Class participation has long been valued by faculty members interested in engaging students in the learning process. This paper discusses class participation and shares participation techniques that promote active student engagement during class meetings. Emphasis is placed on techniques that invite a larger number of students into a course's…

In the current study, the authors explored how early childhood educators used observation to support children in the learning environment. The objectives set were to find out the observation methods teachers used, ascertain their understanding of child observation, find out activities children undertook, and how teachers documented what children…

We report on some results from a multiyear development of new techniques and materials for teaching linear algebra. Our goals were to (a) to create a professional learning community across STEM disciplines, (b) to combine expertise in content and pedagogy in designing effective instructional practice, and (c) to use learning theories to support…

Seventy students participated in an experiment to measure the effects of either providing explanations or listening during small group discussions on recall of related subject-matter studied after the discussion. They watched a video of a small group discussing a problem. In the first experimental condition, the video was stopped at various points…

Many educators find that students do not participate actively in class, and are constantly seeking a variety of techniques to encourage student participation. The focus of this paper is to show how simultaneous report and provocative statements can be combined to foster appreciative inquiry, thereby, creating a learning environment with greater…

The authors placed 5th-grade students into small groups of 3 in order to examine the impact of group discussion and displayed effort on children's evaluations of a low-achieving peer. Low effort by a target peer resulted in negative evaluations across attributional, affective, help-giving, and social response dimensions. Children who participated…

Brief citations are given for over 300 items each of which has been used at least twice successfully with discussion groups at jails, halfway houses, convalescent hospitals, alcoholic and drug clinics, and psychiatric hospitals during 1974-75. The listings include poetry, films, biographies, essays, plays, short stories, and music. They are…

This is a compilation of 17 papers given at various recent IFLA and some other conferences. A special Knowledge Management Discussion Group existed during these years and held meetings during the annual IFLA conferences. Apart from a "Prelude" article, a reprint of the classic "Blow Up the Corporate Library" from the 1990s, the papers are grouped…

The author describes a two-way communication device which he has used for instruction with discussion groups. The author discusses the use of this device and it's value as a teaching aid. (MS)

Article describes a new technique in reporting the results of discussion groups to the plenary session of a small conference. Instead of one person from each group writing a report, each group restaged its discussion for 15 minutes before the whole conference, concentrating on major points and conclusions. (PD)

Warns of the possible dangers of encounter groups. (JF)

This article describes a system that autonomously mediates threaded discussions in distance learning environments. The objective is to produce large-scale threaded discussions among an arbitrary number of participants with no human mediation effort.

This article considers the complex process of having students cross the boundaries of race, class, and culture in the Open Choice program, a remedy designed to reduce the racial, social, and economic isolation of Connecticut school children in the wake of the ruling in the Sheff v. O'Neill (1996) desegregation case. Using transcripts from three…

Excerpts from current research with people who have autism using online discussion groups are provided. Two major themes emerged that focus on "expert" knowledge of autism and identity. In contrast to the image of people with autism being unable to speak for themselves, our research on chat rooms has demonstrated that these individuals are finding…