This article reports the findings of a research project concerned with children engaging in scientific argumentation. Discussion activities were designed to enable groups of children to use evidence when making decisions. The findings show a variation in the success with which children construct scientific arguments; some groups debate most of the…

This study compared "Structured Controversy" (a semi-formal debate like small group activity) with a traditional open discussion format for medical and physical therapy students. We found that those students who had participated in Structured Controversy changed their personal opinion on the topic more than those who were in the Open Discussion…

This study examined what learning is and how learning was facilitated in a virtual classroom community using online discussion forums. Results demonstrated that learning in such a community was the active participation by the members of the community in the process of meaning construction. The construction of meaning in such a community was…

This case study examined the place that perspective recognition and care as components of historical empathy occupy in one history teacher's purpose, instruction, and students' response. Abigail, a high school history teacher, and four tenth grade students from one section of her Advanced Placement European History course participated in this…

The two overarching research questions of this study are: What are the perceptions of high school administrators regarding the effectiveness of their current approach to instructional management? What recommendations do high school administrators have for effective strategies for instructional management? To answer these questions, a qualitative…

Research in the field of math education continues to press teachers guide instruction based on students' needs and contributions, focusing on student learning through facilitation of whole-group discussions. This dissertation presents the findings of a qualitative study of two elementary teachers managing such "ambitious" teaching practices across…

This dissertation is comprised of two manuscripts that resulted from a single study that tested the efficacy of teaching parents how to infuse comprehension strategy instruction into read alouds with their preschool-aged children. Twenty dyads, each composed of an incoming kindergartener and one of his or her parents, participated in this study.…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify and describe some of the dimensions of scientific collaborations using high throughput computing (HTC) through the lens of a virtual team performance framework. A secondary purpose was to assess the viability of using a virtual team performance framework to study scientific collaborations using…

The issue of improving educational outcomes for children and youth in foster care is receiving some long-overdue attention, but the voices of classroom teachers have not been prominent in the discussions so far. To help fill this gap, a team from the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning and funded by the Stuart Foundation convened six…

This paper discusses results from a design research in line with Realistic Mathematics Education (RME). Daily cycles of design, classroom experiments, and retrospective analysis are enacted in five days of working about division by fractions. Data consists of episodes of video classroom discussions, and samples of students' work. The focus of…

This paper presents a pre-orientation program for incoming college students, Active Citizenship through Technology (ACT), that engaged students in civic dialogue early in their academic experience while fostering a long-term peer support network. It leveraged youth's interest in Internet technologies to engage them in civic discussions and…

Attempting discussions about social justice issues in a junior high classroom can be a daunting but critical task. Uncertainty about how to get conversations started, along with fear about where such talk might lead, can make the task easy to dismiss. In this paper, one teacher tells her story of inviting rich discussion about a variety of…

Social work education research frequently has suggested an interaction between teaching techniques and learning environments. However, this interaction has never been tested. This study compared virtual and face-to-face learning environments and included active listening concepts to test whether the effectiveness of learning environments depends…

Because lecture-based teaching limits student learning, many instructors are interested in pedagogical strategies that support critical thinking, student participation, and group discussion in large classrooms. Audience response systems, or "clickers," are an emerging tool for addressing this problem, but predominant pedagogical models for clicker…

Student discussions are a common teaching approach in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses because of their benefits to student learning, and to future professional development for natural resources professionals. However, traditional student-led discussions often are ineffective at meeting course and learning objectives and suffer from…