Presents a lesson plan that enables children to identify their community as a nodal region. Includes field trips, map tracing and comparison, discussion, and observation. Emphasizes children's analysis of the effect of rail transportation on their community. Suggests using the students' community as a geographic laboratory for hands-on experience.…

Analysis of focus group discussions, involving 21 family members (having young children with disabilities) and 19 professionals, identified issues associated with families' use of time in the area of needed supports and time as a constraint. Implications are discussed in relation to developing early intervention programs. (DB)

Examines taped small-group student discussions of "To Kill a Mockingbird" in two tenth grade classes. Explores various discussion skills, including getting started, overcoming tension, deciding who begins, keeping the discussion moving, supporting one another in groups, and dealing with conflict. (MM)

This introduction to the Internet with examples for Macintosh computer users demonstrates the ease of using e-mail, participating on discussion group listservs, logging in to remote sites using Telnet, and obtaining resources using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Included are lists of discussion groups, Telnet sites, and FTP Archive sites. (EA)

Examined the language used by teachers and children during small group discussion in two preschools. Found associations between teachers' questions and children's verbal responses, children's questions to classmates and peers' immediate responses, and teachers' questions about learning processes and children's verbal references to their mental…

Task-related talk, reading comprehension, and metacognition of 219 third grade students were examined over a 4-week period in classrooms assigned to reward (encouragement through team recognition) or strategy (discussions directed toward task content) conditions. The role of task related talk and efficacy of focusing strategies are discussed. (SLD)

Provides illustrations and activities to help students at all grade levels understand how artists look at the world and how each artwork is a result of that personal vision. Suggests questions based on an art criticism model that moves from stages of impulse, description, analysis, interpretation, and information to personalization. (KM)

This article defines bibliotherapy, offers guidelines for selecting appropriate materials to use to assist gifted students to grow emotionally and socially, notes the crucial nature of teacher-led discussion in helping students interact with the literature, and provides discussion questions and suggested activities for each of six books.…

This article explores ways to enhance oral discussions to increase the written language abilities of students with learning disabilities. It discusses oral and written language differences, and offers specific strategies for improving oral narrative skills within the Language Experience Approach (LEA), such as using semantic maps and teaching…

Describes the experiences of two teachers as they examined transcripts of children's conversations in book sharing sessions. Finds that the common ordinary exchanges which initially worried the teachers frequently served definite and significant purposes. (SR)

Examines classroom discussions of Jerry Spinelli's novel "Maniac Magee" to see how literature discussions can help both teachers and students understand and express their own and others' cultural and social identities. (SR)

Examines elementary literature instruction in Stanford University's Teacher Assessment Project (TAP). TAP candidates carried out exercises assessing their classroom instructional abilities. A study used data from the exercises to discuss best practice in teaching literature, noting that certain exercises were amenable to professional growth and…

Describes 12 successful practices for literature programs which evolved as students and teachers talked about books. Finds that these practices minimize the basalization of literature and maximize the analysis of and dialogue about literature. (MG)

Analyzes the interpersonal skills of 14-year-old girls and boys (n=15) who were participating in group discussions as part of the oral test for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GLCE). The analysis focuses on the pupils' use of minimal responses, interruptions, and questions that draw others into the discussion. (26 references) (GLR)

Describes a study that examined instructor perceptions of the effectiveness of various instructional methods used with interactive television at Ohio University. The frequent use of the lecture format, group discussions, and overhead transparencies is examined, recommendations for faculty training are discussed, and future research is suggested.…