Lectures and workbooks cannot instill curiosity and continuous interest or the disposition to respond to experiences in certain ways. This article examines sabateurs of the learning disposition (such as reinforcing learned stupidity and using rewards that suppress interest) and suggests curriculum strategies to engage young minds, such as using…

The context of staff development programs should be selected from options promising substantial increases in student learning and aptitude. This article introduces the "effect size" concept and reviews recent research on teaching models (cooperative learning, information-processing models, synectics, nondirective teaching, and DISTAR). Includes 55…

The terms "cooperative" and "collaborative" are sometimes used interchangeably in reference to group learning activities in classrooms and in online settings. However, they can be viewed as differing in terms of characteristics such as pre-structure, task structure, and content structure (Strijbos & Martens, 2001; Panitz,…

This paper presents some findings on students and authority in the mathematics classroom. It is shown that students create a web of authorities that extends not only to their teachers but also to their fellow students. While it is not asserted that relationships based on authority should be abolished, it is shown that such relationships can…

We report research on meanings of scale generated by pairs of 14 year-old students engaged in joint map-construction. Characteristics of the learning environment, such as the communicational orchestration, the use of experientially familiar objects in space as starting points for creating figural representations and the interrelated…

This study examines the usefulness of a networked portfolio assessment system for cooperative learning. The system is with instructional methods that expresses ideas via written report and oral presentation, accumulated dialogues through inquiries between peers, critical thinking via peer-assessment and self-assessment, and knowledge construction…

Purpose: This annotated bibliography is focused intentionally on postsecondary peer cooperative learning programs that increasing student achievement. Peer learning has been popular in education for decades. As both a pedagogy and learning strategy, it has been frequently adapted for a wide range of academic content areas at the elementary,…

Simulations and games have been used in education for decades, but most of this development has been in the areas of business and economics. Well-designed simulations and games have been shown to improve decision-making and critical thinking skills as well as teaching discipline-specific concepts. Active learning also helps students develop…

This book provides a perspective on what standards for learning mean for daily practice in public education, offering teachers and administrators a four-part structure for organizing classrooms for teaching to the standards and giving teachers specific strategies for helping students reach the higher requirements. The four practices combine all of…

Distributed collaboration supported by different forms of information and communication technologies (ICT) is becoming increasingly widespread. Effective realization of technology supported, distributed collaboration requires learning and careful attention to both technological and organizational aspects of the collaboration. Despite increasing…

This book illustrates how problem-based learning (PBL) can enliven curriculum and lesson planning by encouraging students to play a more central role in their own learning process. It provides a framework for efficiently and effectively teaching problem-solving skills, tapping children's interests and previous knowledge, and making the curriculum…

This CD-ROM presents four videos that feature veteran elementary and middle school teachers in action in their classrooms. Each video offers links to supplemental education resources, including innovative lesson plans. The four videos are: "Cinderella: A New Teacher's Tale" (Tracey Stober), which introduces the Teachers Network's Online Survival…

This paper examines the reform initiative that is being undertaken by the Ministry of Education, Youth Affairs, and Culture in collaboration with Erdiston Teachers' Training College to improve the quality of education for all students in Barbados. The Education Sector Enhancement Programme, commonly referred to as EduTech 2000, seeks to accomplish…

This paper explores how a virtual learning environment (WebCT) can be used to facilitate learning within a community of practice on a Postgraduate Diploma in Management by work-based learning at Coventry University (England). The paper is part of a wider investigation into the use and efficacy of online support in work-based learning environments…

We explore how 13 year-olds construct meanings around the notion of curvature in their classroom while working with software that combines symbolic notation to construct geometrical figures with dynamic manipulation of variable. The ideas of curve as intrinsic dynamic construction, and curve as object with properties related to its positioning on…