Presents an informal dialogue on teaching poetry in diverse settings. Shares teachers' success stories in teaching poetry. Notes basic principles--students must write poetry, hear poetry read aloud, and be aware of how people of other cultures express their feelings. (RS)

Education at its best is an "aptitude development program" that promotes development of learning abilities and effective personal styles needed for future learning in school and throughout life. Much of this development involves adapting and expanding the symbol systems used in teaching and learning to convey essential meanings. Adaptive…

Responds to an article in the previous issue of this journal discussing Howard Gardner's work and its relation to drama education. Suggests that when Gardner's multiple intelligences theory is applied in teaching, differences are valued and communities are strengthened. Concludes that Gardner's theory helps to validate the practice and place of…

Reports the results of a seminar with Russian secondary school teachers that explored the integration of English as a foreign language (EFL) competencies with environmental studies. (Contains 26 references.) (Author/YDS)

Discusses the use of models as an instructional method in science classrooms and makes suggestions on how to use models more effectively. (Contains 28 references.) (Author/YDS)

Investigates the effect of explicit problem-solving instruction on high school students' (N=145) conceptual understanding of physics. Findings indicate that the explicit strategy improved the quality and completeness of students' physics representations more than the textbook strategy. No difference was found between the strategies on match of…

Discusses a dozen ways educators can have students of any age reflect on culture and the intermingling of cultures. Suggests that students can contemplate the value of diversity, define culture, take another's perspective, analyze social behavior, speculate the meaning of observed actions and interactions, interpret language, analyze and compare…

Describes the different social and cultural structures in East Asian countries compared to western countries. Discusses the ineffectiveness of imported educational theories in local practice. Compares the content of physics at the secondary school level in Korea, China, Japan, and Taiwan. (Author/YDS)

Questions the global validity of the autonomous method of language learning, which has origins in the European and North American traditions of individualism. Raises the question of appropriateness of the cultural content of educational materials that are alleged to be suitable for global dissemination, with special reference to the Yoruba world…

Shares how one teacher of world literature uses the writings of Henrik Ibsen and Adrienne Rich to help students come to a full understanding of the creation of gender stereotypes and investigate the world around them. (MG)

The article describes five diverse secondary schools with successful programs to provide responsive instruction based on individual learning styles. Schools include a school for gifted students in Minnesota, a middle school in New Jersey, and three schools in New York. (DB)

Discusses seven books on cultural awareness: (1) "Culture Learning" (Damen); (2) "Beyond the Language Classroom" (Fantini and others); (3) "Culturally Speaking" (Genzel and Cummings); (4) "Across Cultures" (Lim and Smalzer); (5) "Teaching Culture" (Seelye); (6) "Cultural Awareness" (Tomalin and Stempleski); and (7) "Culture Connection" (Wegmann…

States that the adolescent years are timely years for addressing problems of discrimination, prejudice, and cultural differences. Argues that dramatization of the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of characters can provide students with an understanding of those issues. Uses Mildred Taylor's "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" as an example, and…

Describes the general education program for a Russian eighth grade student, compared to key elements reported in Lounsbury and Clark's 1990 national study of eighth graders. Russian intermediate students care how they look, like to socialize and discuss politics, and complete several hours of homework. Schools lack interdisciplinary teaming,…

Investigated use of modeling procedures to teach constraint-seeking interrogative strategies to elementary school children (n=114). Used game of Twenty Questions to model and test subjects' question-asking behaviors. Results indicated that modeling procedures were effective in helping children learn to use constraint-seeking interrogative…