Many middle school students claim that their voices are ignored in the classroom, where the attitude is too often that the teacher holds the one right answer. Instead of this approach, teachers may wish to use the Socratic Seminar, which prompts students to examine issues and ideas through dialogue and actively involves and motivates them, giving…

This study explored how asynchronous discussion supported by a Web-based learning system facilitated collaborative learning. The participants in this study consisted of the instructor, facilitators, and the students in a master's level course at a university in the south. Different sources of evidence were used in the study (individual/group…

Discussion boards have the unique capacity to support higher-order constructivist learning and the development of a learning community, This chapter provides ten conditions that support the effective use of an online discussion.

The benefits of active learning are well documented; nonetheless, the implementation of active learning strategies can be challenging in large lecture environments. The project will examine the research supporting active learning, present the implementation of simple active learning techniques in large lecture classes, and provide evidence to test…

This study investigated the effect of well- vs. ill-structured problem types on: (a) group interactional activity, (b) evolution of group participation inequities, (c) group discussion quality, and (d) group performance in a synchronous, computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. Participants were 60 11th-grade science students…

The development of community in educational settings is now recognized as a social and collaborative process that is an integral part of learning. As classrooms and communities extend beyond the traditional four walls, research related to online community development across media is of vital importance to teachers. The study reported in this paper…

The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers' learning improvement through participation in study groups. In particular, this study examined how two second grade active participant teachers' classroom practice changed over time and how their changes were related to changes in their study group meetings, which they called Professional…

This study, conducted in 2005 in a New Zealand tertiary institution, examines Asian students' perceptions of the much-promulgated cooperative learning concepts in the form of group work and group assignments. Twenty-two Asian students participated in one-hour individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The study found that Asian students…

Genetically modified (GM) crops such as maize (Zea mays L.), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), soybean [Glycine max (L.) Moench], and canola (Brassica rapa L.) have been widely adopted by American farmers. In spite of their use in the United States, the European Union (EU) imposed a 6-year de facto moratorium (1998-2004) on the cultivation/import of…

This study investigated whether providing preservice teachers with opportunities to discuss common observations would have an impact on their observations and reflections. Twelve preservice secondary mathematics teachers in the early stages of their teacher education program were divided into 3 treatment groups based on their orientation towards…

A study examined discussions on an instructional listserv, an open forum with several hundred subscribers across the world. The study investigated the coherence of a group of electronic mail (e-mail) messages taken from an academic listserv under one topic. Coherence is important as it contributes to the comprehension of a text. Participants on…

In an effort to foster group work, encourage critical thinking, and assist students in understanding the costs and benefits of being a critical thinker, a classroom activity was developed for use in an introductory psychology course. In the activity, students are divided into groups and presented with a taxonomy of cognitive objectives,…

Undergraduate students are routinely assigned a long research paper--surely the most complex intellectual skill ever expected from them--and expected to write it with a minimum of teacher and library interference and with thorough faith in the end product. More than anything else, the traditional approach to directing research papers focused on…

This critical review examines 18 books available to the general public about learning disabilities (LD) and offers guidelines for use of these books by professionals. Books are grouped into three categories: those written from the perspective of parents and individuals with learning disabilities, those written from an LD professional's…

The Foundational Approaches in Science Teaching (FAST) project, which began under the sponsorship of the Hawaii Science Curriculum Council, contains a series of interdisciplinary science courses that emphasize the foundational concepts and methods of the physical, biological, and earth sciences. By directly involving students in investigating…