Previous research on online discussions has focused on university students learning higher level subjects. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether online discussions could be used effectively by secondary school students attempting to learn introductory level topics. Forty-­five male students, ranging in age from 13 to 15 years…

While problem-based learning (PBL) has been found to be effective with gifted and average students (Hmelo-Silver, 2004), little is known about its impact on students with special needs. This study examines the perceptions of middle-school students with mild, moderate, and severe disabilities and of their teachers regarding the value of…

Our department has redesigned its electrical engineering and computer engineering programs completely by adopting a learning methodology based on competence development, problem solving, and the realization of design projects. In this article, we show how this pedagogical approach has been successfully used for learning compiler design.

This overview focuses on the work of Applied Linguistics in North America with an emphasis on publications in the past 6 years. Follow a brief interpretive section on the nature and status of Applied Linguistics, the article reviews a number of major areas of research in Applied Linguistics. These areas include second language acquisition (and its…

A concise framework of basic concepts and generalizations for teaching economics for K-12 students is presented. The guide summarizes the basic structure and substance of economics and lists and describes economic concepts. Standard guidelines are provided to help school systems integrate economics into their on-going courses of study. Designed to…

This unit on decision-making and discussion skills is the second of five units in a ninth grade social studies course (course described in SO 010 891). There are two major objectives: (1) given a problem, the student will make value judgments using decision-making skills; and (2) using proper discussion techniques, the student will analyze a…

This unit on economic decision-making is the third of five units in a ninth grade social studies course (see SO 010 891 for course description). Major objectives are to help students analyze alternative choices in consumer decision situations and defend the selections; evaluate information and make decisions about what to produce, how to produce,…

The social studies unit involves students in learning about how their families and neighbors view their community. In addition, students identify community issues and problems, and explore their own attitudes about their community. It is designed for use in grade five through junior high school. There are four parts to the community study project.…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 20 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: use of word information cues by beginning readers; the relationship between problem solving and oral reading strategies; the ease with which children learn…

Patterns of problem-solving activity in one middle-class urban high school are examined and a problem solving model rooted in a conceptual framework of contingency theory is presented. Contingency theory stresses that as political, economic, and social conditions in an organization's environment become problematic, the internal structures of the…

To determine the effects of planned career development activities on middle school children, 135 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students from predominantly black middle class families were divided into two groups (experimental and control) and pre-tested using the attitude scale and competency subtests (problem solving, planning, occupational…

In developing countries, the means of both providing school-age children with a basic education and extending secondary and technical education are adversely affected by the lack of educational facilities. In addition, vast numbers of adults need to be taught to read and write so that they can participate in the process of development. Experts on…

This PLACE workbook for clients in employment counseling helps them assess their employability, specifically in the part of PLACE related to personal needs. (A companion sourcebook is available separately as CE 031 890.) It contains employment-related topics about which clients are asked questions that can help them identify employment problems.…

Four areas of college management responsibility are reviewed: the mission of the organization; administrator/faculty relationship; individual stress; and measuring organizational health. According to Argyris (1980) an organization updates its goals (1) as a consequence of detecting and solving routine problems, and (2) through periodical…

A goal for minority education is "cultural eclecticism," which combines features of assimilationist and cultural pluralist perspectives into an open-ended educational approach that respects cultural diversity. To achieve this, a project-centered approach to curriculum design, blending the academic functions of the school…