Early identification and intervention for students at risk for reading failure is essential to establish the foundational skills necessary for students to become skilled readers. The focus on evidence-based practices and data-driven decision making leads educators to consider additional instructional approaches, such as formative assessment (FA)…

This study was designed to investigate the effects of teaching critical thinking skills (CTS) in a large class through asynchronous discussion forums (ADFs) with the facilitation of teaching assistants. A pretest and posttest quasi-experimental design with a comparison group was employed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The…

Research into classroom interactions has shown that talk that promotes reasoning can help children in their learning of science. Such talk can only be generated when teachers are willing to take a dialogic approach that is stimulating and provides opportunities for children to articulate their ideas. This research set out to determine whether the…

This article presents sets of observations and recommendations for Web-based distance learning, based on formative and summative performance and opinion data collected from participants involved in the design, development, and utilization of Wired Class, a Web-based learning environment that was developed to teach mathematics to Egyptian secondary…

This study presents the results of a fifteen-month research project conducted with a group of Latina (Mexicana) immigrant mothers who took part in an after-school family literacy program that was grounded in a participatory approach to education. This family literacy program emphasized a "strengths" perspective by acknowledging the rich resources…

In recent years, bullying seems to have become more serious and more pervasive. Research indicates that 15% to 20% of all students are victimized by bullies at some point in their school careers. Clearly, bullying is a problem that schools must recognize and address. Bullying has three distinguishing characteristics: (1) it is intentional; (2) it…

With an increasing older population and need for institutionalization care, the demand for group work in long-term care (LTC) is increasing. Group therapy can be utilized as a strength-based model, providing socialization and cognitive stimulation with the goal of increasing overall psychological well being for LTC residents. The present article…

"Our culture underestimates teachers--not only the complexity of their work, but also their potential to contribute substantively to the dialogue about school reform," write the authors of this article. Online teacher networks have the potential to transform traditional concepts of teacher leadership, enabling teachers to bond together into…

This article examines the construction of an intercultural critical literacy practice in a Web-based discussion forum as one way to globalize interpretive practices within the English classroom. English education students in the United States and Sweden discussed a short story over a period of three weeks. The analysis of the students' postings…

Despite their flaws as teaching and learning environments, large lectures remain a standard teaching approach because of their relatively low cost, ease of preparation, and long tradition in education. Research shows that active inquiry yields positive results in learning outcomes, and one way to make the large lecture class more active and…

Three adult males met 2 hours a week for 26 weeks in a non-academic setting to explore writing. Adult One (A-1) and Adult Two (A-2) were limestone miners and close friends. Adult Three (A-3) had some limited academic writing experience, so A-1 and A-2 thought that he knew more about what made writing effective. A-3 observed the others' writing…

Discussed student-developed career meetings in which guest speakers provided students with information about their work experience. (RK)

This article discusses the National Issues Forum (NIF), a national, nonpartisan program designed to encourage citizen discussion of important public issues. The programs try to recreate the town meeting concept of reaching consensus on public issues. Short workbooks are available on two reading levels for issues such as the superpowers, crime,…