Discusses the importance of attracting and maintaining student interest when teaching history. Argues that students learn best when they participate. Recommends using open-ended questions to motivate students to the process of studying history, making choices, and looking for answers. Emphasizes the value of mentoring, continuing education, and…

The book provides over 1,200 conversation topics for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction, grouped into six kinds of conversation activities. An introductory chapter describes the monitored conversation procedure, a classroom technique for recognizing language usage errors and reinforcing the correct form or vocabulary item. Subsequent…

A collection of group disussion topics, developed and field-tested by a group of Iowa teachers, is presented in this guide. Twenty-eight topics for K-6 students, 24 topics for K-12 students, and 7 topics for students in grades 7-12 are included. Warm-up activities are given for introducing some of the topics, and lists of questions to provoke…

This learning module, which is part of a staff development program for health occupations clinical instructors, discusses using the techniques of questioning and problem solving in a clinical instructional setting. It includes learning activities dealing with the importance of using questions in the clinical setting, levels of questions in the…

This teacher's guide was developed to assist teachers in supplementing junior high and high school science and social studies programs with a study of the relationships between science, technology, and society (STS). The program is intended to focus on the improvement of student knowledge about STS issues and the teaching of skills related to…

A review of twelve teaching/learning methodologies is presented, with tips and suggested uses listed for each: lecture, question-answer, discussion, seminar, buzz session, brainstorming, problem solving, role playng, simulation, gaming, programmed instruction, and values clarification. It is noted that educators should be encouraged to review…

Discusses the need to teach problem-solving skills in science. Differentiates between guided discovery, guided inquiry, guided exploration, and guided investigation. Describes how guided exploration evolved and how it can be applied to the science curriculum. Provides a flowchart for guided investigation. (TW)

Argues that classroom dialogic (structured, open-ended) inquiry, through problem-posing, is a tool for classroom research into second-language instruction, helping teachers develop better understanding of students' backgrounds, motivation, cultures, and strategies for learning English. Outlines steps in dialogic inquiry, and offers examples of its…

Presented are assessment techniques to help improve instruction. Included are the formative assessment techniques observation and questioning, diagnostic interviews, and problem-solving-based investigations and the summative assessment technique of performance-based tasks. Examples of these methods are provided together with at-home activities…

Many of the most talented authors and artists of the past and present have shared their thoughts and their gifts with young children through picture books. Many picture books allow young children to explore important ideas and to stretch their minds far beyond rote memorization. Young children absorb knowledge at a very rapid pace. In an age of…

A conceptual model is presented for the development of thinking skills by using an instructional model employing high level cognitive demands. "Distancing" is proposed as the concept to denote behaviors or events that separate the child cognitively from the immediate behavioral environment. Forms and functions of distancing behavior are…

To help preservice and inservice social studies teachers develop systematic ways of integrating skills and content, this manual offers a model and simple instructional exercises for the diagnostic teaching of how to investigate a cartoon. Designed mainly for use with children in grades 4-6, the material is adaptable for use at other grade levels.…

This study investigates the cognitive nature of teacher-pupil questions in "process oriented" and "content oriented" secondary social studies programs. Subjects were five classes selected from a program viewed by both teachers and pupils as process-oriented; five from a program viewed by both teachers and pupils as content…

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)

The present study attempts to expand current question categorization schemes to identify question types that discriminate good learners from their peers in collaborative problem-solving groups. The study also explores the effects of person and task variables on students' question-asking behaviors in an effort to identify those that facilitate…