This paper begins by discussing the problems encountered by nontraditional university students who, for a variety of reasons, lack the skills necessary to complete assignments that require library research, and the role of the librarian in assisting these students. It then describes two approaches being used by librarians at Northeastern Illinois…

This study compared dialogue and response journal formats. The participants were members of a graduate class for literacy educators. Completing a journal containing dialogue and response entries was one assignment for this class. Data came from student journals, interviews, and questionnaires. The integration of findings from these sources…

This report examines an attempt to use cooperative learning in two sections of a college chemistry course and focuses specifically on male and female student attitudes and achievement in the course. A total of 46 students participated. One lab section used cooperative structures throughout an entire 16-week semester while the other section used…

A study examined classroom discourse in three literature class discussions among 15 high school juniors and their teacher as they tried to make sense of "Hamlet" and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." Participants' moves (what the students and teacher were trying to do with their language during the discussion);…

To elicit some written comments about student views of revision, an English professor surveyed about 100 students in several different composition classes regarding what they would do if given the opportunity to revise a class paper. More than 80% of the responses explicitly mentioned errors in spelling, mechanics, or grammar. Several students…

Students must have uninterrupted periods of time to process information, to reflect on what has been said, observed, or done, and to consider what their personal responses will be. After at least three seconds of uninterrupted silence, a significant number of positive outcomes occur for students and teachers. Students are more effective in…

Instructional clarity is a cluster of instructor behaviors that contains an appropriate use of keys, links, framing statements, focusing, and examples and avoids vagueness terms and mazes. In this study, students' (N=59) achievement and their perception of clear instruction were significantly affected by both the amount of clarity an instructor…

A study investigated students' perceptions of the Role of the Reader Project, which was designed to legitimize, normalize, and validate the experiences of all students representing racial and ethnic groups in Canada's multicultural society through the identification and discussion of racial and ethnic bias in literature and through the teaching of…

A study investigated the conditions under which computer-mediated communication (CMC) (electronic mail) senders were perceived as self-absorbed by CMC receivers. Experience with electronic mail was the independent variable and perceived self-absorption, attraction, and homophily were the dependent variables. Two-hundred fifty volunteers from a…

A study examined the oral comments of writing groups at different grade levels to determine if students are actually able to talk about writing, what kinds of comments they make about each other's writing, and what effects their comments have on the composing process. Nine groups of from four to six members in the fifth, eighth, and senior high…

A preliminary study was conducted to investigate strategies that elementary teachers and students use in responding to requests and to determine whether strategy use varies with request imposition. Subjects were 26 fifth-grade students drawn from six classes in one school district and 17 fourth- or fifth-grade teachers from the same district.…

The process of selecting college presidents is discussed. It is suggested that the selection is affected by the conflict between privacy and publicity, a balance that differs among different kinds of institutions: a relatively closed search because of religious affiliation or dogma for a private college versus the requirements established for…

This study sought to determine if logical relationships that have been clearly established in textual terms can be presented equivalently in diagrams, and, if so, what the effect might be on student comprehension when diagram technology is employed together with instructive questions. Participants in the study were 129 college students randomly…

A literature class can be successfully taught and organized around content that confronts oppressions (subtle, moral and intellectual forms of discrimination) and empowers students to critique their conceived worlds which are often at odds with their perceived realities. First, selected writings for examination illuminate life in a resistant world…

The study examined how adding students with learning disabilities (LD) to regular education classrooms changed the behavior of nonhandicapped students and their teachers. Initial observations were of mainstream classes containing no learning-disabled students. Observations were again conducted after LD students had been mainstreamed for 8 months.…