Research on various facets of adult learners' experiences in postsecondary education has established the following facts: (1) instructors who help adult learners connect their real-world experiences and what they already know to what they are learning in the classroom are perceived as most helpful and motivating; (2) adult undergraduates generally…

This study examines how student teachers and teacher practitioners approach cultural diversity in their classrooms, teachers' underlying assumptions about teaching to diversity, and specific strategies used by teachers in their classrooms. The study tested the capacity of five culturally responsive pedagogy competencies to elicit specific…

This paper offers a lesson plan for a classroom activity, called the "diversity board" which challenges and encourages college students to think seriously about what diversity means and how diversity influences behaviors and communication between people. The paper states that, in less than 20 years, racial and ethnic groups in The United…

This book has been designed to provide teachers of kindergarten through grade 12 with techniques and approaches for helping their African American students achieve in school. It presents a planned approach to four major initiatives: (1) to restructure the instruction and behaviors practiced in most classrooms today; (2) to provide teachers with…

This paper discusses the theory of multiple intelligences (H. Gardner, 1983) as it applies to the basic public speaking course. According to the paper, the multiple intelligences theory (MI) suggests that intelligence should not be viewed as a single dimension, but rather as a composite of several aptitudes and talents. The paper states that…

Although there are efforts to equalize educational methods and materials, some differences between males and females may be better served by emphasizing rather than neutralizing gender. One such point is in the area of visual imagery. Studies have shown that imagery preferred by males and females differs in certain visual characteristics. The…

This study compared the effects of instructor-provided vs. learner-generated analyses of semantic relationships between major concepts on structural knowledge acquisition in an introductory psychology course. One group explained the relationships on instructor-provided graphic organizers; the other group classified relationships between concepts…

An attempt is made to wrestle with the question of critical pedagogy, trying to refine and make more explicit the author's political vision; the idea of pedagogy as a form of cultural politics; and teachers as cultural workers. Eight essays are divided into two sections. The four essays of Part 1 try to draw together a statement about efforts to…

The study reported in the paper attempted to compare the science laboratory teaching practices and the learning environments of secondary schools in some developing and developed South Pacific countries. This study combined qualitative (observation, interview, and case study techniques) with quantitative methods. Analysis of data found similar…

This paper uses case studies to introduce a method by which educators in a graduate course transformed the ways in which they saw the students with whom they worked as they situated themselves within the context of "at-riskness." Four white women, all of whom worked with at-risk youth, took a graduate course on the educational challenges of youth…

Today's technological development in multimedia, Internet, and CD-ROM provides opportunities to use computer-assisted instruction (CAI) for diverse applications. This study examined the following questions: (1) do significant differences exist in the preference for CAI between male and female students? (2) do significant differences exist in the…

The educational philosophies of W. E. B. DuBois and Carter G. Woodson position them as important figures in the development of critical pedagogy. At its core, critical pedagogy is a hegemonic theory that focuses on the manifestation of power in society, with particular attention to how certain cultural groups learn to accept, engage in, or resist…

St. Louis Community College-Meramec (SLCC-Meramec) is a metropolitan community college offering associate degrees, transfer, and certificate programs. Because of an anticipated increase in public speaking enrollment, the Communications Department Chair at SLCC-Meramec wanted to upgrade and improve the public speaking course content and…

Meaning constructs are aspects of a person's cultural worldview. They are those aspects that philosophers often write about as a means by which to make sense of the world. Teachers carry their worldviews and meaning constructs into the classrooms with them. Similarly to teachers, reflective teaching proponents hold meaning constructs that are…

This monograph includes nine papers delivered at a National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) preconference workshop, and a previously unpublished paper on gender and attitudes. The papers, which are presented in four categories, are: (1) "Report on the Workshop: In Search of Gender Free Paradigms for Computer Science Education"…