This article focuses on the unintended consequences of within-class ability grouping on primary students of mathematics. I review relevant research, including promising approaches to teaching in mixed ability settings. I then outline four ways in which these groupings are typically structured, discussing some of the issues that arise with each of…

Current policy in England, informed by a version of cognitive science, enforces an absolute distinction between experts and novices, or teachers and learners; from this binary, operating in tandem with regimes of performativity instantiated in a curriculum shaped by high-stakes testing, are derived particular forms of pedagogy and particular…

This article provides an example of how the World Café method can be used as a platform to encourage reflection on internationalisation in higher education. The World Café is a community engagement method that encourages participants to engage in reflection and dialogue in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. It promotes the use of multiple…

This article discusses individualized instruction in physical education programs and suggests how to implement a "levels approach" to meet student needs. The Secondary Physical Education Curriculum and Resource Guide was prepared to integrate curriculum planning components with a focus on individualization. (DF)

This article provides an evaluation of the rationale for, and impact of, setting with English classes in the second year of secondary school in one Scottish authority. The Council's education department has a long-standing policy of mixed-ability classes in English for the first two years of secondary school (S2). A number of schools approached…

Recent British discussion paper raises issue of how children should be organized for teaching in primary classrooms. Although contrasting relative strengths and limitations of whole class and group organization, paper fails to show how teacher should move from one form of classroom organization to another. Article reviews different classroom…

Reports on the Ecole Moderne, a French educational reform movement that began in the 1920s that views technology as a tool. Through a review of the literature, interviews with leaders of the Freinet movement, and observations of Freinet classrooms in France, the impact of modern technology on the Ecole Moderne movement and implications for…

Cooperative learning aims to enhance students' on-task interactive behaviors in the classroom. Observation in Israeli elementary schools has indicated that interactive behavior of students in their learning sequence holds potential for quality cooperation and help among children, but that teachers lack the skills to structure learning tasks that…

Reggio Emilia's pioneering effort in preschool education has been widely replicated throughout Italy, where almost 90% of nation's children aged 3-6 enroll in national, municipal, private preschools. These preschools are unlike any in the United States. There are no building principals or school boards. America must invest more time, money, and…

Describes pedagogical experiment with emphasis on the student and his/her specific needs and motivations. Involves self- and group work with teacher support. Individual work alternates with group work, focusing on production of a project or task corresponding to objectives defined by members of group. (Author/BK)

Discusses ways in which the simulation technique can be used in classes of 30 or more students by structuring the simulation so that all the students are involved simultaneously, although in different ways. Seven stages are suggested for developing, presenting, and doing a simulation; a sample simulation is presented. (SED)

Contends that geographers in North America, Australia, continental Europe, and developing nations generally teach larger classes than do British geographers. Asserts that British higher education is being transformed from an elite system to a mass educational system. Presents suggestions for teaching large classes. (CFR)

Two models for using information and communication technologies to teach physics to students in remote areas of Canada and Russia are described. In Canada, an intranet electronically links schools in a Newfoundland school district to the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Advanced placement physics is delivered via the Internet. Newfoundland has…

Discusses problems of maintaining higher education geography fieldwork in an era of increasing class size. Presents and describes 13 strategies for coping with these problems. Recommends that individual teachers and geography departments redesign their fieldwork programs in accordance with their priorities. (CFR)

Autonomous learning, which implies the development of attitudes of responsibility and self-awareness related to thought processes on the part of the learner, is examined in the context of the organization and structure of the English public school system. Part 1 discusses autonomous learning and the way in which it may be developed in children…