Describes a three-week environmental minicourse in a general chemistry class. The minicourse consisted of two distinct phases, a one-week introduction to environmental chemistry and a two-week project involving a particular environmental problem. (PR)

This activity allows students to explore the gray areas that lie between polar opposites on an issue. Recognizes the knowledge, opinions, and values supporting various positions that emerge as current positions and discusses the reasons for choosing them. Learning to be flexible and open is the goal of this activity. (PVD)

Microsituations teaching is a case-based, active learning tool developed from cognitive learning theory to teach problem-solving skills to large classes while conserving faculty and other resources. Since implementing this method in an endocrine pharmacology course at the University of Kentucky, student performance on problem-solving examinations…

In a cooperative research program, classroom teachers and university researchers developed and implemented a contextualized performance-based assessment in mathematics. The assessments were intended to model what students may do in the course of daily activity and designed to assess problem solving, and conceptual and procedural understanding.…

Interactions between levels of learner knowledge in a domain and levels of instructional guidance were investigated. Inexperienced trade apprentices were presented with either worked examples to study or problems to solve. On subsequent tests, inexperienced trainees benefited most from worked examples. With more experience in the domain, worked…

Describes the development of a project-based unit on hot-air balloons used with Israeli junior high school students. Concludes that students in the program gained experience with high-level scientific principles and technological processes, the project allows for a learning environment of cooperation and teamwork, and collaboration between…

Excerpts a student-teacher discourse from a 4th-grade mathematics classroom to illustrate how discourse helps students construct algebraic thinking. Discusses the implications of the discourse method of collaborative inquiry for teaching. (JPB)

Discusses telecollaboration (working with others at a distance) or teleresearch (finding and using information from distantly located data sources - most commonly online). Suggests guides to help teachers design activities incorporating online research for K-12: to practice information-seeking skills, answer questions, review multiple perspectives…

This preliminary study examined intervention effects of a universal prevention program offered by classroom teachers to public elementary school students. The Unique Minds School Program (M.B. Stern, 1999) is a teacher-led program designed to promote cognitive-social-emotional (CSE) skills, including student self-efficacy, problem solving,…

In the process of designing and field-testing bioinformatics curriculum materials, we have adopted a three-stage, progressive model that emphasizes collaborative scientific inquiry. The elements of the model include: (1) context setting, (2) introduction to concepts, processes, and tools, and (3) development of competent use of technologically…

Low level acts of aggression in school are associated with a host of emotional arousal, social problem-solving, peer relationship, and academic difficulties. School-wide interventions may decrease aggressive interactions and promote cooperative play and social skills among students. In the current study, the authors used a participatory-action…

Our research is concerned with teacher's knowledge, and especially with teacher's processes of learning, in the classroom, from observing and interacting with students' work. In the first part of the paper, we outline the theoretical framework of our study and distinguish it from some other perspectives. We argue for the importance of…

Developed as part of the ABCs of Construction National Workplace Literacy Project, this instructional module is designed to help individuals employed as pipefitters learn to solve problems with charts and tables. Outlined in the first section is a five-step procedure for solving problems involving tables and/or charts: identifying the question to…

This report describes a program for improving social and conflict resolution skills of primary students in three middle class suburban schools located in a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois. This program was recognized by teaching staff who found students lacking in social skills, problem solving strategies and the ability to solve conflicts.…

Action research is one of the more increasingly popular and innovative techniques for engaging teachers in shaping change in the classroom. The research in this monograph was conducted by teachers in classrooms in Florida and Georgia. Papers were selected from 65 action research papers written in fulfillment of one of the requirements of the…