Describes a local interpretation program in New England that uses a motorcoach to take visitors on a day-long tour of several sites in the region. Explains how to create similar programs elsewhere and gives advice for preparing for the tour, orienting tour members, interpreting on the road, pacing tours over a day, and stopping at tour sites. (PVD)

A general-education teacher, a special-education teacher, and her two assistants worked together to develop an integrated, fully inclusive classroom in a Bayview (New York) elementary school. A blend of whole and small-group instruction was augmented with peer teaching and small cooperative groups. Language remediation centered on the curriculum…

Examines the potential of small-group interaction to provide significant linguistic opportunities that whole-class teaching is less well placed to deliver. Compares data from two groups of children from the same classroom engaged in the same group activity. Draws on the work of Bakhtin to identify monologic and dialogic features in the children's…

Discusses possibilities for improving undergraduate-level general-education biology courses, particularly through the development of interesting and focused laboratory presentations. Advocates problem-based learning and improving the communication skills of laboratory teaching assistants. (Author/WRM)

Describes the efforts at Pace University (New York, NY) to develop and refine electronic classrooms. Topics include technology integration; needs assessment; ergonomics and environmental design issues; small-group instruction for faculty training, including cross-departmental partnerships; student feedback; and faculty feedback. (LRW)

Provides a cognitive reading guide for the first four chapters of the novel, "Where the Red Fern Grows" (Rawls, 1961), that incorporates teacher-directed whole-class instruction with a student reading guide to equalize instruction for various levels of learners. Ideas for whole-class instruction are contained within the lesson plans. (CR)

Offers strategies and accommodations educators can use with students having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including examples of their application with a 10th-grade student. Suggestions address the ADHD-friendly environment, student organization, following directions, large group instruction, maintaining attention to seatwork,…

Discusses the incorporation of a problem-based anatomy course into a traditional curriculum in the School of Medicine at the University of Zagreb. Describes the course, challenges that arose during the transition, and institutional solutions. Students showed a high preference for the active learning process experienced in tutorials over the more…

Recommends using focus group interviews and other discussion techniques, generally used in business, to examine social studies issues. Outlines and discusses how these techniques (systems thinking, mental models, shared vision, team learning) can greatly enhance social studies instruction of current events and controversial issues. (MJP)

Describes how the Internet was used in an English class for architecture and construction students at the University of Granada (Spain). Discusses course organization; links to construction company Web sites; active learning; group work; student presentations; student autonomy and student motivation; and problems with plagiarism. (LRW)

Explores how two high-achieving adolescent girls reacted to a teaching intervention designed to foster collaborative group work focusing on aspects of their cultural practices in interpersonal relationships. They were primarily influenced by a competitive individualized ideology, not appropriate for the project, but not deviant from the school's…

Presents a longitudinal study comparing problem-solving performance for medical students trained using two different approaches to medical education. The first is traditional medical education involving lectures supplemented by laboratory exercises. The second approach is problem-based learning (PBL), where students learn basic concepts in small…

A rating scale is proposed for assessing both the level of a particular communicative performance in a small group and the general ability to perform in small-group interactions over time. argues that the theoretical difficulties of designing and using rating scales for this purpose, while requiring serious consideration, are outweighed by…

This study compared effects of two variations of the constant-time-delay (CTD) procedure on the observational learning of content area vocabulary by seven primary grade students with learning disabilities in a small group instructional setting. Both conditions (every student writes all words or only target student writes) were equally effective…

In an age of educational accountability and school competition, the gap between current poor-urban school performance and standards of excellence remains glaringly obvious. As poor-urban schools scramble to "close the gap," many abandon sound pedagogy, becoming entrenched in a curriculum where basic-skills worksheets are the primary method of…