Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) has been trialled and used by users from many countries around the globe, but despite the positive attitude towards its potential benefits to pedagogical processes its adoption in practice has been uneven, reflecting how difficult it is to make a new technology based concept an integral part of the…

A learning design describes a sequence of learning activities that learners undertake in order to help them achieve particular learning objectives, including the resources and services needed to complete the activities. Unfortunately, there is no learning design language which can be used by teachers to describe pedagogical strategies explicitly…

During the last few decades, the author and his colleagues have developed an instructional framework for infusing thinking into content instruction in every subject and at every grade level. In thinking-based learning, teachers explicitly teach students thinking strategies and important habits of mind and then give students opportunities to apply…

Described is the generative learning strategy, an approach which encourages pupils to discuss their out-of-school ideas about plant breathing, drinking, wood production, soil, minerals, and leaves, and assist them in linking appropriate ideas together to form an explanation of the origin of plant materials. (CW)

This newsletter describes an ongoing empirical field study involving a description and analysis of practical teaching situations aimed at describing the content and structure of pupils' frames of reference. The project takes the form of a series of case studies in classes of the 3-year lines of upper secondary schools in Sweden. The study seeks to…

Conventional schooling too often ignores the influence of school culture on what is learned in school. Knowledge is situated, being in part a product of the activity, context, and culture in which it is developed and used; this is known as cognitive apprenticeship. Implications for understanding learning and teaching are discussed. (Author/BJV)

Recent contributions from theory, research, and practice in second-language instruction are discussed in relation to mathematics education. Three methods of teaching and learning second languages are described--"Delayed Oral Production," the "Silent Way," and the "Counseling Learning/Community Language Learning." (KR)

Asserts the function of narrative as a method of thinking is important in the lives of children as well as adults. Maintains that, by examining a story or narrative in children's art, it is possible to account for its importance in their lives. Describes three aspects of narrative: (1) invention; (2) description; and (3) negotiation. (CFR)

Reports on a study designed to examine the effect of concrete and formal instruction upon reasoning and science achievement of sixth grade students. Results indicated that the concrete instruction group had significantly higher levels of performance in science achievement and cognitive development and that males outperformed females. (TW)

Reports on an interview with Frances Rauscher, a research psychologist and musician who has studied the effects of music on the brain. Maintains that students who have studied music have enhanced spatial reasoning. Recommends that music education begin at younger ages. (CFR)

This study investigated barriers to calculator use in elementary school classrooms. Teachers (n=348) and principals (n=30) in western New York State were surveyed in 1988 about their feelings and beliefs about calculator use. Analysis of the responses found that teachers and principals believed that calculators should be used in elementary…