Little is known about students' reactions to their university's attempt to manage their informational and emotional needs during a time of national crisis. A survey of students immediately following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States found that students wanted the university to stay open and function as a place for sense making…

To be effective, thinking skills interventions are likely to require specific fine-grain changes in the quantity and quality of teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil dialogue in the classroom, but these are difficult to establish. This study investigated the effects of collaborative philosophical enquiry over time on quantity and quality of interactive…

Narrative is a form of discourse that "encode[s] and encrypt[s] the norms, values, and ideologies of the social order" (Friedman, 1998, p. 8). These values may be represented in many ways, including culturally learned codes, myths, and stories which reveal popular attitudes about gender, race, ethnicity, or education. As a mirror of culture,…

Contrasting cases are a way to stimulate productive student discussions, discussions that prepare students to learn from more traditional activities such as classroom lectures and worked examples. Examples from a unit on variability show that students gain long-lasting insight into the structure and purpose of statistical formulas. (Contains 2…

This story of a student's misconceptions about quadrilateral properties makes a case for the importance of teachers not only knowing where their students have been and where they are in terms of their learning, but also where their current learning will lead them in the future. Suggested classroom activities are included. (Contains 8 figures.)

Research has established the predominance of one sequence of interaction in teacher-led activity in the classroom. Although much is known about the initiation-response-evaluation sequence, relatively less is known about other interaction sequences that may constitute classroom lessons. This study examines interaction during a time of individual…

Progress in video technologies and developments in theories of learning have led to a surge of interest in the role of classroom culture in schooling. The studies presented in this special issue of the IJER on analyzing mathematics classroom cultures and practices contribute to our knowledge on the role of beliefs and norms in classrooms and the…

Talk-radio podcasts, such as "Absolutely Intercultural," which are not overtly pedagogical, can be much more than passive, extended listening practice. This paper describes two examples in which teachers have used the "Absolutely Intercultural" podcast and discusses the different levels of involvement possible with podcasts from listening to…

During the last two decades of colonial rule, a wide gulf existed between policy and practice in Hong Kong's English-medium secondary schools: while English was the medium of textbooks, assignments and examinations, Cantonese and Cantonese-English mixed code were the dominant media of classroom communication. Although mixed-mode instruction was…

Background: As an instructional tool, teacher self-disclosure is used widely by teachers. While researchers abroad have conducted a number of studies, scarce literature on teacher self-disclosure has been found. Aims: This study aims to explore the Chinese pre-service teachers' perceived effects of teacher self-disclosure on student learning,…

After attending a conference session about marketing, the author and his colleagues were inspired to start their own marketing program for the technology education program at Unionville High School in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. When they started, they had no idea how much that simple marketing program would pay off. Over the past seven years,…

This article examines the effect of a teacher's cultural representations and tacit communicative style on interactive practices in the classroom. We compare two second-grade classrooms constituted predominantly by Latino immigrant children and teachers with differing cultural representations of education. Through video and acoustic analyses of…

The importance of effective instruction on student academic and social achievement has been well documented. Strong classroom management and the use of high rates of opportunities to respond (OTR) have been two advocated classroom practices to positively impact student performance. This article presents an analysis of data collected across 35…

This paper presents some of the preliminary findings of a study into modern languages (ML) learning in five Scottish secondary schools. Five ML teachers were observed and audio-recorded over a period of several weeks while teaching their third-year classes (pupils aged 14-15 years). All the teachers used the target language extensively in their…

Differentiated instruction engages students of all abilities as active learners, decision-makers, and problem solvers--making educational experiences more meaningful for all. This one-of-a-kind book proves that designing differentiated instruction can be simple and fun! Packed with creative adaptation ideas like fidget bags, doodle notes, and…