While college composition theory/pedagogy courses are standard offerings in composition and rhetoric graduate programs, specialized basic writing graduate courses lag behind. At the same time, there is a pressing need for highly qualified teachers of nontraditional adult students, especially in community college and adult literacy education…

In this article, the author presents Fox (2005) argument on functional contextualism and his assessment of the current conceptual frameworks in the field of instructional design and technology. The often unquestioning espousal of constructivism in the field of instructional design and technology has caused problems for a number of reasons. Fox…

In this article, the author discusses that in January 2006, the "New York Times" headlined a new $3.75 billion federal initiative that would give $750 grants to low-income college students who successfully completed a "rigorous secondary school program of study" (Dillon 2006). The author argues that this quiet addition to the…

Since Jonathan Kozol's 1991 publication of "Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools," East St. Louis, Illinois, District 189 has endured unswerving criticism and study. While Kozol's work made publicly known the horrible conditions of schools in the district, it did not bring immediate relief. In 1994, the state appointed a…

Since its acceptance as a pedagogic field, environmental education has experienced divergence and antagonism in its theoretical and methodological approaches and standpoints. In this paper, the author talks about the conflicting relationship between environmental education and education for sustainable development as well as the many discourses…

Research articles are an excellent tool for promoting active learning about the scientific process. One difficulty in teaching research articles is that they address a professional audience and often seek to be persuasive as well as informative. This essay discusses pedagogical strategies that are intended to help students differentiate the purely…

This paper explicates a pattern of scientific argumentation in which scientists respond to causal questions with the generation and test of alternative hypotheses through cycles of hypothetico-predictive argumentation. Hypothetico-predictive arguments are employed to test causal claims that exist on at least two levels (designated stage 4 in which…

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the method of meaning implication discourse analysis can be applied in the context of online collaborative reflective practice of student teachers. The method was developed to identify knowledge building in networked contexts. It derives from the model of meaning implication developed by Piaget,…

Internationalism became one of the keywords in the international intellectual and political debates at the end of the nineteenth century. As a political, cultural and social movement it also included science and education. The desire for international cooperation and global understanding was caused by the growing economic interdependence in the…

This study aimed to identify the types of arguments promoted in various contexts common to a high school chemistry classroom, including lecture-discussion and laboratory activities. The study was guided by the following research question: What types of argument structures and schemes, if any, are promoted and engaged by students within various…

This qualitative case study illustrates barriers to informal argumentation and reasoned debate, i.e., "critical discourse," in online forums. The case is the computer conference of a 15-week, graduate-level humanities course offered entirely at a distance. Twelve students, all with families and careers, were enrolled in the course. We read all…

For the thirty-sixth year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Anaheim, California. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

The United States blood plasma industry uses various rhetorics to access donors and markets its products while managing its stigma and potential legal liability. The industry includes both the public "nonprofit" sector and the private, for-profit blood collection and manufacturing businesses owned by pharmaceutical companies that rely on…

A study explored how teenage audiences interpreted brochures intended to discourage them from taking drugs, and more broadly, how readers respond to the visual and verbal messages presented through brochures that aim to inform and persuade. Over 100 brochures and handouts from national and local drug prevention agencies were collected. A subset of…

This Digest discusses how to integrate basic public speaking concepts into college students' personal and professional lives. The Digest first considers the relevance of the basic course and then suggests the application speech as one instructional activity which illustrates how the oral communication concepts presented in the basic course are…