A variety of authentic materials drawn from explanatory texts or offering instructions for performing some daily or common task are presented, and classroom activities for building foreign language competence based on the materials are outlined. (MSE)

Describes the use of short stories to promote written and oral language skill development in college-level students in an English-as-a-Second-Language writing and oral fluency class. (GLR)

When college teachers are explicit about specific methods and strategies involved in effective thinking, students are more likely to learn and use these skills. Labeling test questions with the thinking skills required can help students refocus their study methods, resulting in more effective thinking, problem-solving, or decision-making skills.…

A program was established in Rennes, France, to aid expectant mothers felt to be at risk for abusing or neglecting a child. The program provided information, ensured medical/psychological care, decreased social isolation, encouraged independent decision making, fostered communication within the family, and helped mothers establish a nurturing…

Advice is given to student delegates to a campus activities programing convention. Issues discussed include preconference planning and budgeting, responsibilities in the exhibit hall, and postconference activities such as making follow-up or return phone calls, block booking, making appropriate contacts, and communicating clearly and responsibly.…

A study compared the effectiveness of two methods of teaching psychomotor skills (simulation feedback and guided discovery) to 55 dental hygiene students. The students receiving simulated feedback obtained slightly higher midterm and final grades and showed less variation, suggesting this as a better method for teaching instrumentation skills.…

A third-grade classroom participated in a communication skills unit (CSU) designed and implemented collaboratively by a teacher, speech-language pathologist, and student speech-language pathologist. The CSU aimed to increase the students' metapragmatic awareness of explanation adequacy. Students showed significant improvement in ability to rate…

Asserts that teaching principles and concepts related to global time is a test of student comprehension and an instructor's teaching ability. Describes how teachers can create an International Date Line Wheel for classroom demonstration purposes. Includes 11 figures illustrating how to make and use the wheel. (CFR)

Use of television as material for French second-language instruction is explored. It is proposed that, over the course of a three-year sequence, students can progress through three stages of listening comprehension skill development: discovery of the medium's unique characteristics; autonomy and mastery in its use; and familiarity. (MSE)

A law professor explains how he came to view legal problem solving as the driving concept in law school curriculum design and draws on personal experience and a survey of students concerning teaching methods in a commercial law course. He outlines six curriculum design principles for teaching legal problem solving. (MSE)

A strategy called "jigsawing" is described for promoting group work, while ensuring that individual needs of pupils with severe learning difficulties are met. A group activity is broken down into smaller components and each child or group is assigned tasks toward achievement of the overall activity aims. (PB)

Shows how a visually exciting object--a motorcycle-- motivated middle and high school students to improve their observation and drawing skills. Outlines the drawing and painting assignments and shows illustrations of the students' work. (DB)

Young adolescents--12- to 13-year olds--with social-skills difficulties received (n=9) and did not receive (n=9) social-skills training (SST). Subjects were compared before and after treatment and at followup using the Social-Skills Questionnaire, Self-Report Questionnaire, and sociometric procedures. Significant improvement on two measures for…

Four mentally retarded adults received single case instruction, followed by general case instruction, on washing machine and dryer use, using either actual appliances or simulation. Generalization errors were affected by single/general case instruction, not by use of simulated versus natural conditions. General case simulation was more efficient…

The paper questions the current mechanistic view in which literacy and numeracy skills are sharply separated, and notes the pervasiveness of mathematical ideas and representations in verbal texts. It suggests that literacy be reconstructed to include a variety of competencies which encompass numeracy. Implications for curriculum change are drawn.…