Used a lexical statistics program to analyze conflict and nonconflict discussions of two different groups of college students. Found preliminary evidence for a pattern of greater redundancy and less vocabulary diversity for the discussion groups in conflict. (PD)

The interactive videodisc has two advantages for foreign language teaching: it captures the nonverbal element of communication and allows alternatives to written testing. However, there are no French-produced versions yet available, and there is the danger that the technique will go largely unused, as did language laboratories and educational…

Theories of learning in social settings, no matter their philosophical orientation, must address issues of intersubjectivity (IS). This paper starts with the premise that IS is a fundamental and unavoidable aspect of social interaction, and that understanding its nature is necessary for developing reliable theories of socially mediated learning…

This study investigated cognitive style as a screening mechanism for placing students in gifted education programs. Middle school (n=156) and high school students (n=94) were included in this study. Slightly fewer than half of the students had been previously identified as academically gifted, while the remainder were from the regular studies…

This paper illustrates ways to combine online conference participation with face-to-face meetings and other social supports to humanize asynchronous electronic communications in an applied organizational communication class offered through the University of Hawaii at Manoa Communications Department. The overall methodology and intent of this…

Theory and research on techniques for second language classrooms are reviewed in five areas: the scaffolding technique; questioning techniques; cooperative learning; techniques for promoting student interaction with text (reading instruction); and error correction. It is concluded that: (1) while there is some conflicting evidence, the majority of…

This activity book is part of a series designed to take a concept or idea from the existing school curriculum and develop it in the context of the Great Lakes using teaching approaches and materials appropriate for students in middle and high school. The theme of this book is Great Lakes climate and water movement. Students learn about land-sea…

This document provides an overview of the current literature on distance education. A historical perspective and definitions associated with distance education are presented in the first section. The following theories are also discussed: independence and autonomy; industrialization of teaching; and interaction and communication. A synthesis of…

The SAGRES system is an educational environment built on the World Wide Web that facilitates the presentation of the information bases of a museum in a way that is adapted to the individual characteristics of each visitor. The interaction with the system may occur individually or in groups of students. The system also offers resources to support…

This paper focuses on the purposes, theoretical model, and functionality of the SMILE (Solution Mapping Intelligent Learning Environment) Maker--a World Wide Web-based problem-solving tool. From an instructional design point of view, an attempt to establish a balance between constructivism/instructivism, content-treatment…

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) are often perceived by education establishments as an opportunity to widen access without traditional overheads. An integral part of most VLEs is asynchronous computer conferencing and on-line moderators must help students migrate quickly to the new virtual environment to minimize learning disruption. This…

If communicative competence is defined by and organized around culturally-framed and linguistically-patterned communicative plans and goals and the linguistic resources of interactive practices, then interaction in the classroom is employed to create social engagement in regularly occurring interactive practices where communicative learning can be…

Research is being conducted at the Florida State University (FSU) School of Information Studies to determine the importance of interaction (teacher-student, student-teacher, student-student) to the success of World Wide Web-based learning graduate degree programs. Success will be measured in terms of retention, student satisfaction, and learning…

This study assessed the effects of social interaction with nondisabled peers on the motor and social responses of two preschool children with severe disabilities in separate inclusive child care settings. A multiple baseline design across motor response was used to assess the effects of the peer training intervention. Peer training included…

Research has revealed interactive effects of school size and socioeconomic status--as school size increases, the mean measured achievement of schools with disadvantaged students declines. The larger the number of less advantaged students attending a school, the greater the decline. The same school-level interactions have been found in California,…