Students in the targeted school exhibited a decline in reading scores between second and fourth grade. Due to poor reading levels for 2 consecutive years the state put the school on a probationary list with in its district. Evidence for the existence of the problem included documented low reading test scores, below proficiency assessment records,…

This paper reports on an investigation of learning strategy applications in elementary foreign language immersion classrooms. The focus of the paper is on identifying strategies more and less effective learners use for classroom reading and writing tasks in the target language. Think-aloud data from third grade and fourth grade students were…

This paper describes a reflective thinking model for preservice teachers developed and implemented within one state college's teacher education program. It includes three specific developmental stages. During the foundation stage, students are introduced to and involved in classroom inquiry activities which include dialogue journals,…

This paper reports data collected during the first year of the Understandings of Consequence Project. This project explores how mismatched models of causality, instances when students' assumptions about how causes and effects behave significantly depart from scientific ones, may generate and/or exacerbate difficulties in achieving scientific…

Teaching critical thinking is what employers ask of educators and what teachers expect from their students. This paper attempts to reestablish the importance of critical thinking and how Valencia Community College's (Florida) critical thinking competency can be developed using several teaching models. A discussion is provided on the background of…

This learning module aims to engage students in problem solving, critical thinking, scientific inquiry, and cooperative learning. The module is appropriate for use in any introductory or intermediate undergraduate course that focuses on human-environment relationships. The module examines how social, economic, political, and environmental forces…

This report documents a program for improving science knowledge, attitudes, and higher order thinking skills through experiential science. The hands-on approach used successfully in the program is described, and evidence of student improvement is also presented. The targeted population consisted of students in the first, third, and fourth grades…

If technology is to have more than a modest impact on curriculum design, educators must embrace a new paradigm integrating technology in the classroom. Describes LoTi (levels of technology implementation), an instrument to measure the degree to which computers are used to support concept-based or process-based instruction, consequential learning,…

All About Us is a statistical investigation that also involves social studies, language arts, problem solving, and mathematical communication. A fourth-grade class designed a short survey to solicit information from British pen pals to compare typical fourth-grade students in England with themselves. They collected and analyzed data, drew…

Critiques William Mehrens' 1992 article on performance assessment, claiming that Mehrens professes to favor performance assessment but only as an afterthought to traditional assessment, and Mehrens' view of traditional assessment limits his portrayal of performance assessment. The paper encourages the research community to support performance…

A two-year study randomly assigned children (K-grade 2) with advanced mathematical skills (n=276) to two groups, an intervention group reflecting a constructivist approach or a control. Boys gained more than girls on quantitative and visual-spatial measures in the control, whereas the intervention group made greater gains in quantitative measures…

This study found no differences in content acquisition (as measured by a standardized test) of 167 gifted 10th graders in American Studies classes who received either a problem-based learning approach or traditional instruction. Results did not support the common assumption that curriculum fostering higher order thinking skills inevitably results…

Suggests that traditional remedial teaching methods such as drill and practice activities are not challenging, and that incorporating alternative teaching strategies such as critical dialogue and higher order thinking skills (HOTS) into the classroom fosters self-esteem, creates enthusiasm for learning, raises test scores, and alters brain…

In this study, 32 preservice teachers were interviewed about their epistemological beliefs, applying the Women's Ways of Knowing conceptualization to their thinking. Over half the students demonstrated significant amounts of procedural or constructed thinking. Results indicated the value of the Women's Ways of Knowing in seeking to understand…

Describes changes in literacy engagement during Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI), a new approach to teaching reading, writing, and science that emphasizes real-world science observations, student self-direction, strategy instruction, collaborative learning, self-expression, and coherence of literacy learning experiences. Finds that…