This report points to recent social, economic, and technological changes in Canadian society that have produced significant challenges to higher education, and provides recommendations for improving the educational climate of higher education institutions and classrooms. It presents background information on positive learning environments and…

This book examines the emerging roles of teachers whose classrooms reflect a rapidly changing society. Teachers are seen as needing to: be expert in both content and pedagogy; be committed to professional behavior; facilitate conditions for student learning; challenge students' thinking through appropriate questioning strategies; extend the…

The "Talk It Out" approach is presented for use by elementary school teachers. Talk It Out employs the techniques of conflict resolution, mediation, and negotiation in order to resolve problems that occur in most classrooms, such as teasing, put-downs, pushing, hitting, cheating, gossiping and refusing to share. Readers are provided classroom…

Outlining how teachers can best support a literate community yet still meet the needs of individual readers, this book explains how to create a balanced literacy program for grades K-3 based on guided reading and supported by reading aloud, shared reading, interactive writing, and other approaches. The book also presents guidelines for observation…

A survey of 37 college students with various disabilities was conducted to assess their perceptions of the accommodation process at a medium-sized midwestern university. Students were interviewed about particular accommodations requested and positive and negative aspects of the accommodation process. They also provided quantitative information on:…

Calling into question many of the assumptions underlying classroom discipline, this book offers an alternative vision to traditional classroom management models in which teachers control students by promising them rewards or threaten them with punishment. The introduction takes the position that rather than employ effective discipline measures to…

Based upon Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, this book guides elementary school teachers through the process of using classroom learning centers and projects by providing choices for students. The guide is divided into two sections, providing the theoretical background and information on how to develop multiple intelligences learning…

This study examined the educational and social conditions of 215 hard-of-hearing students (grades 1 to 11) in Sweden, 157 of whom were placed in regular classes, usually as the only hard-of-hearing student in the class. The study interviewed the pupils, surveyed parents and teachers, and conducted a sociometric analysis. Results indicated that the…

Attention to different aspects of communicative competence (form and meaning) in second language instruction creates different kinds of learning environments. Form-focused classrooms favor transmission of linguistic competence. Whole-class instruction and lockstep conditions restrict communication. Input from teacher language and attitudes toward…

In 1991, the Worcester (Massachusetts) Public Schools received a grant to provide services to maintain the early benefits attained by Head Start children. One part of the program is advancement of a developmentally appropriate curriculum. A study was undertaken to examine the effects of investing substantial resources in classrooms in four schools…

This study examines the instructional experiences of a national sample of 1992 high school seniors in the subjects of science and mathematics. The study analyzes data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). The information on instruction comes from the NELS:88 1992 survey of teachers, which collected questionnaires from…

Researchers have long sought to enhance the academic achievement of low income, minority children. To understand adolescents' achievement motivation and persistence, investigations must focus on both the contexts of achievement and the characteristics of adolescent participants. In line with this aim, this study investigated a group counseling…

This document is a comparative report based on data that enables a different form of comparison to be made between Japanese and American eighth-graders. The data is drawn from assessments given in each country using tests developed via governmental agencies that were designed to mirror the basic curricula currently being offered to students in the…

This paper reports on part of a cross-national study of science classroom environments in Taiwan and Australia. It focuses on teachers' beliefs about science and science teaching and the effects these beliefs have on the learning environment in the science classroom. Better understanding of this relationship between teacher beliefs and learning…

This study is an attempt to document the connection between the way children construct mathematics in the second grade and the way student teachers construct their knowledge base. The study examines how student teachers integrate their formal and informal knowledge of mathematics and mathematics pedagogy with the reality of the second grade…