Outlines and describes a fifth-grade unit of study examining issues of freedom and oppression. Students began with a biography and a presentation on an individual who had experienced discrimination. They then interviewed local people who had experienced significant freedom or oppression. Culminating activities included writing one-act plays. (MJP)

Explores the origin, meaning, and tradition of the title "First Lady." Discusses the evolving responsibilities of the role and how different women expanded the definition of the office. A list of suggested activities and research projects includes sending birthday cards to former First Ladies, and researching foreign women leaders. (MJP)

Introduces "SimCity 2000," a computer simulation, as a tool for teaching urban geography. Argues that, combined with other activities, it can enhance computer literacy, geographical knowledge, and critical skills. Notes gender differences in students' previous exposure to the software; argues that instructors must consider this when…

Provides five fully developed library media activities that are designed for use with specific curriculum units in art, reading, language arts, physical education, social studies, and science. Library media skills, curriculum objectives, grade levels, resources, instructional roles, procedures, evaluation, and follow-up are described for each…

Examined the literacy activities of 47 father/child pairs over a two-year period in New Mexico. Found a variety of reading and writing activities and concern among fathers relating to school preparedness and bonding opportunities. Devised five recommendations aimed specifically at fathers to develop early reading and writing skills in their…

Provides five fully developed library media activities that are designed for use with specific curriculum units in guidance, reading, language arts, science, and social studies. Library media skills, curriculum objectives, grade levels, resources, instructional roles, procedures, evaluation, and follow-up are described for each activity. (LRW)

Education professionals may feel uncomfortable or unprepared when interacting with students with disabilities within school settings. Several federal mandates have been passed in the last 30 years to ensure that students with disabilities receive the same educational services as students without disabilities. Although these students are now in the…

According to Corman (1995), theory and practice are two sides of the same coin. Each is essential for effective function in organizational contexts and effective teaching in organizational communication courses. However, the classroom experience can benefit from increased efforts to provide students with activities that allow them to apply theory…

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of cooperative learning on cognitive outcomes in a public health graduate level Web-based distance education course. Specifically, the authors use a randomized control trial to determine the impact of two teaching pedagogies on learning effectiveness in three areas of the cognitive domain: (1)…

This paper examines ways in which coherent reasoning about key concepts such as variability, sampling, data, and distribution can be developed as part of statistics education. Instructional activities that could support such reasoning were developed through design research conducted with students in grades 7 and 8. Results are reported from a…

This article examines social presence in virtual asynchronous learning communities among foreign language teachers. We present the findings of two studies investigating cross-institutional asynchronous forums created to engage participants in online dialogues regarding their foreign language teacher preparation experiences in and out of the…

Web-based instruction in higher education has grown exponentially, with more than a thousand universities offering courses over the Web in the United States alone. Web-based instruction offers obvious advantages for distance and continuing education populations by making access to education at any time or place feasible. This kind of flexibility…

Practical guidelines are offered for the use of synchronous online conferencing software by session administrators and moderators. The configuration of the software prior to conferencing sessions is discussed, and the planning and implementation of useful collaborative activities such as "synchronised browsing." The combination of these…

Recent documents released by the U.S. Department of Education offer a negative characterization of Teacher Education. In a recent edition of "AACTE Briefs," Sharon Robinson (2005) points out the obvious: "teacher education has been the focus of high-profile and high-impact interest of policy makers for many years" (p. 2). Policy makers have cast…

This article explores the pattern of formal study activities over a period of 11 years for a group of adult learners. It is based on a two-phase study of students who enrolled in 1999 on courses run by the Faculty of Continuing Education at Birkbeck, University of London. Taking a longitudinal perspective, conducted retrospectively for 1994-1999,…