In this study, the author adapted reciprocal teaching strategies for use with her kindergarten students. Using puppets to help model strategies, she implemented a series of lessons that showed students how to retell, ask questions, and predict what would happen in a story that was read aloud. The purpose was to provide students with comprehension…

This paper is an essay on the discursive politics of education. Data from a small study, combined with a review of the related literature, suggest that the overarching concept "community" lacks coherence when used in online education. At least three contrasting forms of connection can be discerned: communion among participants, exchange…

To investigate the differences between an instructional program that explicitly emphasized both decoding and comprehension and one that emphasized only comprehension, a study engaged two groups of first grade children identified as being at risk for learning to read in both effective decoding instruction and meaningful comprehension and thinking…

This book offers an overview of the cooperative learning process, including its rationale, research base, value, and practical considerations, with an emphasis on two key characteristics: cooperative learning's ability to create communities within classrooms, and well-structured, sequenced assignments which allow students to internalize…

This study investigated what master teachers and student teachers learned from one another during reciprocal teaching. Data came from two exploratory case studies at elementary schools in southern California. The first study focused on the contributions of partner elementary student teachers to the professional development of their master…

An ethnographic study in a second-grade full-inclusion classroom examined spontaneous, unstructured peer-assistance interactions between 22 general education and 11 special education students during small-group and independent work periods. Found that helping exchanges in academic contexts were complicated by students' social agendas: desire to…

This collection of essays illustrates various aspects of the recent trend to situate accounts of cognitive development. The essays examine contextual sensitivity in relation to ecological theories of perception and cognition, and contrast intuitive reasoning in mathematical and other scientific domains with the child's difficulty with reasoning in…

The authors evaluated the effectiveness of explicit reading comprehension strategies instruction, followed by practice in teacher-led whole-class activities (STRAT), reciprocal same-age (STRAT + SA) peer-tutoring activities, or cross-age peer-tutoring activities (STRAT + CA) on 2nd and 5th graders' reading comprehension and self-efficacy…

A growing research base on adolescent literacy supports an emphasis on direct instruction in the reading and writing skills needed to perform these more complex literacy tasks. However, many middle and high school teachers have little or no preparation for teaching these skills within their content-area disciplines and have few resources upon…

Sociocultural theory has challenged existing notions of cognitive development by suggesting that psychological functioning is specific to its social context and is dependent on the mastery of culturally defined modes of speaking, thinking, and acting. This book provides a representative sample of work on the social and cultural foundations of…

In a climate of rapid change, increasing innovation, and proliferating knowledge, lifelong learning is an important educational objective. Lifelong learning skills need to be developed if educators intend for their students to stay current in their fields. Staying abreast of new innovations, research, techniques, and information is a prerequisite…

This collection of papers examines educational issues concerning K-college Asian and Pacific American students. The 10 papers are: (1) "Educational Aspirations of Southeast Asian Students" (Clara C. Park); (2) "The Effectiveness of Reciprocal Teaching with Vietnamese American Students" (Mai Dao); (3) "Exploring Pacific…

The primary purpose of this study was the naturalistic assessment of growth in oral English proficiency of Hispanic American limited English proficient (LEP) students in a paired reciprocal learning format. Subjects were fifth-grade students in a summer English-as-a-Second-Language class. Twelve students in a paired learning format and 12 in a…

This independent training manual, which is intended for individuals preparing to become adult literacy tutors in Pennsylvania, provides an introduction to the basic principles and techniques of tutoring adult literacy students. Presented first are a preface, definition of literacy, and tutor awareness inventory. The following topics are examined:…

The 2006 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (CSC), a joint conference with the Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, celebrated languages of the world in the classroom and in the community. This volume of the CSC "Report" is the companion volume for the 2005 CSC "Report," "The…