Students and teachers alike face a dilemma: Why think deeply when we can just take a shortcut by googling something? Why read an article when we can learn from a social media headline? If, as educators, we want to encourage our students to value thoughtfulness and to embrace the effort it takes to reach deep understandings, we must model that…

This guide for teachers is a companion piece to the meta-analysis from the Center on Instruction, "Mathematics Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities or Difficulty Learning Mathematics: A Synthesis of the Intervention Research". Based on the findings of this report, seven effective instructional practices were identified for teaching…

A basic premise of social approaches to studying communication is that theories of interpersonal communication and personal relationships are reflexively defined, socially constructed, and historically situated. In contrast to the tradition of psychological models of relational processes and message transmission, social approaches encourage…

Having been adapted by instructors in various disciplines over many years, Aristotle's "topics" have retained their original, heuristic value, inviting students to more deeply consider issues using a communicative pedagogy. In the author's teaching of Advanced Speaking for Academic Purposes, Aristotle's "topics" have been a useful mediating tool…

Demonstrates how the tragedy of the 1986 space shuttle "Challenger" provides an example of how communication through memos and letters concerning O-ring problems went awry. Presents some methods by which the technical writing teacher might incorporate this material into their writing curricula. (HB)

Argues that problem-solving assignments whose only purpose is to train students to report technical details ignore much of the real-world context of a problem. Presents an approach to give students a broader sense of problem solving. (MS)

Presents writing as a form of dialog and the paragraph as a unit of implied dialog. (MM)

Offers a heuristic for writers to appraise the relative value of information in texts as an aid to revising. Uses the example of noun strings versus prepositional phrases. (SR)

Describes how elementary linear algebra can be taught successfully while introducing students to the concept and practice of mathematical proof. Suggests exploring the concept of solvability of linear systems first via the row echelon form (REF). (Author/KHR)

Presents an approach for illustrating, on an intuitive level, the significance of loop invariants for algorithm design and analysis. The illustration is based on mathematical games that require the exploration of regularities via problem-solving heuristics. (Author/MM)

Many teachers and administrators have recognized that problem solving and reasoning represent two of the primary goals in the education of children. In order for teachers to achieve these goals, they must have appropriate materials available to them. This book includes materials to help teach and assess problem solving and reasoning. The first six…

This book addresses different types of thinking, including critical, creative, and analytical, and presents a variety of problem-solving strategies, along with specific ways they can be taught to students. The main emphases of the book are thinking and mathematics, problem solving, and the application of computational skills. The problem-solving…

Describes several strategies to help journalism students avoid "writer's block," including front-end editing, brainstorming, clustering, notetaking, freewriting, and journal writing. (MM)

Introduces three terms--synapsis, synesthesia, and synergy--applied to writing instruction as heuristic concepts. Describes classroom exercises, such as removing transitions from an essay and asking students to restore synaptic life to the paragraphs, viewing painting masterpieces to find analogous aesthetic concepts in written composition, and…

Analyzes strategies for using the theory of discourse communities in the classroom. Suggests varying the writer's roles and audiences, writing as an insider and an outsider for audiences that are insiders and outsiders. (MS)