The executive director of Public Agenda describes the seven-stage journey toward public consensus, underlines the importance of genuine public involvement, and provides some common-sense principles to guide those seeking to foster public engagement. Reform-minded educators should listen carefully, create an ongoing process, seek diverse…

Explores the issue of balancing liberty and order within the United States. Discusses the role of the Bill of Rights, focusing on the amendments in the document and the later amendments that ensure the liberty of U.S. citizens. Explains how order and liberty are ensured and includes discussion questions. (CMK)

Presents annotations of 32 works of children's literature that invite consideration of the wondrous possibilities of literature in the reading curriculum--from reading aloud to time set aside for independent reading, from focused instruction using paired and shared reading to engagement through book discussions, and from using literature to learn…

FACETS many-facet Rasch analysis software was utilized to look at two consecutive administrations of a large-scale second language oral assessment in the form of a peer group discussion task with Japanese English-major university students. Results are discussed. (Author/VWL)

Discusses results of interviews with five university teacher education professors that asked about their first-time experiences offering online courses. Recommends four categories for improvements: preparation, including a good introductory Web page for students; structure, including promoting interactivity by limiting class size and using…

Describes the WEB Project that used multimedia and telecommunications to change teachers' instructional practices and form a learning community among schools and cooperating institutions in discussions of student work. Discusses online design conversations; online dialogue and guidelines for participation; impact on student performance; and…

Presents a qualitative analysis of a transcript of a critical-thinking reading lesson designed for sixth grade students. The analysis illustrates the relationship between critical thinking and reading comprehension and demonstrates that critical thinking can be promoted in everyday classroom instruction using regular classroom materials. (JD)

Characterizes middle school teachers' discussions of assigned readings from a variety of content area materials. Finds that the teachers' purpose appeared to influence the type of discussion they conducted and that their actual discussions seldom resembled their articulated abstract definitions of a good discussion. (KEH)

Describes discussion practices recommended in 15 postprimary reading methods textbooks published before and after 1970. Focuses analysis on (1) function of textbook in discussion; (2) questioning-discussion relationship; and (3) teacher-student relationship in discussions. Finds that earlier authors granted texts more status as arbiters of ideas…

Contends that the problems approach is new to most teachers and is at odds with the dominant curricular trend that includes reliance on textbooks and content-oriented courses. Concludes that there is a formidable set of forces opposing the implementation of such a curriculum. (SLM)

The article describes a program which provides parents and hearing-impaired children with information concerning postsecondary options and upcoming developmental stages. The community outreach program involves hearing-impaired college students at the University of Akron (Ohio) in meetings with hearing-impaired high school students and with parents…

Development of a policy for annual faculty appraisal discussions at New Zealand's University of Otago is described, tracing its evolution from the traditional faculty evaluation interviews. The role accorded to faculty development is examined, and the emphasis on a collegial rather than corporate view of university administration is noted. (MSE)

Describes a series of lessons used with a year-five class which encouraged the use of analogical reasoning in problem solving and giving attention to students' awareness of strategies and applications. Students were encouraged to discuss and question their own thinking to make connections among the problems being solved. (MKR)

"Why" questions used by teachers and students were examined to determine whether they produced words or phrases (short answers) or extended student responses (long answers) in 12 English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) courses. Results indicated that both teachers and students ask few why questions, which could be better used in ESL classes to elicit…

Includes "$20,000 Question" (Whittington); "Genius of the Agricultural Education Model for Nurturing Higher Order Thinking (HOT)" (Newcomb); "Effective Use of Discussion Method Teaching" (Cooke); "Insects in the Classroom" (Klowden); "Increasing Thinking Skill through HOT Teaching" (Torres, Cano); "WHY? Practices Used in Vocational Classrooms to…