Background: A redesigned curriculum for teaching engineering graphics was adopted in an introductory mechanical engineering course. The rollout of this curriculum was staggered, allowing for comparisons of student perceptions across the newly revised and previous instructional approaches. The new curriculum borrows from content and pedagogy…

Research indicates that increasing teacher-directed opportunities to respond (TD-OTR) positively impacts student outcomes. Prior reviews of the empirical literature focused on outcomes for students with emotional behavioral disorders or on TD-OTRs as one of many classroom-management practices; however, prior reviews did not examine effects of…

In 2008, the authors worked with a range of schools to trial ideas that assisted young Indigenous students to engage with mathematics as they enter the school environment. This article highlights some key pedagogical strategies that assisted classroom teachers to improve Indigenous students' understanding of mathematics, particularly in the area…

A survey administered to fifth and sixth graders revealed that students do not find the content encountered in social studies objectionable. However, 67 percent of the students offered negative comments concerning how social studies is taught. Thirteen percent indicated there was nothing about social studies they did not like. (RM)

Shows how ethnographic classroom research contributes to an understanding of children's response to literature, providing opportunities for the study of response in context, for the analysis of unsolicited expressions of response, and for observation of how expressions of response to literature fit into larger developmental patterns. (ET)

The attitudes of 32 teachers, in 30 schools, toward Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) courses were compared to their students' perceptions of laboratory and classroom activity measured by the Biology Classroom Activities Checklist and the Biology Laboratory Activities Checklist, respectively. The results indicate no relationship between…

Reseach on use of questioning in classroom teaching reveals that recitation is a poor method, but teachers use it anyway because it is effective in teaching curriculum that is largely textbook based. Teacher educators may be advised to help teachers learn to use recitation well. (MD)

Studied the effectiveness of applying Keller's personalized system of instruction (PSI) five consecutive times to the teaching of the switch principle in logic design problems. Concluded that the PSI method continued to be effective as compared with the lecture approach. (CC)

Research shows that most students in the United States, at all grade levels, find social studies to be one of the least interesting, most irrelevant subjects in the school curriculum. Few studies have been done to explore the potential causes of these negative attitudes toward social studies. (RM)

This paper describes how research into approaches to university teaching, from a relational perspective, has been used to develop an inventory to measure the key aspects of the variation in approaches to teaching. The Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI) is one of several that derive from the research perspective applied by Marton and colleagues…

This survey examined class size, teaching methods, and the one-semester/two-semester organization of the introductory economics course. Student satisfaction with respect to their institution was also studied. (Author/RM)

Finds volumes of research on questioning and none on discussion. Defines discussion and presents concepts and techniques that facilitate it in the classroom. Recommends the need for further research. (MD)

Reports on a study of four Australian 11th-grade biology students that used stimulated recall to evaluate student thinking processes.The study confirmed the complexity of the teaching-learning process. (MD)

A limited study contrasting the effects of four methods of spelling instruction: word list, programed materials, class discussion, and tachistoscope. (RD)