Discussions surrounding ideology and free speech on college and university campuses continually occur in the popular press. In this forum, Herbeck (see EJ1171161) chronicles several heated clashes over free speech that have recently erupted on campuses across the country, fueling news stories reported through traditional and social media. Issues…

This article identifies a tension between a teacher's intention and an English learner's interpretation of his experiences in a US high school English class for native users of English and English learners. The tension highlights two issues. First, democratic classroom practices, frequently advocated by second language acquisition theorists, may…

In general, talking with young children encourages development in many areas: (1) spoken language; (2) early literacy; (3) cognitive development; (4) social skills; and (5) emotional maturity. Speaking with children in increasingly complex and responsive ways does this even better. This article explores research findings about the effects of…

This study evaluated three models of gifted education implemented by seven elementary regular classroom teachers. All models showed a strong relationship between cognitive level of teacher queries and student responses. The Cognitive-Affective Interaction Model produced the best increases in cognitive complexity of classroom interactions and…

One aspect of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development was tested in this research project. It was hypothesized that an adult individual in the concrete stage of development is able to use seriation and classification in dealing with concrete objects, but is unable to think in terms of possibilities. An individual operating on the formal…

Reports on an 18-month investigation of a teacher's actions during class discussions in a second-grade classroom in which student disagreement was resolved by argumentation. Concludes that creating a classroom environment in which students struggle with their own learning requires that teachers understand the complex relationship between the…

This article describes a national school improvement project involving five compulsory schools for hard-of-hearing pupils, located in different parts of Sweden. Using action research, the teachers tried to change the communication patterns among the pupils by changing their own classroom practices, In this process the teachers tested and used…

Gaining students' cooperation in urban classrooms involves establishing an environment where teachers address students' cultural and ethnic needs, as well as their social, emotional, and cognitive needs. This article describes the management strategies of 13 1st- through 12th-grade urban teachers from seven cities throughout the United States.…

By offering children the opportunity to speak up in the classroom, educators help build a vital foundation in open-mindedness that is essential for critical thinking. Teaching children to be critical thinkers requires that teachers listen to what children say, encourage them to talk, and not insist that they share the teacher's beliefs. Young…

This paper attempts to show that the relationship between current theoretical understanding of the origin and acquisition of language and the process of second language classroom instruction requires a basis in empirical research. Areas in which this research is needed include the importance of the teacher, especially in relation to "teacher…

Presents a case study of a middle school mathematics teacher using a discourse-oriented teaching method for a three-year period. Demonstrates how the teacher provided both analytic scaffolding (help in structuring mathematical ideas) and social scaffolding (help in establishing norms for social behavior). Finally, highlights parallels between…

The science discourse of young children is a means by which children can pose and try to answer difficult questions about their world. This paper describes through excerpts from transcripts of audiotapes and fieldnotes of science talks, how young children talk about science, and how they use metaphors and analogies to develop theories about…

This paper argues that formal and explicit instruction and learners' prior knowledge play a crucial role in teaching and learning English as a second language (ESL), and that a pure communicative approach is inadequate in achieving optimum results. The discussion is presented in two parts. The first outlines the issues under consideration,…