Suggests educators should help students read religious texts such as the Bible, the Torah, and the Koran and that they should teach ways to reflect critically on these texts. Discusses ways to teach the Bible. (SG)

This study focuses on the ability of high-school chemistry students, who learn chemistry through the inquiry approach, to ask meaningful and scientifically sound questions. We investigated (a) the ability of students to ask questions related to their observations and findings in an inquiry-type experiment (a practical test) and (b) the ability of…

In today's culture, some of the most commonly shared experiences involve the mass media. The media--film, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, music, advertising, and software industries--have become primary avenues through which most come to know about the world, both near and far. They help frame the world, elevating certain issues, and the…

Joseph M. Shosh, an English teacher, has shown the way in which he made writing as a central part in a drama class to build critical literacy. He describes writing tasks like creating scenes from personal observations and using acting journals as well as writing projects that are necessarily involved with play production.

Literary experiences were provided to students to help them connect with characters whose lives and experiences differed vastly from theirs and to see the way in which their own race, class and gender shaped their understanding of the world. However, the findings indicate that a focus on critically reading multicultural literature students helped…

This paper (a) reintroduces E. Franklin Frazier's 1939 book, "The Negro Family in the United States," to family scholars and graduate students and highlights its importance as a groundbreaking and classic text, (b) provides both an introduction to the major thesis of this monograph and a reading of the text, and (c) discusses the…

In an effort to continuously monitor the validity of the SAT for predicting first-year college grades, the College Board has continued its multi-year effort to recruit four-year colleges and universities (henceforth, "institutions") to provide data on the cohorts of first-time, first-year students entering in the fall semester beginning…

Background: Narrative thought is a primary mode of human cognition that underpins key human capabilities such as meaning-making and social-psychological understanding. Aims: We sought to further our understanding of the development of narrative thought during adolescence, particularly in terms of the structure and content of narrative…

To examine the effects of students reading multiple documents on their perceptions of a historical event, in this case the "discovery" of America by Christopher Columbus, 85 high school freshmen read 3 of 4 different texts (or sets of texts) dealing with Columbus. One text was an encyclopedia article, one a set of articles from…

The first reading assignment one educator gives his first-year composition students helps answer their questions about what college work will be like. For this reason, he gives them Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" to read, a book which shows that the late 20th century is undergoing a vast epistemological shift, moving from…

Models of self-regulated learning describe learners as actively and mindfully employing cognitive and metacognitive strategies as they pursue their learning goals. Self-regulated learners set goals, plan, and use a variety of cognitive strategies, monitor progress towards their goals, and manage their emotional states. However, many classroom…

A critical reader "does more than simply soak up bits and pieces of information." He applies a personal reserve of knowledge and experience to a text to ascribe possible meanings. In other words, he interprets. In addition, he compares his own values and beliefs with those suggested to him by a text and defends them, if necessary. In…

An important priority of educators is to modify the school structure so that "at-risk" learners can be treated as all other students are treated. One way of sending a positive message to all students is to organize classrooms heterogeneously. Intra-class grouping is a source of help when it emphasizes cooperation among learners and…

Brief mystery stories such as the three presented here can be used to help students develop critical reading and thinking skills, as well as to introduce the notion of indirect proof. (SD)

Reviews materials in the Educational Resources information Center to be used for instructing junior and senior high school students in increasing their study skills, reading comprehension, and critical reading and thinking. (Author)