Assesses preservice teachers, student teachers, and cooperating teachers on their understanding of the foundations and applications of reading instruction. Concludes that extended, interactive periods of reading interventions and discussions combined with authentic reading experiences with children from diverse cultural backgrounds may increase…

Recommends that teachers combine multicultural education with an inquiry-based approach to social studies to help students critically examine society. Addresses the different obstacles when adopting this approach and offers an example of the inquiry method at work. Identifies 12 essential questions and controversial issues to use in classroom…

Explores the results obtained from using a computer network for real-time synchronous discussion in a course for students of English as a foreign language. Found that computer conferencing had noticeable effects on students' motivation for language learning. (Author/VWL)

Describes the development and evaluation of coMentor, a virtual-learning environment that supports student discussion and debate through the World Wide Web, particularly for theoretical subjects. Discusses its use in an undergraduate philosophy course and reports results that indicate higher levels of learning among students who used the system.…

Recounts experiences of Brigham Young University student teachers in Mexican schools. Explores reasons for lack of interest in facilitating creativity, despite a rich culture. Discusses four positive changes occurring in Mexican education: (1) students allowed to write about their own topics; (2) open-ended questions and informal debates; (3)…

Describes software which was developed to help collaborating pupils test hypotheses. Discusses use of the software by 9-14 year-old pupils in Scotland, comparing their activity with that of similarly aged pupils who worked with otherwise equivalent software which lacked any prompts. (Author/AEF)

Describes how the parents of the author's fifth-grade students joined the literature circles in her classroom--either in person, through writing, or through recorded conversations. Notes that the literature discussions became richer and more sophisticated as families added layers of meaning to the context built in class. (SR)

Examines the use of four versions of narrative inquiry with preservice teachers: response to practicum experiences, responses to reading, small and large group discussions, and reflection papers. Each helps students explore narrative assumptions that contribute to their images of teaching, enabling them to explore unexamined parts of their…

Argues that reading and discussing novels in which females meet challenges can help adolescents examine critical issues girls face, and can help to counteract the dangerous and significant losses of confidence, voice, and self-esteem suffered by adolescent girls. Summarizes 10 books that can engage girls in dialogue around these issues, and offers…

Presents an exploratory case study with preservice teacher education students of an experience in collaborative discourse mediated through an educationally designed network-based application. Topics include computer mediated communication; text-based communication; small group discussion; and software design, including the design of IdeaWeb that…

Examined preservice teachers' situated understandings of teaching and learning and their developing voices using classroom stories and essays written before, during, and after their practicum experiences. The stories located students' voices in distinct ways and expressed growing awareness of classroom dynamics and the value of peer dialog in…

Presents lessons on artwork by William Zorach, Gary Chapman, Ben Shahn, and Rembrandt Van Rijn. States that the four artworks focus on specific views of motherhood, but can also serve as symbols for the relationships between (1) artists and their art and (2) educators and their students. (CMK)

A qualitative study examined the effects of a hypermedia program on diversity training completed by 65 undergraduate students. Results showed that when different types of implementation groups were utilized, discussion (considered vital to diversity training) only occurred on a regular basis in facilitated groups, and to a lesser degree in pair…

Describes the design of a biochemistry course that uses problem-based learning. Provides opportunities for students to question, dispute, confirm, and disconfirm their understanding of basic concepts. Emphasizes self-correction through dialogue. Topics covered include amino acids, metabolic pathways and inherited disease, proteins, enzymes and…

Presents observations of 15-member literature discussion group in a fifth-grade classroom. Shows that even in such groups, intended to create a more democratic forum where students' voices are heard and valued, factors like gender, cultural background, and status play a role in whose ideas get expressed and are actually listened to. (SR)