This qualitative research study investigated and identified the classroom management strategies of 12 highly effective middle school teachers who served diverse student populations at two different school sites. In addition, this research explored the beliefs and experiences of 305 diverse middle school students regarding their experiences with…

"Asking why" is an important foundation of inquiry and fundamental to the development of reasoning skills and learning. Despite this, and despite the relentless and often disruptive nature of innovations in information and communications technology (ICT), sophisticated tools that directly support this basic act of learning appear to be…

In this study we investigated the frequency and types of questions asked when parents read with their four-year-old children, the relationship between the frequency and types of questions parents and children asked, and the relationship between these and the children's early literacy knowledge. Forty dyads shared two narrative texts and two…

This self-study explores the instruction of a novice teacher by an expert mentor teacher, while applying the strategy of asking questions instead of the more common pattern of giving advice and guidance in the form of telling. The study examines the educational potential embedded in the question-asking strategy as a key mentoring resource when…

Student-generated questions in relation to text were examined in two studies. Study I examined the impact of student questioning in relation to general vocabulary in English-Only Speakers (EOs) and English language learners (ELLs). Findings indicated that questioning predicted comprehension in the reading comprehension of both groups of readers,…

The purpose of this article is to describe the changes in reading instruction that teachers made that contributed to students' growth in reading. Teachers made the transition from instruction that was primarily teacher-directed and focused on lower-level questions to instruction that supported students in their higher order talk and writing about…

As teachers, schools and school leaders work to better prepare California's culturally and linguistically diverse students, methods for doing so vary widely. One approach prioritizes safe spaces, welcoming environments, well-structured routines--school and classroom culture features essential for students' well-being. A second key priority, often…

Too often, teachers scratch their heads and ask, "What were my students thinking?" then answer, "I don't want to know." But teachers should want to know, and students should question their own thinking, as well. Critical thinking involves not just problem solving, creativity, analysis, and synthesis but also self-awareness of learning and learning…

Access to information (ATI) and freedom of information (FOI) mechanisms are now relevant features of governments in many liberal democracies today. Citizens, organizations, and permanent residents in several countries across the globe can request unpublished information from federal, provincial, state, county, and municipal government agencies.…

Enquiry, Inquiry, Problem Solving etc. are all different terms describing one outcome, that is creating an environment where students are driven by curiosity, involved and in charge of their learning. The problem of a traditional classroom has always been that students are spoon fed with information and most of it is lost in time if it is not used…

Resolving ethical dilemmas is no easy task, and there are no ready-made recipes or guidelines to follow. A principal, as a critically thinking individual with a well-thought-out belief system, will be challenged to think on his or her feet when confronting situations that require ethical decision making. This article presents three ethical…

In this study we examined age- and task-related effects in story schema knowledge across an independent narrative task (story formulations) and a supported narrative task (answering questions). We also examined age-related changes to questions about the story as a whole. Participants were typically developing English-speaking children aged 4, 5,…

The main objective of the study was to identify the instructional methods and techniques used by the secondary school teachers to transfer the instructions to the students and to explore the basic considerations of the teachers about the selection of these instructional methods and techniques. Participants of the study included were 442 teachers…

To understand what they read or hear, children and adults must create a coherent mental representation of presented information. Recent research suggests that the ability to do so starts to develop early--well before reading age--and that early individual differences are predictive of later reading-comprehension performance. In this paper, we…

The purpose of this study was to explore how to enhance students' critical thinking in an introductory undergraduate science course. As a design experiment, this study aimed to design, develop, implement, and refine learning activities, and investigate how the learning activities worked in fostering students' critical thinking in a large size…