A study recorded the experiences of elementary school students with cooperative learning in two schools in Singapore. The students worked cooperatively in various assigned social studies tasks through the process of social interaction and sharing with their peers. One school was used as the experimental school while the other served as the…

Previous research on learner strategy instruction has produced mixed results. This article reports a study in which two classes of 32 Singapore upper secondary school second language users of English participated. Both classes had the same teacher. One class received instruction in asking higher order questions; the other class did not. Higher…

Lesson units on teaching young citizens about contemporary issues can be used to start class projects that explore how the communications media present information about national issues in different ways and for different purposes. Classroom activities are suggested. Reproducible worksheets and a list of information resources and books for…

This study of the influence of graduate teaching assistants upon student reactions to introductory sociology focuses on two questions: (1) Does the graduate teaching assistant influence student satisfaction with the sociology course as a whole? and (2) Do students feel they derive the essence of the course from the lecture or the small discussion…

Proposes an approach to teaching reasoning through classroom conversation that integrates group work around computers into curriculum-related activities. The article examines research on collaborative learning and describes a program in which the computer is used to direct children's explicit, joint reasoning in curriculum-related activities. (79…

This study explored case method instruction in a graduate elementary education literacy course. Audiotaped case discussions, students' written reflections, interviews, questionnaires, and field notes were collected. Case method instruction proved to be a successful addition to the course. (SM)

Shares how one teacher and her class of seventh graders learned to share and discuss literature through the notions of stances and instructional scaffolding. (MG)

A two-day roundtable on preparing the next generation of academic leadership convened by the Association of American Colleges is summarized. Issues relating to academic leadership and what might be done to enlarge the pool of potential leaders are discussed. (MLW)

Describes programs sponsored by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) to promote civic participation. The programs are National Issues Forums (NIF) in the Classroom; Jefferson Meetings; Great Decisions; Public Issues Series; and C-SPAN in the Classroom. (SLM)

Discusses cooperative learning in the social studies classroom, highlighting the Jigsaw Strategy--a cooperative learning technique used to encourage students to interact, exchange ideas with peers, and gain confidence in the learning process. Presents an example of its use from a grade seven unit on Canada's native people. (GEA)

Describes classroom use of cooperative learning groups: small, carefully mixed, permanent groups of students who work together for cooperative team successes. This process encourages total class participation and group decision making, results in higher grades, and develops critical thinking as well as factual mastery. (LS)

Discusses uses of technology in distance education and describes a study of college graduate students that illustrated the effects of two different instructional delivery technologies on the nature of interaction in online education systems: one used a synchronous video link-up and one used an asynchronous computer-mediated communication system.…

Examines the cognitive and affective impact of a multimedia editing task. The study examined how junior high school students used multimedia to teach science topics to themselves and others. The results showed that, although the technology had an important role in student activity, the task itself was the main motivational aspect. (Contains 34…

Presents answers from a teacher, a curriculum developer, and from the educational literature to the question "What are some strategies for helping students work in groups?" Topics addressed include group size, heterogeneous grouping, roles in the group, necessary social skills, and teacher guidance. (PR)

Fourth and fifth graders (n=38) were trained in four thinking roles (task definer, strategist, monitor, and challenger) through small-group discussions to determine whether they retained and transferred their self-directed critical thinking skills. They applied the thinking roles effectively in comparison to untrained children up to eight weeks…