To maintain within a national unity the richness of cultural diversity that has made America great, school curriculums should develop in the child a knowledge of the country's varying cultures. Teachers should initiate for children meaningful experiences with other cultures to help them appreciate the differences and similarities among people. One…

The central concern of this study, which was briefly reviewed in ED 049 143, was to determine effective teaching strategies and practices in secondary social studies classroom discussions of social issues. Teaching effectiveness was evaluated in terms of the cognitive or critical thinking skills of participating students, and their attitudes…

Studies interaction between classroom teachers and limited English proficient international students. Concludes that student teachers were less successful communicators than their cooperating teachers because the student teachers lacked sociocultural and experiential elements. (FMW)

A qualitative study provided a detailed description of classroom behavior by observing 20 adult literacy classes in 8 states and interviewing teachers of these classes. The methodology used was grounded theory, in which data were collected from a limited sample of cases (classes) and analyzed to find commonalities, themes, and categories that…

Foreign language students experience added difficulty when they are isolated from native speakers and from the culture of the target language. It has been posited that MOO (Multi-User Domain Object Oriented) may help overcome the geographical isolation of these students. MOOs are Internet-based virtual worlds in which people from all over the real…

When taught social skills such as asking for help, working with others, and making decisions, children are better able to face lifes challenges. This guide offers theories behind and practices for consciously teaching social skills and applying them in the classroom setting to build a sense of community through shared experience and honorable…

A study examined English-dominant and Spanish-dominant students' perceptions of opportunities to communicate in science and mathematics classrooms. A survey was administered to 207 Mexican American secondary students who attended a summer enrichment program in mathematics and science at a university on the Texas-Mexico border. The students were…

This book details the experiences of a teacher in a Haitian-populated preschool in an urban area of the United States, focusing on the development of literacy and English as a second language. An introductory chapter describes the children, some of their personal and cultural background, their classroom demeanor, and the context in which they were…

This practitioner brief focuses on the question: What happens when beginner-level English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students work in small groups? This question was pursued because the ESL teacher wanted to make use of small self-directed groups during class time. She found that the students needed a lot of structure from the teacher to make…

School-related research is reviewed under seven categories of nonverbal communication: environmental factors, proxemics, kinesics, touching behavior, physical characteristics, paralanguage, and artifacts. (Author/MH)

A college writing teacher offers teaching suggestions based on experience, concerning communication with students, error correction, creating priorities among objectives, making standards and evaluation criteria clear, giving positive reinforcement, encouraging use of the writing center, giving assignments that support writing objectives, and…

Electronic media provide new opportunities for engaging college students in and out of the classroom. Electronic mail, teleconferencing, and Internet resources can increase instructor availability and extend class discussion. Issues to consider in planning for their use include achievement of course objectives, level of computer sophistication,…

Describes a pharmaceutical mathematics and statistics course at the State University of New York at Buffalo that integrates traditional classroom instruction and Internet-based resources, including World Wide Web pages and individual and group electronic mail. The approach has enhanced communication and discussion among students and instructor,…

A study involving 28 fourth-graders in a reform mathematics classroom, 3 with learning disabilities, investigated changes in teacher and student discourse over nine-weeks. Clear patterns of change in teacher and student discourse occurred. Nonetheless, intentional efforts to include target students in whole-class discussions yielded instructional…

Analyzes one third grader's participation in mathematics class discussions, his beliefs about class discussion, and his arithmetical development throughout a school year in a problem-centered learning classroom. Concludes that a fruitful classroom discussion both necessitates and, conversely, is facilitated by the negotiation of social norms and…