic intelligence was used, as opposed to drawing pictures of the stories, which used spatial intelligence. Provides some ideas on how to bring folklore studies and the use of multiple intelligences into the classroom. (PA)

Describes learning log assignments for college students in a developmental studies program. Notes that the assignments call for students to reflect on specific cognitive aspects of learning giving them the opportunity to explore their own thinking, evaluate their own progress, and promote metacognitive awareness. Describes learning log assignments…

Suggests that accommodating students' learning styles will bring English classrooms alive. Discusses various learning styles. Describes five strategies for kinesthetic learners. (RS)

In this article, Graham Nuthall critiques four major types of research on teaching effectiveness: studies of best teachers, correlational and experimental studies of teaching-learning relationships, design studies, and teacher action and narrative research. He gathers evidence about the kind of research that is most likely to bridge the…

Reviews recent research related to metacognition and mathematical problem-solving performance. Offers suggestions for classroom activities to teach the skills of metacognition (i.e., plan, monitor, and evaluate thinking) in the context of mathematics. Offers instructor observations and students' self-evaluations about the types of metacognitive…

Argues that the teaching of grammar supplements learners' natural tendency to formulate and test hypotheses about the language. Complicated linguistic analyses can impede this process. Pedagogical grammar can be made less formal by keeping the analysis and metalanguage to the minimum. (36 references) (Author/CK)

Autonomous language learning is justified by three arguments: the ideological, the psychological, and the economic. This paper discusses how teachers can use autonomous learning as an approach to the curriculum as a whole, bridging the gap between public classroom activities and private learning activity, and examining all practices from the…

Focuses on the teaching of language "per se," in the part of the lesson that often precedes work with a passage and the interactional activities that result from that exploitation. The optimum three-way split between formal language work, grammar-awareness raising, and communicative activities will vary from class to class. (CK)

Maintains that it is not the volume of information about diverse groups that will help children develop attitudes of respect and appreciation of differences; rather, it is the skill of processing such information in a positive manner. Concrete examples illustrate the different process skills which should be introduced in school. (Author/BB)

This book is intended for practicing or aspiring faculty who are interested in a learner perspective. It can be used individually or collectively in orientations, graduate teaching seminars, and faculty development seminars. Recognizing that most college faculty learned to teach using the lecture method, and that while the lecture method is not…

Focuses on the effect of using a second language in the classroom and the series of mental situations created in the listener in this environment. The second entry in this section discusses what is required in a student who listens to the news in a foreign language on a daily basis as presented by Radio Canada. (CK)