The Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) concluded that teaching is a cultural activity. But do claims about teaching based largely in comparisons of math teachers also apply to teaching in disciplines with less well-defined problems, like civics? What is gained and what is lost when the cultural aspect of teaching becomes the focus?…

The culminating course in the Human Biology core sequence at Stanford University, California, is a course that considers the relationship between the social and natural sciences and the development of wise public policy. A Web-based forum was developed to facilitate weekly debate on policy challenges presented in this course, and this forum was…

This paper discusses the notion of community as an outcome of working within an online environment. In particular, the paper explores the concept of users' development of a sense of community as an outcome of working within an online environment designed to support the professional and personal development of its users. The paper discusses…

Presenting the story of how discussion became the foundation of a teacher's classroom practice, this book examines reading development in a group of second graders, observing classroom discussions and the transformation of a basal-reading curriculum into one which used literature-study groups. The book reports on close-up classroom observation as…

This study examined the influence of participation in school-based professional study group activities on both general and personal teaching efficacy. It also examined teachers' perceptions of changes that occurred in their teaching performance as a result of participation in the study group sessions. Participants were elementary teachers who…

A pilot project demonstrated the remote use of an application designed with hypertext markup language (HTML) as an assessment and discussion support system for 28 students enrolled in a graduate educational research methods course at a midwestern state university. The web page was developed to support classroom learning and assessment by guiding…

This paper explains that an interdepartmental writing across the curriculum course at Syracuse University was developed and proposed by a writing teacher and a professor of experimental psychology and psychopharmacology. The paper states that the course, Perspectives on Drug Experience, was to be offered in both writing and psychology and sought…

Describes a program in which high school students were given the opportunity to discuss mutual problems in a group setting with professional supervision. (RP)

Describes a high school biology program which successfully utilizes team teaching. Outlines the advantages of team teaching and how it is used in the large group lecture-discussion situation, with small groups in the laboratory and on field trips. (JR)

The author presents a short drama intended for use in group counseling sessions with the parents of elementary school students. (RWP)

Describes a class project of elementary students and their teachers, and how both learned about tidal zones and the marine life inhabiting them. (RK)

Children between the ages of thirteen and fourteen participated in a free discussion lesson. Tolerance and understanding of interpersonal relationships developed among the children; the teacher learned to respond objectively in order to encourage the children's trust. (JB)