This article responds to Henry Tam's article in this issue of FORUM by exploring opportunities for co-operative problem-solving for staff and students of the Royal Docks Community School in the London Borough of Newham. Becoming a co-operative trust helped the school move out of special measures and develop a strategy of participation and…

Translating ethics knowledge into ethical behavior is much harder than it appears, writes Sternberg. In this article, he outlines an eight-step process that individuals must go through to act in an ethical way--for example, recognizing that there is an event to which to react, taking personal responsibility for generating an ethical solution to…

This invited commentary includes observations about the article "Building Local Capacity for Training and Coaching Data-Based Problem Solving with Positive Behavior Interventions and Support Teams," published in the July 2011 issue of the "Journal of Applied School Psychology." In this article Newton and colleagues present an interesting field…

The release of "The New Zealand Curriculum" causes us to rethink the aims of education. Dr Cavanagh offers an alternative set of aims to the vision outlined in the Ministry of Education document, which is based, at least in part, on socialisation into the corporate industrial world. Dr Cavanagh's position is focused on putting…

Points out how student cheating illustrates sound principles of teaching and learning, such as negotiation, quality production under time pressure, and collaborative problem solving. (SR)

Contends that students must learn to adopt a lateral way of thinking, which generates multiple solutions, to resolve their problems. Offers examples of heuristics (plans of attack) that students can use to better approach their problems, such as: visualizing the situation, exploring ideas, choosing a strategy, finding a solution, and checking to…

Provides educators with a problem-solving process that can be used in K-12 classrooms. Defines, in particular, a solution-focused problem-solving strategy that emphasizes goal identification and implementation. States that this technique helps make positive behavioral changes in students' lives by focusing on future solutions instead of past…

This article discusses the author's experiences with the reflective discipline approach. It concludes that for the author, using this system dramatically reduced classroom discipline problems and acting out no longer garners an amused audience of peers. Finally, and the author finds, perhaps most importantly, this solution teaches children to…

Examines reasons why some elementary and secondary students learn programming in BASIC and LOGO much better than others suggesting this happens because students bring different learning patterns to the programming context. Pitfalls novices face in learning programming are discussed, and instructional design suggestions to foster better learning…

Action learning is recommended for music educators because it has theoretical and practical merits. There are three levels of action goals for action learning. Guidelines can help teachers implement an effective action learning program. (Author/AM)

Time spent on disciplining children in the classroom is time taken away from achieving the objectives of instruction. The classroom teacher needs to have appropriate guidelines to use in teaching as well as specific workable procedures which help students to achieve. This paper discusses various methods of classroom discipline. The paper first…

Critiques five articles from an online research journal in middle-level education on mathematical problem solving, social inclusion of students with disabilities in physical education, school and dispositional aggression among middle school boys, problem-based learning, and students' views of futuristics. Asserts that embracing the view that all…

Describes research in two different domains: novices learning programing, and school pupils interpreting Cartesian graphs. Findings in each domain are discussed, but the main focus is an examination of the extent to which general principles and issues apply across both domains. Research implications for instructional design are discussed.…

Explains factors that influence novice teachers' discipline problems to help students, novice teachers, and teacher educators deal with the problems. The article describes assertiveness as a process for dealing with and preventing such problems and discusses reasons why it can be useful and effective. (SM)

Lack of student use of critical thinking operations can lead to faulty argumentation in discussing societal issues. Presents 12 common fallacies in student argumentation and discusses their implications for science education. (Contains 51 references.) (MDH)