The purpose of the current study is to determine the pre-service Turkish language teachers' level of using thinking development techniques while writing informative texts. In the study, descriptive analysis-based qualitative method was employed. The study group determined by means of purposive sampling method is comprised of a total of 33…

Can anonymous written feedback collected during classroom assessment activities be used to assess students' cognitive development levels? After library instruction in a first-year engineering design class, students submitted minute papers that included answers to "what they are left wondering." Responses were coded into low, medium and…

This article presents an exemplary case study of one elementary education preservice teacher. This exploratory study originated at a large university on the east coast of the United States in the spring semester of 2011, when the student was enrolled in the researcher's class on children's literature. Throughout the course, the instructor noted…

Through the regular use of what Donald Schon has termed reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action, students can learn to improve their "reflection-in-presentation," in Kathleen Blake Yancey's term. Students are often asked to do this type of reflection-in-presentation as a capstone to first-year or basic writing courses. However, a number of…

Being an ecologically literate citizen involves making decisions that are based on ecological knowledge and accepting responsibility for personal actions. Using writing-to-learn activities in college science courses, we asked students to consider personal dilemmas that they or others might have in response to how human choices can impact coastal…

In this study, 72 secondary English teachers from the Santa Ana Unified School District were randomly assigned to participate in the Pathway Project, a cognitive strategies approach to teaching interpretive reading and analytical writing, or to a control condition involving typical district training focusing on teaching content from the textbook.…

Explores the use of the term "voice" in written discourse as a metaphor for "authority," a quality that distinguishes an effective writer. Proposes a "scale of negotiation" and a sequence of assignments for a 15-week term in which students gradually establish a position of authority over their texts. (RS)

This bibliography offers detailed summaries of five articles (published between 1983 and 1993) that provide practical and theoretical advice on designing writing assignments that can serve as more than just evaluation tools. The articles summarized in the bibliography confirm common sense but also dispel some common misconceptions about student…

Analyzes four informal science-related writing tasks produced by seventh-grade students (n=374) from two schools with different socioeconomic populations. Demonstrates that students' informal writing in the science context can provide a rich source of information regarding students' cognitive and attitudinal engagement with science. (Author/CCM)

A sequence of four central essays on the topic of "experts" illustrates how students can develop the critical tools necessary to handle the flood of information that exists in a complex, expert-dominated world. The first essay begins with communication of shared knowledge and examination of assumptions. Students are asked to share with…

An activity has been used successfully for several years in a middle-school computer class to integrate writing instruction with computer science. Taking approximately five class periods, the activity consists of three phases: (1) the 6th-grade students use paper and pencil to write a story in any literary format; (2) 11th- and 12th-grade…

Writing activities have long been used in a foreign language class for reinforcing students' linguistic knowledge or other language skills. However teaching writing as writing in its own right has only been advocated in recent decades with the increasing awareness of second and foreign language students' needs to write for academic purposes in the…

Described is a learning activity that requires students to write a manual to explain how to apply procedures and algorithms used in mathematics. A list of possible precalculus and calculus topics that can be used in this activity is included. (KR)

Reviews the rationale and evolution of the Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) movement and applies it to college level sociology courses. Suggests criteria for selecting writing assignments to meet specific objectives. Recommends the use of "dialogue notebooks," a modified form of student journals. (CFR)

This paper describes the process of structuring a Writing across the Curriculum Workshop for college faculty and reflects on some of the workshop's problems and highlights. Workshop participant selection was based on previous expressions of interest from faculty or from recommendations of department chairs. The workshop itself consisted of six…