A training program has been developed at the University of Texas at San Antonio to prepare community volunteers as museum tour guides. Since most teachers have not had training in the museum's role in education, it is often the museum docents who perform the teaching role in museums. A descriptive study was conducted as a preliminary phase of…

This guide is concerned with the answering and asking of questions in college-level courses. Suggestions are offered regarding questioning techniques that are appropriate for lecture classes as well as for discussion groups. Ways to help students answer their own questions are to repeat the question by paraphrasing it, redirecting the question,…

The learning module described is for the use of inservice teachers interested in a study of the process of inquiry. It is designed for a workshop-sized group of teachers at the secondary school level but may be adapted for teachers in the middle school. The topics addressed in this product relate to the process of inquiry and include questioning…

This two-part learning module was designed to help instructors in making effective use of questioning techniques in promoting the classroom involvement of non-traditional students. Part I identifies the characteristics and uses of three different types of questions: (1) convergent, eliciting questions, which are designed to verify student…

Discussed are the effects that cognitive level of teachers' questions and questioning strategies may have on student achievement. Thirty-two preservice elementary teachers were stratified by the grade they were teaching, either primary (grades 1-3) or intermediate (4-5), and randomly assigned to treatments. Treatment levels consisted of…

The purpose of this study was to determine if answering a child's question with a question produces further analytical questioning by the child. A sample of 80 children in nursery-kindergarten, first, second and third grades (ages ranging from 4-9 years) were divided into two groups. An abstract painting by Kandinsky was shown individually to each…

This study is an initial investigation of the effects of grade level, item content and type of probe on children's understanding of communicative ineptness. It was hypothesized that children's recognition and avoidance of inept communications would increase as a function of age and that recognition of ineptness would precede the ability to avoid…

This issue of "Forum for Reading" contains four essays of interest to reading instructors at two-year colleges. Joan Gregg, Beth Pacheco, and Serena Nanda discuss the benefits for students of providing thematic unity in reading courses. The essay considers the selection of a theme, such as rebellion, identity, or family, that will lend…

This study investigated the quantitative and qualitative differences in the responses of children aged four, six, and eight to four kinds of questions; cognitive memory, convergent, divergent, and evaluative. The subjects, 48 boys and girls, were from advantaged homes and had attended, or were attending, nursery school. Each subject was shown a…

As part of an investigation of effective first grade reading group instruction, this report analyzes the relationships between certain teacher behaviors and the contexts in which they occur. Behaviors of interest discussed are those describing teacher selection of and feedback to response opportunities, as well as the overall level of response…

IN GENERAL, PROBLEM SOLUTIONS CAN BE FOUND ALONG A CONTINUUM OF ABSTRACTION FROM THE SPECIFIC TO THE GENERAL. THERE IS, AT ANY GIVEN POINT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOLUTION, A MOST EFFICIENT OR OPTIMUM STRATEGY. IN INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION IS USUALLY OBTAINED, AT A MORE SPECIFIC RATHER THAN AT A MORE ABSTRACT LEVEL. THE…

Research has indicated that one significant deficiency in the intellectual capabilities of disadvantaged children is a disability in abstract thinking. Although all very young children lack this ability, the environment of the middle class child provides an opportunity so that as this child matures, the ability to think in abstract terms naturally…

The purpose of this paper is to speculate about the relationship between societal change as presented by the women's movement, geography, and trends in education. Its thesis is that by looking at geographic teaching as an institutional response to a social revolution, a model for educational change can be developed on a much larger scale. Three…

Compared was the relative effectiveness of two teacher questioning styles on the motivation and learning of eight intermediate educable mentally retarded pupils. Interactive process data and pupil achievement on a recall posttest were examined for two different types of lessons: one utilizing "episodic" questions (that encouraged the child to…

The handbook is part of a series on legal services for the elderly which can be provided by senior citizens functioning as paralegals. It is designed to assist trainers in preparing paralegals and covers the following areas: (1) planning a training program--trainees; trainers; setting; materials, equipment, and props; program content; scheduling;…