Offers a rationale that can be used to defend the assignment of Alice Walker's controversial novel for class reading. Indicates four issues that might evoke calls for censorship: (1) subject matter, (2) vocabulary, (3) grammar, and (4) the epistolary form of the work. (RBW)

Today there is a growing belief that everyone who wants access to college can have it. College enrollments have continued to grow for over half a century and now it can be argued that most American families dream of a college education for their children. A 2003 report by the Education Commission of the States (ECS) demonstrates there is a growing…

Researchers have been slow to acknowledge the salient role communication can play in motivating people to adopt more healthy lifestyles. Because persuasive messages increase awareness and can increase health promoting behaviors, it is important to determine the most effective health promoting messages in various health contexts. Thus, the primary…

This case study examined the role of field dependence in the failure of an online dyadic discussion of a complex issue, whether or not creationism should be placed on an equal footing with evolution in high school science classrooms. In this study, field is used to designate whole disciplines, rather than factions within disciplines. Using…

Examines the effects of audience adaptation and social cognitive ability on the syntactic strategies employed by four different age groups in the writing of persuasive discourse. (EKN)

Debates the use of concepts from cognitive psychology to explain the structuring of attitudes and opinions. The debate zeroes in on the structures of cognition, the reflexivity of attitudes, the function of the social context, the effect of ideology on the structures of vocabulary, the communication process, the role of ideology in organizing…

Provides a brief sketch of key historical and political conditions that led to the 1973 protests at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, by Native Americans. Demonstrates how the discursive strategies of the protestors both reflect the influence of context and reveal the significance of rhetoric's role in revitalizing culture. Considers implications for…

Demonstrates a technique where, by taking on the disguise of one who is completely ignorant of a mathematical topic or by using incorrect examples, students can be challenged to reflect on their thinking and to be very precise about their language. (MKR)

Examination of the relationship between academic learning and group relations suggests that the study of each can inform the other. A partnership between the study of group relations and the study of literary theory could give new insights into teaching and learning as discursive practices, power relations in the college classroom, and sources of…

Study investigated teacher preferences for certain modes of helping students (enactive attainment, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and anxiety reduction). Preservice and inservice teachers read six scenarios of students with learning difficulties and ranked helping responses. Overall, they preferred verbal persuasion; they tended to…

Discusses three narratives about the history, status, and future of educational researchers. The prevailing collective self-portrait portraying researchers as social scientists with autonomy is contrasted with views of limited autonomy and the author's narrative of enhanced professionalism through research texts about people in the schools. (SLD)

Reviews research on teaching and teachers' thinking and practical knowledge. Formulates questions regarding discourse practices, production, and research. Centers on themes of story, voice, and form. Looks at how experienced and novice teachers create meaning. Asks whether the teachers' voice is given expression in research on teacher thinking.…

Argues that a strong case can be made for supporting outreach as a value-added function in a university. Specific strategies for positioning outreach within the university by developing a power base are outlined. The case of the University of Michigan-Flint is offered as an example of this approach. Seven lessons learned in the process are noted.…

Study of students (n=546) from two colleges found selective college students procrastinated more. Academic procrastination was motivated by task aversion at selective college, by fear of task failure at nonselective college. Nonselective college procrastinators more often used both legitimate and nonlegitimate excuses. Excuses were self-generated…

Asserts that elementary students should know the basic vocabulary of economics, in particular, the "Significant Six": (1) goods and services; (2) productive resources; (3) scarcity; (4) opportunity cost; (5) specialization; and (6) exchange. Provides a lesson called "Benny's Pennies" that focuses on goods and services that…