Discusses instructional design for computerized pedagogic materials and emphasizes the elements of activity and discovery in creating effective learning experiences. Describes a virtual learning environment designed in Brazil that is open to different forms of use so teachers and students can decide on the best ways of using it. (LRW)

Describes a way to teach mathematics majors as guest instructors in their classroom to utilize resources with a wealth of experience, ideas, and enthusiasm. (Author/KHR)

Explores ways to help students take learning seriously and ask critical questions about their studies. Describes strategies for students to raise important questions, to distinguish between one-system and competing-systems disciplines, and how to ask questions about a field of study and textbooks. (MZ)

Recommends some measures to take to ensure that demonstrations are carried out safely. Includes a sample checklist to be completed before and after demonstrations. (DDR)

Presents a lesson on toothpick chromosomes as a way to model genetics concepts in a more tangible and accessible way for middle school students. (KHR)

Describes activities designed to introduce cells to students and grab their attention. Provides effective strategies to teach many new terms and unfamiliar words related to organelles. (KHR)

Discusses some features of instructional approaches that promote meaningful learning. Focuses on creating an environment in which students can be mentally attentive. (DDR)

Studied the effects of including static or dynamic visuals in an expository text on a learning outcome and the use of learning strategies when working with these visuals. Results for 60 undergraduates for both types of illustration indicate different frequencies in the use of learning strategies relevant for the learning outcome. (SLD)

Responses from 26 of 30 New South Wales construction firms showed that competency subsystems embodied in routines have a greater impact on short-term performance. There was little support for impact on long-term performance with diminishing evidence that performance was influenced by higher-level learning routines. (Contains 45 references.) (SK)

Describes a philosophical community of inquiry as a controlled, communal form of wondering that focuses on the larger meaning of human experience. Suggests that, using familiar stories as texts, and facilitated by a leader sensitive to young children's philosophical preoccupations and ways of thinking and talking, young children are both…

A study of three students (ages 9-14) with autism investigated whether deficits in deceptive play skills are general to all persons with autism and if these deficits can be overcome through repetitive reinforcement techniques. Results found the students could learn to deceive, even without formal intensive training. (Author/CR)

Discusses the usefulness to second language learning of an activity in which students assume a pen name and write letters under that name in the language studied in order to motivate their interest in the language and accelerate their mastery of it. (CK)

Presents students' various solutions to a word problem. (KHR)

Suggests that too much Web-based instruction assumes that the Web is a library that can be used to convey knowledge, that searching and finding information equals learning, and that hyperlinking is good instruction. Critiques these assumptions based on constructivism and offers instructional methods to counteract their effects. (Author/LRW)

Investigated strategies used to estimate answers to three- by-three addition problems by fourth and sixth graders and adults. Found that at all ages, the most common strategy was to round both operands down to the closest smaller decades. Strategy use and execution were influenced by participants' age, problem features, and relative strategy…