Research shows that scientific knowledge develops through a process of decision-making as well as discovery, and that argumentation is a genre of discourse crucial to the practice of science. Students should therefore be supported in understanding the scientific practices of dialectical and rhetorical argumentation as part of learning about…

Today, anyone can publish text, audio, pictures, or video on the Web quickly and at no charge using blogs, wikis, podcasts, and videosharing sites like YouTube. An 8th grade American history class has taken advantage of these technologies to expand student learning. Students read books and blog about them with people who live in different states,…

Literature discussion groups have become a popular instructional alternative to traditional reading groups. Yet, literature discussion does not happen naturally in the classroom, and some teachers find it particularly difficult to implement with primary-grade students. This article explores how two teachers used a balance of explicit teaching and…

A web conference "adds value by generating discussion among a diverse student group" (Skinner, 2004a, p. 12). Or does it? A significant concern is the extent to which learners construct knowledge and develop a learning community through online discussion. Critics argue that genuine knowledge construction is difficult to achieve. This study…

A total of 221 (111 female and 110 male) British Medical students completed the NEO-FFI personality inventory [Costa, P. T., Jr., and McCrae, R. R. (1992). "Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual." Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.], an abbreviated version of Biggs'…

For some time now, English teachers have used electronic discussion in their classrooms. There is also a considerable literature suggesting benefits to student learning in doing so. However this research often downplays the context in which the discussion group is used--so that the particularities in use, including teacher decision-making as they…

In this qualitative study, the authors merge two bodies of previously separated scholarship: (1) a socio-cultural understanding of adolescent girls in light of the shifting meaning of ideal girlhood, and (2) the participation and success of adolescent girls in school-based literacy activities. They apply these fields of inquiry to explore the…

This article explores the leadership of school principals with respect to faculty study group development as a key element of the professional learning community. Questions asked concern the approaches that principals use to facilitate study group processes that, in turn. foster teacher learning and student achievement, and ways in which…

Education for citizenship has the teaching of controversial issues, the exploration of social values and the fostering of active participation at its core. This article focuses on a case study of 11-year-old pupils in a Scottish primary school, who were exposed to a new programme underpinned by values-based participation. The pupils initiated…

Currently, numerous on-line discussion forums have been developed for educational purposes; therefore, a better understanding about peer student discussion or discourse interactions is quite important. Through gathering peer learning interactions on 57 college computer science students, who were randomly assigned into 14 small groups for solving…

An ecological framework for predicting citizen participation in grassroots community organizations and predicting community disorder problems (such as crime and fear) was developed and tested. The framework, which is called an ecological framework for sustainable community learning and development, delineates the relevant economic, political,…

A form of group learning, cohorts, has become increasingly attractive to administrators, instructors, and participants in adult education. Basic academic skills cohort learning supports three types of knowing: instrumental, socializing, and self-authoring; whereas, in higher and adult education cohort learning, the development of critical…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore an online field experience between technology facilitator candidates in the USA and K-12 teachers in Namibia, to improve candidates' understanding of diversity and equity issues in the successful incorporation of information and communication technologies (ICT) in teaching and learning.…

This study examined students' perceptions of peer feedback and learning in a large, undergraduate course that incorporated supplementary online discussions. Peer feedback (PF) was facilitated via an automated rating system, within Blackboard discussion forums, for half of the students enrolled in the course. Following the peer feedback process,…

Research has established that individual student interest has a positive effect on learning and academic achievement. However, little is known about the impact of a blended learning approach on individual student interest and whether combinations of online and face-to-face learning activities significantly enhance student interest. This paper…