"Talking Stones" is an interview technique that is designed to support self advocacy, particularly for groups of disaffected school students whose views may be difficult to elicit. It has been developed and refined to incorporate a view of learners as active agents in their own learning and is compatible with reflective practice and a…

The case study examined two groups of grade 7 students as they engaged in four inquiry phases: posing a question and collecting, analyzing, and representing data. Previous studies reported analyses of statistical reasoning on a single inquiry phase. Our goal was to identify the modes of statistical reasoning displayed during group discussions in…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of teaching eight secondary students with disabilities, including seven with learning disabilities, a strategy for answering a variety of inferential questions. A multiple-baseline across-subjects design was employed. Outcome measures included scores on researcher-devised comprehension…

Asking questions is a salient event in group learning environments such as classrooms. Laboratory experimental results indicate that co-learner questions can affect judgments of comprehension. A study involving 94 male and 209 female students at a large midwestern university examined whether students would be aware of such alterations in…

This document is composed of three bibliographies that were handed out during a section of an American Library Association conference dealing with education and behavioral sciences and more narrowly, with how techniques borrowed from these disciplines can improve the effectiveness of reference services. The handouts are a 24-item bibliography on…

A study explored what an outside-the-classroom, authentic literature discussion involved. Three book club discussions (involving a leaderless group consisting of members of varying professions meeting monthly to discuss fiction and nonfiction reading selections) were audiotaped, transcribed and coded. Results indicated that: (1) when allowed to…

One of the reasons the last overhaul of science teaching in American schools failed is because no research had been conducted investigating how elementary school teachers were actually teaching. This report describes a study that sought to answer questions concerning science instructional practices in kindergarten and first grade. Nine full-day…

This manual presents a training methodology for use in changing pivotal behaviors of children with autism or other severe handicaps. Behaviors specifically addressed for their far ranging effects involve motivation and responsivity to multiple cues. Seven instructional points are detailed with both good and poor implementation examples. The manual…

Designed to present a workable system for first grade reading group sessions, this report contains a detailed explanation of 22 principles for managing small group instruction. The principles it describes reflect experience and research involving teachers and young children in small groups and fall into two major categories: organizing and…

Through instruction in synaptic linking--the process of relating ideas and information to produce expanded interpretations and new constructs--teachers provide students with a model for answering higher level questions about their reading material. Presenting a carefully planned sequence of reading comprehension questions that require skills…

The effect of adding time for processing compressed speech and the effects of questions that gave adjunct pictures either a redundant or contextual function were investigated. Subjects were 144 fourth- and fifth-grade students randomly assigned to 24 groups. They listened individually to a 20-sentence story at either 225 or 300 words-per-minute…

Suggests that teachers create open learning environments to bring about originality by using several strategies which are listed. (LS)

Utilizes the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) "invitations to inquiry" in teacher training in analyzing a lesson's objectives and in microteaching. (LS)

Describes an elementary school project utilizing colonial objects, activities and questioning techniques to teach social studies. (LS)