Laptops helped two faculty members adapt a highly challenging, critical computer science course to increasing enrollment. Among the course enhancements the technology made possible were daily quizzes, animation-based demonstrations and exercises, and more authentic assessment. (Contains 2 tables.)

In this article, the author deals with a screenplay adaptation assignment that he gave to his students. The purpose is to make readers out of some students who don't like to read, and to teach them something about film as an art form. He starts with a film entitled, "Ernest Hemingway's Soldier's Home." He used it because of the technical…

This study investigated whether a reflective journal writing assignment would improve students' course performance. A total of 166 students from undergraduate sections of a course taught by the same instructor over three semesters completed the assignment as part of their requirements. Students (N = 317) from five previous semesters of the same…

This article presents findings of our nationwide study of undergraduate special education student teaching practices. The authors were especially interested in grading systems, assignments, supervision practices, and unique challenges. Results indicated variability in grading systems, use of traditional assignments such as lesson plans, use of…

Dissatisfied with his method of teaching composition to high school seniors, Joseph M. Shosh sought ways to move from teaching as transmission to teaching as transaction. Asking students to use a dialogic discourse diary resulted in improved thinking and writing. He offers the assignments he gave and documents students? reactions and growth.

This article describes a portion of a long-term, action-research project investigating the teaching of an elementary social studies methods course for preservice teachers from a social justice framework. Other major foci for the course are integrated with topics related specifically to social studies teaching and learning: cultural diversity, an…

This study examined the time course of typing in prelingually and profoundly deaf as well as hearing individuals. Both groups of participants performed a written picture naming task and a written pseudoword task. Keystroke timing measurements from the written picture naming task revealed that the deaf as well as the hearing group were…

This paper describes an exercise that frames the choices made in creating measures of knowledge as problematic--making clear that the difficulties in interpreting the survey response are not limited to opinion items but apply to questions about factual information as well. Ambiguities in question wording and response options can invite multiple…

The results of this paper are drawn from interviews with the school principal and the music teacher of a secondary school in Shanghai, China, together with an analysis of 24 seventh-grade students' written assignments entitled "I and Music." These assignments reveal rich and varied connections between the students' social contexts and…

Feedback is central to the development of effective learning, yet is comparatively underresearched. This article seeks to examine the notion of written feedback on assignments and argue that this feedback process is more complex than is sometimes acknowledged. The author illustrates the problematic nature of assignment feedback by drawing on a…

Adoptive children face some different developmental concerns than their non-adoptive peers. Educators need to understand that certain lessons and assignments can affect adoptive and non-adoptive children very differently. In this article, the author offers several classroom strategies for adopted students. An autobiography assignment, potentially…

In today's business world, the ability to work efficiently and effectively with others in a group is a mandatory skill. Many employers rank "ability to work with a group" as one of the most important attributes for business school graduates to possess. Therefore, it is important for instructors to understand the factors that influence group…

One of the best ways to enrich students' social studies experience is to include assignments in which students interact with social studies content and skills. In this article, the author explains how teachers can use writing exercises to encourage such interaction. She describes the following writing activities: (1) acrostics; (2) haiku; (3)…

In this article, the author examines students response to a class assignment on diversity issues. Her analysis revealed that students were at different levels in terms of understanding of diversity issues--and that students often may experience what she calls a "metastable state" in learning about diversity. Thus, in examining diversity…

This article describes a series of assignments that models the process of writing a manuscript for publication. While completing the assignments, students worked to improve their writing as they graphed, interpreted, and explained patterns in data from a local river. They reviewed published articles and each other's papers to become more critical…