The effects of two types of structured academic conflict, controversy and debate, were compared with individual study on a number of dependent variables. Sixth graders (n=72) were assigned conditions on a stratified random basis controlling for sex, reading ability, and handicapping conditions. Results indicated that controversy promoted the most…

In this Hearing, two academic witnesses debate the effect of federal student aid on college costs. One witness argues that increased federal grant and loan aid to students has led universities to raise tuition. The other witness counters by pointing to decreases in state funding as a primary culprit in public college tuition increases. Contents…

Describes the process of selecting and developing a debate team at the University of New South Wales (Australia) to compete in an international Modern Standard Chinese debating competition. Discusses issues in selecting team members, training needs and strategies (particularly self-directed learning), time pressure, and the success of the…

Describes a collaborative action research project at the University of Glasgow (Scotland) which utilized class debates in an international management class to develop students' ability to assess their own and each other's learning. Evaluation suggests the debates enabled students to develop a critical view of the topics and acquire…

This article addresses an impasse in debates about online education in university education. One side presents a story of the progressive development of technology as it is applied to the organisation of higher education, leading to pedagogical advances and to the new forms of administration required for the realisation of the technology's full…

The case for enhancing critical thinking as an integral part of the marketing curriculum through the debate process is presented. Linkages between critical thinking, debate, and the marketing curricula are examined in the context of desired student outcomes and learning skills. The role of the professor in planning and facilitating the debate is…

This study analyzed new forms of student social interaction and dialogue within asynchronous communications of six middle schools and six high schools participating in the World Forum. In the World Forum, students discussed, questioned, and debated with Arctic explorers, researchers, World Forum mentors, and peers about environmental issues. One…

A study was conducted to determine what oral and written communication courses lawyers both perceive as useful in practice and recommend for prelaw students and to provide data for design and development of these and related courses in continuing education programs for lawyers and legal assistants. A total of 295 lawyers from California responded…

The Yale-New Haven History Education Project began in Spring 1970 with the expressed goal of improving the quality and relevance of secondary school history courses in New Haven's public schools. Thirty Yale history professors worked with a comparable number of high school teachers and created approximately eighty "mini-courses" in…

This publication includes lesson plans designed to help students and teachers explore students' rights and their corresponding responsibilities to others in the school and the community. Objectives are to demonstrate that an interrelationship exists between rights and responsibilities, that the freedom of expression inherent in the Student Bill of…

Suggestions to help faculty discover ways of achieving interactive, investigatory, and intimate learning environments in large settings are provided. The instructional objective is to empower students to take responsibility for their own learning. (MLW)

Examines a teaching strategy called "constructive controversy" where students are required to argue both the pro and con positions concerning a controversial current topic. Describes students' response to a class using this method to examine the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Student response was generally favorable. (MJP)

Four activities for classroom French instruction are described: a board game for children's vocabulary development; a sentence and dialogue construction exercise using comic strips (existing or student-made); a discussion of the treatment of the notion of "event" in different journalistic contexts; and an exercise in debating skills and language.…

Presents a plan for a student-organized open discussion relating to conflicts between the desire to protect children from harmful material on the Internet and the need to protect First Amendment rights. Includes a note to teachers, instructions for conducting the forum, background information, and roles for students participating in the…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) subordinates' perceptions of the androgynous communication style of supervisors as an index of job satisfaction; (2) comprehension and perception variables…