The purpose of this study was to evaluate the practicality of implementing a peer-teaching program in a large class (more than 350 students) of medical students and whether such a program is beneficial. Case-based problems were developed by faculty members to facilitate student problem solving and discussion. Voluntary student enrollment was…

Rather than regard frequent and subjective testing as a negative, it should prove more beneficial for educators to offer students an opportunity to acquire life skills that will carry them through any test-taking situation. Offering students the skills necessary to succeed not only in the classroom but also through testing is where accountability…

The goal of this research was to use politeness theory to analyze the developing tutorial relationship between students and peer tutors in a university writing center. The study monitored two pairs of tutors and students over a period of six weeks, focusing on weeks one and six. Using partial transcripts of recorded sessions along with observation…

Pre-service elementary teachers often need help in mathematics courses. Tutoring is an effective practice (Boylan, 2002) and peer tutoring is one of the most successful forms of tutoring, due to the personal connections that are made (Tinto, 1993). A peer is defined as one at the same level, at the same institution, and having equal status…

Background: Large-scale randomised controlled trials (RCT) are relatively rare in education. The present study was an attempt to scale up previous small peer tutoring projects, while investing only modestly in continuing professional development for teachers. Purpose: A two-year RCT of peer tutoring in mathematics was undertaken in one local…

This article describes the rationale and design of The Reduction of Stigma in Schools--an innovative professional development program that aims to empower educators to create supportive learning environments for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) students. Part of a larger evaluation study, the authors illustrate how the core…

Informal discussions with final-year undergraduates majoring in French as a foreign language in a Malaysian public university revealed that they lacked confidence in their language proficiency. We believed that they needed some form of recognition and therefore developed a model of online peer-tutoring. In this study, nine final-year learners were…

Video-based supplemental instruction (VSI) is a non-traditional course delivery system designed to improve developmental students' academic performance in difficult courses that typically have high failure and withdrawal rates. This paper describes the VSI model and examines data from VSI applications. (Contains 12 figures.)

In the fall of 2008, the authors began team teaching in a bilingual American Sign Language (ASL)/English classroom. They faced the same challenge teachers everywhere face: a new year with new goals and a classroom of students with diverse learning needs. This article discusses how the authors address students' language needs in a bilingual ASL and…

Objective: Resident physicians have an important role in medical student teaching. There has been limited curriculum development in this area for general psychiatric residents. A 4-hour workshop for PGY-2 psychiatric residents was designed and implemented to improve residents' self-assessment of their knowledge of the medical student curriculum…

The Focus Group Initiative (FGI) at North Delta Secondary School (NDSS) began in 2001 with the long-term goal of giving the kids an opportunity not only to demonstrate their leadership abilities, but also to use those skills to improve whatever school or community projects they were involved in. Once students were trained to be focus group…

In this study, a school district adopted Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (K-PALS), a scientifically based, class-wide peer-tutoring program for reading. Sixteen new K-PALS teachers were assigned randomly to receive ongoing support from a university expert or from experienced K-PALS teachers within the district. K-PALS teachers who…

This article describes results of a reading comprehension intervention for students with adequate decoding but poor comprehension skills. Five teachers and 25 students in grades 3-5 from two rural public schools participated in this naturalistic experimental research study. Teachers met with identified students in a small group setting for 30…

Disproportionality of African American males in special education and for disciplinary referrals has persisted for several decades. Culturally responsive social skill instruction, designed to teach critical skills and to involve peers from the learners' cultural group, can serve as a means to promote the overall social competence of African…

As students' problem-solving processes in writing are rarely observed in face-to-face instruction, they have few opportunities to participate collaboratively in peer review to improve their texts. This study reports the design of a reciprocal peer review system for students to observe and learn from each other when writing. A sample of 95…