Freshmen often approach research papers by selecting a "giant topic" and going to the library to confront swamps and mountains of resources. A different approach to teaching research is designed to help students begin to shift the often counter-productive paradigm under which they operate. The classroom strategy proposed is 3-fold.…

The purpose of this book is to teach the basic principles of problem solving in both mathematical and non-mathematical problems. The major components of the book consist of learning to translate verbal discussion into analytical data, learning problem solving methods for attacking collections of analytical questions or data, and building a…

Offering advanced writers the opportunity to present their research findings in the form of an I-Search paper yields a more enriching experience for them and a better "read" for their audience. In the past 2 years, students in upper-level undergraduate courses--like Advanced Composition and Teaching and Evaluating Writing and graduate…

This book presents 12 strategies (focusing on one strategy a week) for students to increase vocabulary and boost communication skills, suggesting that these techniques can easily double the average person's vocabulary. After an introduction, the book presents the following 12 techniques: (1) "Expand on What You Know: Synonyms, Antonyms, and…

This pamphlet discusses the pivotal role that feedback can play in the instruction of adult learners with learning disabilities and provides strategies to enable teachers to constructively design and present effective feedback. The paper begins by describing and instructional techniques that can be used to create interest and provide feedback…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a comparative advance organizer in an oral format on learners' immediate and delayed retention of subject matter related to food and nutrition when controlling for learners' prior knowledge level. Another area of interest was to investigate whether paraphrasing the comparative advance…

Dynamic classroom role-playing is an essential ingredient in interpretation and performance if the student actor is to learn the technical skills of believable characterization. One of the first classroom performance principles in playing the role is for the student actor to read the playscript with a critical eye to grasp the creative suggestions…

An assignment focuses on introducing students to the complexities involved in rendering a decision concerning the First Amendment to the Constitution. During the first week of classes, students are asked to read the introductory sections to the topic-specific chapters in "Freedom of Speech in the Marketplace of Ideas" by Fraleigh and…

The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) project involves gaining access to data on student learning from the National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES) that schools and programs do not normally have. This document contains an executive summary in addition to the full length report on the accomplishments of the project. The…

This paper examines the effectiveness and feasibility of introducing relaxation and visualization techniques as study skills. Fifth grade science students from Charlottesville, Virginia (N=43) received six 20-minute classes using relaxation to study information on famous scientists. Results of this study indicate that relaxation and visualization…

Using media in communication courses often is recommended; yet, almost no data exists regarding its efficacy in achieving course objectives. This study provides a preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of using media as the primary pedagogical technique in two accelerated interpersonal communication courses taught at a large state university.…

This paper explains the government of the United Kingdom's (UK) National Literacy Strategy (NLS), established in 1997 by the incoming UK government to raise standards of literacy in English elementary school over a 5- to 10-year period. The paper summarizes how international research influenced the Strategy; reports on the impact of the NLS on the…

This literature review provides a policy-oriented overview of the major work on schools as learning organizations. It is representative of the literature through 1999. The first section, "Learning Organizations in Non-School Settings," discusses what organizational literature has to offer the discussion of learning communities or…

Concept mapping is a technique for visually representing the structure of information, concepts, and the relationships between them. Concept maps are useful tools that help students learn about how they structure knowledge while supporting the process of knowledge construction or metaknowledge. This paper discusses the effect of concept mapping…

This paper is based on information and insights gained from the preliminary data-gathering phase of a project on the acquisition of Irish as first and second language. The main aim of the project is to establish a database constituted of acquisitional data gathered from children acquiring Irish as a first language and in the early stages of…