This article suggests ways that the classroom teacher can assist in the fitness assessment process, including preparation for testing, self-testing, and test interpretation. Suggestions include inservice training activities for classroom teachers, as well as a classroom fitness corner and outdoor activities for students. (IAH)

Compares the performance in college algebra for four testing strategy classes: a homework class; a quiz class; a test class; and the control class. Adjusted mean scores in performance and adjusted final attitude were not different among the four strategy groups. The test class had a higher attrition rate than the homework class. (YP)

Focuses on a real world technique used to teach language proficiency in the classroom. This method involves creating deliberate information and opinion gaps by administering pop quizzes and other communicative games and filling those gaps through cooperative action. Use of this technique generated heated discussion among students. (nine…

Asserts that evaluating cooperative learning experiences is both traditional in the tools used and innovative in the way the results benefit students and teachers. Provides suggestions for encouraging interdependence, grading group projects, and evaluating both academic achievement and group process skills. (CFR)

A survey of 54 teachers of undergraduate and graduate psychological testing courses illustrates the teaching of testing in Australia. Tests covered in a course vary extensively. Intelligence testing is the most commonly taught (covered in 89 percent of the courses); most time on testing is spent in first-year postgraduate courses. (SLD)

Clarifies the idea of prediction in science teaching by distinguishing between the two extremes of guessing and making logical deductions. Discusses the use of predictions in testing teachers' and students' explanations. (MDH)

Describes how Metropolitan State College of Denver, a large undergraduate institution, developed and implemented a case-based special-education curriculum approach to special-education teacher preparation. Of 20 students prepared using the case-based method, 19 have successfully passed the State of Colorado mandated teacher competency test.…

Investigates the relationship between metalinguistic awareness and second language (L2) proficiency of university-level learners of French. Learners' performances on two grammaticality judgment tests and on a test of L2 proficiency were examined in the context of demands made upon these two components according to whether the learners had been…

Although increasing feedback specificity is generally beneficial for immediate performance, it can undermine certain aspects of the learning needed for later, more independent performance. The results of the present transfer experiment demonstrate that the effects of increasing feedback specificity on learning depended on what was to be learned,…

Task-based instruction (TBI) is frequently promoted as an effective teaching approach, superior to "traditional" methods, and soundly based in theory and research. The approach is often justified by the claim that linguistic regularities are acquired through "noticing" during communicative activity, and should therefore be addressed primarily by…

In the dance studio, the mirror can play a large role in the dancer's learning process. Research on learning and memory shows that reducing the amount of feedback during training enhances long-term motor skill retention and that more externally focused attention may aid performance. Research testing the effectiveness of training with a mirror as a…

It is a principle that many teachers have come to trust, from the first time their classes filled test tubes with yeast and loaded mini-volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar, when it comes to science, students learn best by doing, not just sitting and listening. However, some researchers and educators have challenged the argument for hands-on…

Because of an increasing quality concern for higher education, additional attention is being paid to new educational principles with a more student- and competence-centred vision. Project-based education is one of the learning environments congruent with these principles. Ideally, the students in this learning environment are assessed by suitable…

A narrative in the form of a courtroom trial is used to compare evidence on the nature of light as part of an introductory college physics course. Prosecuting and defense attorneys present evidence for and against competing wave and particle hypotheses for light behavior while students play the roles of jurors. (Contains 5 figures.)

This laboratory exercise introduces students to a fundamental tool in evolutionary biology--phylogenetic inference. Students are required to create a data set via observation and through mining preexisting data sets. These student data sets are then used to develop and compare competing hypotheses of vertebrate phylogeny. The exercise uses readily…