Two elementary-grade activities on geography are combined. The first activity employs a group discussion approach to investigate neighborhoods and residences. Given data about a neighborhood area in Houston, students make predictions and express feelings about future developments in the area. The second activity investigates urban planning in…

Addressing the needs of English language learners, remedial readers, avid readers, gifted readers, dormant readers, reluctant readers, and readers in content areas, this book's goal is to help middle school teachers connect their students to reading. The book offers multiple lists of trade books that different types of middle school readers enjoy;…

Noting that the growing crisis in the quality of early childhood programs is fueled partly by the lack of well-trained, knowledgeable, reflective teachers, this book details teaching cases that reflect typical challenges in teaching to be used as a tool for professional development. The cases provide a basis for discussing teacher decisions and…

This document contains three commissioned papers and other materials from a 2-day conference. "Politics, Policy, Practice and Personal Responsibility: Adult Education in an Era of Welfare Reform" (Deborah D'Amico) examines the relationship between literacy, poverty, and welfare reform and the implications of those relationships for…

Students from different cultures follow differing norms for communication, affecting the classroom and students' grades. Such patterns are found in class discussions, question-and-answer sessions, small-group interactions (issues include cooperation, structure, competition, and gender), and formal class presentations. While no single teaching…

Maintains that to encourage student discussion about history, students must have something to say and be willing to say it, and the teacher must be able to guide a discussion. Describes a secondary-level course in which student discuss assigned readings on an electronic mail bulletin board. (CFR)

Depicts ways popular song lyrics can stimulate discussion either in music, social studies, humanities, or language arts classes. Considers lyrics' ability to explain social, cultural, and political phenomena. Provides a chronological outline from 1962 correlating political events, personalities, songs, and the artists. songs. Identifies uses of…

Describes programs at diverse institutions across the country that use technology innovatively for faculty development. Programs include instructional development education, Internet use for on-line instruction, Web site use to gather student feedback on instructional techniques, a Web site as an information source for faculty and teaching…

This paper reports on the creation of an instrument for use by instructors, students, or researchers to identify, measure or promote critical thinking (CT) in online asynchronous discussions (OADs). Four models of CT were reviewed, synthesised, analysed, and evaluated to clarify the construct. Indicators of specific cognitive processes related to…

Purpose: Few empirical studies have compared the efficacy between psychoeducational (skill-building) approaches for reducing caregivers' psychological distress and interventions modeled after typical community-based support groups. We compare the impact of two distinct interventions on Anglo and Latino caregivers of elderly relatives with…

This document tries to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the teaching and learning of science in order to provide parents and community leaders a base of information to help improve science education. Questions are posed in three major areas: science in American education; science in the classroom; and science in the home…

The curriculum guide presents the activities component of the Human Development Program for grade 6. The Human Development Program (HDP) is an affective curricular approach developed by psychologists to aid teachers in instilling responsibility and self-confidence in children. The nucleus of the Human Development Program is a circle session…

This paper describes a group dynamics course designed to integrate academic and experiential learning. The technique used to accomplish this integration was a two week wilderness experience, followed by a seminar in group dynamics during the normal academic term. Four reasons for the wilderness experience are discussed: (1) shared experience among…

The study guide is designed to be used with other instructional materials in a one-semester curriculum program which is linked to topics outlined in the American Issues Forum calendar. It is intended for use at the local level. This course seeks to develop new understandings of the problems and realities of contemporary America. Ways in which…

This video workshop with auxiliary classroom videos will show intermediate elementary teachers how to help their students transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." Eight half-hour workshop video programs feature leading experts who discuss current research on learning to read and teaching a diverse range of students. The research…