Assessment for Learning (AfL)--assessment that focuses on the gap between present performance and the desired goal--is integral to teaching and learning, and its importance has been recognised over a number of years. With the new status of science assessment in England, following the changes to key stage testing, a research team at the National…

Describes how two teachers developed an inquiry learning and teaching approach called KWLQ in which students recorded their prior knowledge, formulated questions, searched for answers, and finally noted more questions for further study. Describes how they used this approach in inquiry units in kindergarten, second-grade, and fifth-grade classes.…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of promoting relational thinking, using "elaborative interrogation" techniques, to facilitate the content acquisition of 36 elementary school students with mild disabilities. Results indicated that students coached in relational thinking who generated their own explanations outperformed students who…

Poor readers can be taught to improve their comprehension skills by utilizing the same self-questioning techniques that good readers use spontaneously. Three questioning techniques (Question-Answer Relationship or QAR, ReQuest, and Reciprocal Teaching) are highlighted as empirically supported instructional strategies appropriate for students…

Shares some strategies for encouraging students to notice their environment in the broadest sense through using the Socratic method. Focuses on specific examples with historical significance such as exploring the period of a pendulum. (DDR)

A study examined the effects of teacher questioning and student prediction (purpose-setting procedures) upon the reading comprehension of 188 students in grades 3 through 6. Thirty-two constructed-answer questions were developed for use with an article about kangaroos, written in an expository style and approximately 900 words in length. Half of…

Provides a rationale for the reading/writing connection through a brief review of research and describes Questions into Paragraphs (QuIP), a three-step procedure designed to improve expository awareness. (FL)

Examined the effects of cooperative-mastery learning (CML) on student's questioning behavior, creativity, and achievement. Comparisons of controls and students trained to generate questions under CML, mastery learning, and cooperative learning (CL) indicated that CML and ML students scored higher on measures of higher order questioning skills and…

This article describes an intervention program designed at a small rural school in Western Maryland to help word callers (students who can decode words easily but seem unable to comprehend). The ultimate goal of this program was to teach these children to become reflective readers with the confidence to participate in literature discussion groups…

Discusses the role that children's ideas and questions have in learning science. Explains four techniques which aim to promote primary students' question-asking. Also suggests specific approaches that were developed in the Learning in Science Project to assist teachers in making use of children's questions. (ML)

Describes the uses and benefits of reciprocal teaching, a strategy that promotes both comprehension of text and comprehension monitoring. (HOD)

This study examined the types of questions teachers are asking in their classrooms to help promote critical thinking. To do this, 12 teachers representing kindergarten through fifth grade were asked to tape record 3 reading lessons. The lessons were examined and a tally was taken as to the types of questions asked: lower-level or higher-level. The…

Describes a teaching technique based on using children's questions as a formative and summative assessment tool with emphasis placed on children's answers as well as their questions. Children's explanations clearly show their thinking. Eliciting further explanations allows children to look deep into their understanding and construct meanings for…

Three 11-year-olds with difficulties in reading comprehension received self-instructional training along with task worksheets and stories. Compared to control children, the experimental students achieved increased accuracy on classroom comprehension questions, and the increase was maintained during a subsequent self-management phase. (Author/JDD)

An alternative approach for teaching primary school science has been proposed by the Learning in Science Project (Primary--LISP(P). This study investigated the use of the approach during three series of lessons on the topic "metals." Each series followed the same general pattern: (1) an introductory session to stimulate children to ask…