This paper uses data from two mathematics lessons to explore the nature of progressive discourse and examine critical features of teacher actions that contribute to mathematics classrooms functioning as communities of inquiry. Features found to promote progressive discourse include a focus on the conceptual elements of the curriculum and the use…

In productive classrooms, teachers do not just teach children skills: they build emotionally and relationally healthy learning communities. Teachers create intellectual environments that produce not only technically competent students, but also caring, secure, actively literate human beings. Choice Words shows how teachers accomplish this using…

To provide a better understanding of the structure of the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and to determine if there are structural differences across selected groups of MCAT examinees, several dimensionality analyses were conducted on data from recent administrations of the MCAT. The first set of analyses focused on the global structure of…

This paper describes how one group of students developed personally meaningful ways to reason mathematically within the context of measurement. Episodes taken from a first grade classroom in which a 4-month teaching experiment was conducted are presented. One of the goals of the teaching experiment was to develop instructional sequences designed…

This book explores strategies for building up a repertoire of techniques that allow teachers to develop effective explanatory skills. Though it focuses on elementary teachers, many strategies are appropriate for secondary teachers. The book uses a mixture of activities, discussion points, and classroom-based findings that have been proven…

Drawing on many years of research, this book shows how knowledge is structured and how professors and students perceive learning in their fields. It also offers strategies for constructing and using knowledge that will help postsecondary institutions promote students' intellectual development within and across disciplines. The chapters are: (1)…

During several years of experimentation, we accumulated a large collection of data on the analysis of problems generally encountered in algebra and on the reasoning developed by students at different levels when confronted with these problems. Analysis of this data led us to a new way of looking at differences among word problems, and to the…

The main purpose of this study was to look at how we used specific writing assignments in our courses to encourage metacognitive reflection in order to increase the learning that takes place. The study also aimed to aid in the development of higher order processing skills through the development of student reflection. The students involved in the…

This paper addresses the contributions that brain research makes to education. Topics pertaining to typical brain research findings and their educational significance, caution in the application of findings to explain differences by population, and the types of research that could be potentially helpful to educators are discussed. Among the…

This report describes a program for increasing the thinking skills of fourth grade students in one classroom in northern Illinois. Both objective and subjective data gathering found that students experienced difficulty in relating and applying facts and concepts on tasks requiring more sophisticated thinking. Solution strategies combined with an…

This paper reports on the formative evaluation results of the project "Enhancement of Problem Solving and Scientific Reasoning Skills through Computerized General Chemistry Modules." This project includes the design, development, and implementation of two interactive computer modules for the enhancement of mathematical and problem…

This book integrates the use of three tools (the Internet, the theory of multiple intelligences, and brain research) to help teachers design projects and activities that help students gain a deeper understanding of the curriculum, discussing how these educational tools work together to help teachers make better use of their classroom time as they…

This paper examines the problem that the beliefs with which preservice teachers leave colleges of education are virtually the same as when they entered. This issue is addressed by establishing that preservice teachers' belief formation regarding teaching, learning, students, and content should be a rational rather than nonrational or irrational…

A pre-post combined experimental and quasi-experimental study determined if the effects of former successful applications of Accelerated Learning (AL), memory, and cognitive skills interactive media training could be replicated in multiple classrooms. The 10-week experimental application (40 minutes daily, Monday through Friday) of training…

Three earlier published reports (Erland, 1999c, 1999d, 1998) of a two school (Schools 1 & 2), 14 classroom, grades 4-8 study, reported large gains evidenced by the Brain-Based-Accelerated Learning (AL) application of The Bridge To Achievement (BTA). Eleven BTA/AL experimental groups were compared with two control groups from School 2 having an…