Background: Stress and social support influence adolescents' coping strategies. Adolescents need to acquire a large repertoire of coping strategies in light of a rapidly changing socio-economic and political situation. Aim: This study reports on the coping strategies of Zimbabwean adolescents and highlights some major stressors they face. The…

Starting in March 2005, the SAT, taken annually by more than 1.4 million college-bound students, will undergo its most significant change since 1994, when the College Board, which sponsors the test, first allowed calculators into test rooms, added open-ended math questions, and eliminated antonyms and added more critical-reading passages in the…

Laptops helped two faculty members adapt a highly challenging, critical computer science course to increasing enrollment. Among the course enhancements the technology made possible were daily quizzes, animation-based demonstrations and exercises, and more authentic assessment. (Contains 2 tables.)

In this article, the author deals with a screenplay adaptation assignment that he gave to his students. The purpose is to make readers out of some students who don't like to read, and to teach them something about film as an art form. He starts with a film entitled, "Ernest Hemingway's Soldier's Home." He used it because of the technical…

This article presents findings of our nationwide study of undergraduate special education student teaching practices. The authors were especially interested in grading systems, assignments, supervision practices, and unique challenges. Results indicated variability in grading systems, use of traditional assignments such as lesson plans, use of…

Dissatisfied with his method of teaching composition to high school seniors, Joseph M. Shosh sought ways to move from teaching as transmission to teaching as transaction. Asking students to use a dialogic discourse diary resulted in improved thinking and writing. He offers the assignments he gave and documents students? reactions and growth.

This article describes a portion of a long-term, action-research project investigating the teaching of an elementary social studies methods course for preservice teachers from a social justice framework. Other major foci for the course are integrated with topics related specifically to social studies teaching and learning: cultural diversity, an…

This study examined the time course of typing in prelingually and profoundly deaf as well as hearing individuals. Both groups of participants performed a written picture naming task and a written pseudoword task. Keystroke timing measurements from the written picture naming task revealed that the deaf as well as the hearing group were…

Adoptive children face some different developmental concerns than their non-adoptive peers. Educators need to understand that certain lessons and assignments can affect adoptive and non-adoptive children very differently. In this article, the author offers several classroom strategies for adopted students. An autobiography assignment, potentially…

This article describes a series of assignments that models the process of writing a manuscript for publication. While completing the assignments, students worked to improve their writing as they graphed, interpreted, and explained patterns in data from a local river. They reviewed published articles and each other's papers to become more critical…

This article explores commonalties between literacy instruction and learning to understand the symbolic languages of the visual and performing arts. A detailed case study of an urban professional development program for secondary arts teachers looks at the learning initiated by writing assignments that prompted students to reflect on arts…

During their teaching program, pre-service teachers participated in a course concerning teaching in the heterogeneous classroom. As an introduction to the issue of "gifted children," the pre-service teachers were given an assignment: (1) to interview gifted children (identified as gifted by the Ministry of Education, according to IQ…

A related study found a number of changes in the reflective stance of preservice teachers using a video case curriculum in a mathematics methods course. These included a higher level of reflection, an increased use of evidence, a shift from affective to pedagogical concerns, and increased attention to student thinking (Stockero, 2006). The…

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are increasingly used by Higher Education Institutions to manage and enhance teaching and learning, and research. Discussion, chat, scheduling, and other collaboration tools make VLEs especially useful systems for designing and managing complex group projects. In the spring semester of 2006, students at the…

This article describes a research project in which William "Bill" Thelin, who directs the writing program at the University of Akron, was looking to uncover student reaction to English courses in which the professor carried through with a political agenda. Through the participant-observation method, Bill hoped to glean information that…