Many teachers develop oral communication skills through questioning, discussion, Socratic seminars, think-pair-shares, jigsaws, and small-group projects. To these activities the author has added poetry under the auspices of Poetry Out Loud, a national program that asks students to memorize and recite poems. On its website (www.poetryoutloud.org/),…

This paper reports on implementing learning plans at an Australian university and their perceived use in supporting doctoral candidates' professional and academic development. The implementation of individualised learning plans for doctoral candidates was the outcome of university-wide discussions regarding coursework in the PhD. Based on a review…

Interdisciplinary processes are being developed for a better present and future in primary and secondary education teaching in France. Over the past few years, the education authorities have increased incentives to open the subjects for one another and created new teaching-learning programs for interdisciplinary purposes. In spite of the obvious…

Requests successful classroom teaching activities for publication. Three activities are included for review. (BJD)

In order to optimize learner performance in all the conditions of learning, Gagne proposed the application of a nine-step process called the events of instruction. Events 1, 2, and 3--gaining attention, informing learners of the learning objective, and reminding learners of prerequisite skills fall within the rubric of preinstructional activities.…

Summarizes strategies and recommendations included in various prominent instructional theories (behaviorism, Gagne and Briggs' events of instruction, component display theory, cognitive research, and Keller's motivational-design) to provide guidelines for designing the practice component of instruction. (MBR)

Issues relating to the design, selection, and evaluation of learning activities have been relatively neglected in educational research and scholarship. This paper identified some fundamental questions in need of scholarly attention, reviews recent research findings, and then offers a conceptual analysis and a tentative list of principles that…

Describes a study that investigated project-based learning that included role plays, discussions, and simulations in graduate-level Web-based courses. Highlights include a theoretical framework; characteristics of activities that enable students to meet learning objectives; strategies that student facilitators and student participants use to…

The third of four symposium papers argues that, if instructional methods are to improve learning, they must have two aspects: a direct trace to a specific learning process, and empirical support that demonstrates their significance. Focusing on the tracing process, the paper presents an information processing model of learning that can be used by…

This study, designed to test whether elementary school students could be trained to use instructional objectives or adjunct postquestions while reading and whether their use would facilitate learning, indicates students learned to use the instructional stimuli but eventually returned to earlier learning strategies. Whether these stimuli aided…

This handbook suggests ways elementary school teachers might use industrial arts (IA) activities as an alternative to traditional textbook assignments to teach or to reinforce some skills included in the state list of essential learning skills. An overview provides background information: a definition, content, scope and sequence for IA, and the…

A primary goal in experiential education is to facilitate the learning from the activities in a meaningful, empowering and compelling manner. The activities, which are used to guide a reflective session, debrief a particular incident or process a learning activity vary greatly across the profession. In a study of 76 experiential educators in…

This practical guide on foreign language learning presents concrete suggestions on how to become a more effective and successful language learner. Suitable for use by both students and teachers, the book, divided into three parts, discusses language and language learning, learning strategies, and learner aids. Part 1 discusses the language learner…

This instructor's manual for workplace trainers contains the materials required to conduct a course on working in teams. The course includes six lessons for workers, two lessons for supervisors, and strategies for helping workers continue to develop the skills taught in the course. The following materials are provided for each course: lesson plan,…

This instructor's manual for workplace trainers contains the materials required to conduct a course on improving pronunciation. The course includes six lessons for workers, two lessons for supervisors, and strategies for helping workers continue to develop the skills taught in the course. The following materials are provided for each course:…