Defines the components of self-regulation ability--learners' ability to participate actively in their learning: as strategic knowledge, self-efficacy, ownership, mastery orientation, and self-reflection. Presents guidelines for promoting self-regulation ability through instructional design that incorporates these components. (AEF)

Asserts the need for increased critical-thinking learning outputs via more active student learning inputs. Reviews current literature, describes the Broad Analytical Expository Report (BAER) approach to teaching critical thinking, and relates experiences in experimental general education courses at a typical regional state university. Suggests…

Teachers using a constructivist approach to learning are not invisible, as Lawrence Baines and Gregory Stanley suggest in a December 2000 "Kappan" article. Rather, they are an integral part of an active, student-centered learning process. Assisted by teachers, learners select and transform information, construct hypotheses, and make decisions.…

Discusses why the Japanese term "otaku" (an obsession with the information exchanged via computers) is preferable to the American term "geek." Discusses a set of pedagogical beliefs and practices that geeks and otaku have in common, which are the antithesis of those of the typical U.S. high school. (SR)

A change in approaches to teaching is needed, so that academics' time can be targeted to maximize learning effect. Less time needs to be devoted to the lecture, and more to learning encounters in which there is a higher formative potential. The requirement is for methods stressing active learning, in which staff and peers contribute formative and…

Challenges the belief that high stakes tests are the keystone of students' educational attainment, describing a series of exploratory workshops, developed in reaction to this issue, in which teachers (as essential preparation for developing students' curiosity) deepened their understanding of the principles of physics by playing with light. Such…

Describes a process-oriented approach to teaching searching skills for computer-based resources that was developed at the New York University library. A syllabus based on DIALOG's Classmate Program is explained, and the use of active learning theory to help restrict results is described. (LRW)

Introduces a study that identifies which learning styles are prevalent in biology majors. Uses the findings of the study to design a microbiology course. Presents activities that address the different learning styles. Uses self-assessment and portfolios for student evaluation. Includes recommendations for instructional improvement. (Contains 19…

Describes the "Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Project" which has now sent more than 70 volunteer teacher educators into 20 countries across Central Europe and Central Asia to help teachers to try out methods that foster active learning and critical thinking. Discusses support for the project, teaching strategies introduced,…

Investigates the differences in academic achievement and performance for two groups of at-risk students in large and small group instructional settings when activity-based informal collaboration is applied as a teaching method. Includes 40 references. (YDS)

Argues that problems with teaching the Talmud are methodological not didactic. Talmudic methodology is reviewed and summarized. Suggests a new curriculum based on four curricular stations from study of Mishnah to study of the Talmudic superstructure. Argues that the new method allows students to be active participants in the learning process. (DSK)

Reviews the series of books, "The Geography Discipline Network Guides on Teaching, Learning, and Assessment," produced by the Geography Discipline Network. Reveals two strengths of the series: (1) it provides practical guidelines on improving traditional teaching strategies; and (2) it promotes active learning. Considers the potential…

Introductory biology students can be overwhelmed by the diversity of life. By focusing on learning characteristics of individual taxa, they often lose and miss the larger perspective--that all taxa are connected through evolution, resulting in the Tree of Life. In this article, the authors present an exercise that helps students develop an…

This paper represents a conversation between a high school science teacher and a university researcher as they found common ground in the theory and experiences of designing powerful learning experiences. The teacher describes an instructional unit in which students designed a complex, interactive display showing what life may have been like…

In an effort to make reading more visible and find out what goes on in the minds of adolescent readers, the author led a group of seventh-grade students in creating Symbolic Reading Inventories. The students created "snapshot" scenes from the books they were reading and placed themselves, as readers, in or around the picture. Reading is a complex…