Describes the features of TOPO, HERO, RB5X, and Tasman Turtle, personal robots used in elementary and secondary schools and colleges to introduce concepts of artificial intelligence, advanced high school and college computer science, and elementary level programming. Mechanical arms are also briefly mentioned. (MBR)

Presents strategies helpful in maintaining learner attention (providing response opportunities, providing variety in presentation style, connecting activities clearly); building learner interest (demonstrating results, using humor, using creative examples, using questions, using unpredictability); and developing learner involvement (using…

Discusses student reactions to college recruitment/admissions practices. Students indicated campus atmosphere, academic program and campus visits influenced the choice of a college. They want good information on which to make a decision and want to be treated as individuals. (JAC)

Reports on a study that examined the relationship between age and depth of response to poetry. (HOD)

Offers suggestions for the systematic study of characters that can help children develop skills in understanding stories. Describes two activities that can be used for this purpose. (FL)

Instruction techniques utilized by secondary school teachers and those preferred by students when sex education topics are taught were identified in this article. Large group discussion was preferred when teaching social and emotional aspects of sexuality. Educational media was a technique used and preferred to address physiological aspects.…

A model is described for teaching about death and dying with emphasis on mental health aspects. The author relates personal observations from her experience as a death educator and suggests precautions for individuals organizing thanatology courses for the first time. (AV)

In the struggle to find an acceptably academic voice that still felt personal, an instructor started thinking about what it would mean to say that academic writing is always autobiographical. Reading student work for how the autobiographical is presented in academic discourse, the instructor thought about how autobiographical writing could be used…

The report discusses the winter 2000 student satisfaction survey at Rogue Community College (RCC) (Oregon). The annual survey is an important tool by which the college measures its achievement in the areas of services, classes, and facilities. The primary purpose of the study is to obtain feedback from attending students regarding the issues that…

This paper reports on a two-year exploratory study to determine the viability of voice-based threaded discussions forums as a means of stimulating discussion and understanding of weekly readings as part of a large undergraduate communications course. From March to June 2001, 600 students participating in a large introduction to communication…

One writing instructor and her colleagues use the concept of teachers modeling responses for students as a cornerstone of the "mutually responsible" classroom. They spend a week preparing their classes to "do" peer response in much the same way that Mary K. Healy describes in her essay "Using Student Writing Response…

Questions about the implications of the new technologies for literacy, literacy teaching, and literacy practices provoke diverse and contradictory responses in the media, in policy documents, in state and national assessment surveys, and among teachers themselves. On one hand, the need for literacy to be reconceptualized and redefined in the face…

Article devoted attention to the effect television has on verbal ability and development and the manner in which television may serve as a model for language usage. Author also outlined some of the limitations imposed on language by television. (Author/RK)

Author addressed the nascent issue of damage suits brought by nonlearners against the schools. He discussed the legal issues relating to such suits and argues that if the courts recognize school liability at all they would apply the negligence rule. (Editor/RK)

This study considered the structure of adolescents' interactions with artists and art teachers. (Author/RK)