Examines and characterizes student use of narrative and paradigmatic expression in elementary science discourse. Focuses on the narrative and paradigmatic modes of expression used by combined first-, second-, and third-grade students in a semi-structured, fairly autonomous, whole-class conversational format. Over time students moved toward more…

Examines the way teachers humanize science by focusing specifically on their use of analogies and metaphors. Explores classroom discourse in order to examine how teachers creatively use analogies to clarify an idea, develop a concept, or communicate a message leading to new research questions about the cultural, linguistic, and social…

Presents three schools of argument on mathematical communication: (1) cognitivist argument; (2) interactionist argument; and (3) neo-pragmatist argument. Distinguishes the mathematical versus talking about mathematics, talking mathematics versus learning the art of mathematical conversation, and the conversation of mathematicians versus students'…

Presents an analytical framework for considering multi-point videoconference classroom communication. Highlights include rhetorical theory and human interaction, dramatism and the dramatic pentad, interfacing with technology, the learner/teacher relationship, student/student interface, and collaboration in the classroom. (LRW)

Presents overview of classroom rule establishment and implementation within a proactive management strategy. Characteristics of classroom rules (wording, means of presentation) are included, and the intended nature and function of rules are discussed. Concludes rules do not work in isolation and should be used in conjunction with a classroom…

Reports part of larger study concerned with understanding learning as it emerges from enacted curriculum. Presents results of two studies on students' discourse about rotation phenomena with particular focus on the consistency of this talk across different phenomena. Concludes that only a minority of students provided adequate observational and…

In the book "Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children's Learning", Peter H. Johnson illuminates the power of classroom discourse and encourages us to become more conscious of and reflective about what we say and how we say it. Johnson presents five categories of classroom discourse with a chapter on each.

This study examined the quality of classroom talk and its relation to academic rigor in reading-comprehension lessons. Additionally, the study aimed to characterize effective questions to support rigorous reading comprehension lessons. The data for this study included 21 reading-comprehension lessons in several elementary and middle schools from…

As scholars continue to debate over the specific skills underprepared students need in order to complete their course of study, perhaps the focus should be on how to tap into students' independent thought processes and encourage students to utilize independent thought to contribute to interdependent groups. Placing value on students' independent…

This paper provides information on the background to the two pilot investigations into "interactive distance e-learning" [IDeL] following the introduction in New South Wales and in the Northern Territory of Australia of satellite-supported two-way broad-band internet services for school-age and adult distance education. The context is…

The present ethnographic case study investigates how the identities of immigrant minority pupils are constructed in a multicultural classroom in a Flemish primary school. From the analysis of the class teacher's discourse, it emerges that both Flemish native pupils' identities and those of immigrant minority pupils are constructed as homogeneous:…

This investigation examined how out-of-class support (OCS) affects student satisfaction and motivation to learn. Students (N =594) were randomly assigned to experimental conditions manipulating a highly supportive, moderately supportive, or nonsupportive teacher following a hypothetically stressful situation. Significant and meaningful main…

Classrooms are dynamic environments in which teachers and students engage in ongoing reciprocal interactions throughout the school day. Classes that include classwide effective intervention practices are likely to have positive teacher-student interactions and to promote student learning and engagement while minimizing problem behaviors. However,…

This report describes a high school mathematics teacher's decisions about classroom organization and interactions during his first two years using a new curriculum intended to support teachers' development of student-centered, contributive classroom discourse. In year one, the teacher conducted class and interacted with students primarily in small…

The author maintains that present-day civilization can exist and develop only as a unity of nature, culture, and society; that a new ecological worldview must be developed to teach citizens to have a cultivated and expanded ecological awareness that is characterized by a number of fundamental features: (1) Motivation (the moral stance of the…