Using dialogue theory based on Bakhtin, Rommetveit, and Lotman, analyzed an asynchronous Web-mediated discussion in a philosophy class. Found that the high degree of interactivity and dialogicality resulted from the quality of the assignment, the role of the teacher, and the symmetry of the participants. Discussion entries combined dialogic and…

Presents the details and evaluation of a laboratory exercise that introduces professional and agricultural ethics into a course on sustainable agriculture. Concludes that including material on ethics in existing courses appears to be an effective way to increase the ethical content of a curriculum and emphasizes ethical decision making as an…

Presents a class discussion about using the slope of the secant line through the vertex and the point on the parabola occurring one unit to the right as the slope of the parabola. (MKR)

Presents tips for effective meetings in the following categories: premeeting preparation, group process, presenting views with impact, accentuating the positive, dealing with politics, and bringing closure. (SK)

Examines the structure of participants' conceptions of ideal group discussion procedures. Finds that about one-half of the participants favor a "reach-testing" procedure, one-fifth a linear procedure, one-fifth a procedure beginning with reach-testing and ending with a linear stage, and one-tenth beginning with a linear stage and ending with…

ORID is a structured questioning strategy including Objective, Reflective, Interpretive, and Decisional questions that has emerged as a successful adult teaching-learning technique. The ORID builds upon the tradition of the group discussion teaching method by including both the affective and cognitive domain and gives structure and substance to a…

Describes three group-processing activities used with youth or adults in adventure- and experiential-education settings. Includes target group, group size, time and space requirements, activity level, props needed, and instructions for group processing and reflection. Involves stimulating campfire discussion for various purposes, journal writing…

One management class read a literary text and wrote answers to the teacher's questions. Another class discussed the text in small and large groups. Group discussion stimulated better and more creative insights than private reading. The teacher's questions inhibited responses. Discussion groups understood the relevance of literature to management;…

Describes and discusses a combinatorics exploration occurring in a recent course to help characterize the kind of learning communities to establish with students. (Author/MKR)

As the end of the school year draws near, children may become disruptive or exhibit anxiety and excitement due to the anticipation they feel about transitioning from their present class to the next. This paper offers suggestions on how to use group time discussions to acknowledge the children's feelings and to encourage them to share what they are…

The value of an academic conference lies in its ability to engage attendees in ongoing scholarly conversations. Such engagement depends on presentations that are intellectually sound and effectively delivered, but it also requires thoughtful participation by discussants, session chairs, and audience members. Shared understanding of the…

Purpose--To illuminate the importance of the communal deliberative process, as a form of collective thinking, in overcoming the growing complexities of schoolwork in uncertain and turbulent environments. Design/methodology/approach-- Introduces the notion of deliberation as evolved from Dewey's moral theory, the essential phases and elements of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of teaching action research through modeling. Participants were 11 doctoral students enrolled in a two-semester practitioner-based research course. In this study, I was both instructor and member of the research community. I modeled the steps of action research as I conducted a study…

This dissertation draws on textual reader response theory and humanities-based Disability Studies theories to explores the ways in which preservice teachers participating in a course called "Issues of Diversity in Children's and Adolescent Literature" and their instructor, who is also the researcher, made sense of representations of disability in…

Science is a social process--one that involves particular ways of talking, reasoning, observing, analyzing, and writing, which often have meaning only when shared within the scientific community. Discussions are one of the best ways to help students learn to "talk science" and construct understanding in a social context. Since inquiry is an…