When gestures occur with speech during math instruction, learning outcomes improve, indicating that gesture has the potential to mitigate educational inequities. One population that could benefit from an instructional tool like gesture is English Language Learners (ELLs). To increase our understanding of gesture's potential benefits for math…

According to research in pragmatics, gender represents an important factor in individuals' turn-taking behaviour, with results indicating overall male-dominated conversational patterns. Despite the significance of gender in the students' conversational styles in an academic setting, gender and turn-taking has yet to be investigated in the foreign…

Through two studies, this work examined the applicability, interpretability, and construct validity of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System K-3 (CLASS) to measure quality of classroom interactions. In the first study, the CLASS was used in 332 classrooms to test three alternative models (in time order, the one-, three-factor, and two-factor…

This article describes how a teacher in Mexico City worked with two researchers on an instructional design project to help kindergartners become proficient in participating in whole-class mathematical conversations.

For adolescents who struggle with reading, a lack of confidence and reluctance to read in content areas such as history/social science presents challenges to learning. More specifically, difficulties with text comprehension and analysis limit content knowledge acquisition and self-expression, which can impact academic success. Therefore, it is…

Collaborative problem solving, when students work in pairs or small groups on a curriculum-related task, has become an increasingly common feature of classroom education. This paper reports a study of a topic which has received relatively little attention: how teachers can most usefully intervene when students are working in a group, but have…

In the current reform of mathematics classrooms teachers are charged with the role of facilitating collaborative groups during problem-solving activity. The challenge is for teachers to engage students in making mathematical meaning during collaborative group discussions. In this paper we draw on the concept of adaptive expertise to report on…

The present study builds on research that indicates that teachers play a key role in promoting those interactional behaviours that challenge children's thinking and scaffold their learning. It does this by seeking to determine whether teachers who implement cooperative learning and receive training in explicit strategic questioning strategies…

Teachers' classroom management approach varies depending on several factors such as the social, psychological, cultural and educational status of the student, classroom level, the physical conditions of the school, organization structure. There are different approaches in classroom management. These approaches are gathered under three headings in…

Numerous classroom-based research projects have examined the important role social skills play in an elementary classroom (Browning, Davis, and Resta 2000; Burns 2003; Palmer and Wehmeyer 2003; Stone 2001). As Stone (2001, 18) suggested, "Teachers have an enormous influence on children's behavior by speaking directly and honestly to them,…

This article provides an introduction to the practice of reality therapy in the classroom. It discusses behavior modification objections, episode analysis, doing reality therapy, contracts and follow-up, and importance of humor. The author also provides an annotated bibliography and a resources guide for workshops, video cassettes, and tapes.…

Examines the dynamic common to the English-as-a-Second-Language classroom in which the teacher takes from the student the burden of the next step in solving a problem, identifies four reasons this is inappropriate, looks at why teachers do it, and offers techniques for handling such situations. (MSE)

Intended for use by teachers who are concerned with making effective responses to conflict in the classroom, this booklet describes the nature of adolescent conflict and the differences between conflict, competition, and cooperation. The theory section of this work analyzes some of the major concepts and research findings emphasized in the study…

Interviewed 64 students in eight elementary classrooms to assess their means-ends problem-solving ability in two socialization domains teachers value highly: task demands and the interpersonal. Found students' problem-solving ability in the task demands domain relates to teacher control orientation, which, like effective parenting, has as its…

When Creative Problem Solving (CPS) was introduced into social studies programs, the students' participation in the classrooms began to change. They began to assume leadership roles and take on a sense of responsibility; they asked questions and worked cooperatively to decide on social action. In this article, the authors argue that CPS has the…