Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play an essential role in the teaching of introductory chemistry courses at many higher education institutions. On the basis of best practices suggested by the literature, we developed our GTA training course to focus on modeling best practices in the classroom, providing opportunities for incoming GTAs to try…

In the current U.S. sociopolitical climate marked by rising racial tension and civil unrest, social work students and educators are engaged in dialogues throughout the country regarding the role of the profession in combating injustice. The emergence of the Movement for Black Lives as well as numerous high-profile police shootings of unarmed Black…

The isolation related to the COVID-19 pandemic is causing both physical and mental health concerns for children worldwide. When the pandemic is over, schools and kindergartens represent a crucial context that can play an important role in promoting young people's well-being. This paper presents a school re-entry program aimed at creating an arena…

We report an intensive graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training program developed at The University of Chicago. The program has been assessed and has been successful in preparing GTAs for effective discussion and laboratory teaching for both general and organic chemistry. We believe that this training program can provide insightful information…

How can history museums incorporate Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) activities while preserving their missions and identities? How do interdisciplinary experiences lead to learning? A cross-institutional exhibit development and evaluation team wrestled with these ideas as they developed "Create.Connect," an National…

Disciplinary literacy encompasses not only the ability to read the texts of a discipline, but also to engage in the practices and discourse of that discipline. At the center of the discipline of history is inquiry. For these students to move from their ninth grade expectations about history toward the authentic discipline of history, they would…

Teaching pregnancy prevention to large groups offers many challenges. This article describes the use of film clips, with guided discussion, to teach pregnancy prevention. In order to analyze the costs associated with teen pregnancy, a film clip discussion session based with the film "The Gloucester 18" was the keynote of a youth summit. The lesson…

Recent discourses embedded in higher education policies advocate institutional collaboration and globalisation, while inter-professional learning and student-centred learning have each found favour as good practice in educational delivery. In this article, we detail the process of developing a novel innovation that operationalized components of…

Critical thinking is thought-focused on how to solve a well-defined problem when several alternatives solutions to the problem exist. Because critical thinking may help to build tolerance toward others, the author believes it is a worthwhile subject to investigate, given that people are living in an increasingly multicultural society full of…

Experiences of small group tutorials in biology courses with the leader acting as participant rather than leader are summarized showing that the material used must stimulate discussion and be at the correct level for the group. Other significant factors include skills of the tutor, physical surroundings, and student preparation. (JMF)

This article describes the Virtual Intercultural Team Tool (VITT) and discusses its processes and benefits. VIIT is a virtual platform designed with the aim of assisting European project teams to improve intercultural communication and build on their cultural diversity for effective implementation of their projects. It is a process-focused tool,…

Describes the dialogue in an informal discussion group and asserts that because the group is interactive, dynamic, and applied it is an embodiment of the nature of evaluation knowledge. Discusses ways in which this group teaches about evaluation. (SLD)

The Common Ground Multicultural Dialogue program in the Department of Resident Life at the University of Maryland is an innovative peer education program designed to teach skills for engagement through exploration of contemporary multicultural societal dilemmas. The Common Ground Dialogue Program was launched in 2000 to provide undergraduate…

Based on literature and research on discussion and on educational techniques to improve discussion moderators behaviors, a training program was developed for pre- and in-service teacher educators, business and industry executives and university professors (23 to 28 hours, three and a half days). This program was tested for its effectiveness with…

Classroom discussions focusing on four topics relating to racial prejudice were used to strengthen students' self-esteem and change attitudes. A series of detailed stimulus questions were provided to help children explore the issues, understand them, and stimulate positive action. Results indicated the program activated positive racial attitudes.…