Recounts how contact with Kant convinced a teacher that while he thought in objectivist terms he taught in subjectivist ones. (JL)

A model of the way experts are now helping handicapped children in schools is criticized. The model is set within limits, such as: (1) do not regard a multifactored assessment as a miraculous device; (2) do not reject research; and, (3) do not resist working along with experts. (Author/GK)

Presents a four-part formula for being an effective lecturer: grasp listeners' attention; find materials and use approaches which hold their interest; reveal a desire to help students; and allow body action to reinforce and enhance ideas. (Author/SJL)

This introduction to a special issue on using consultants to improve teaching in higher education considers the origins and rationale for instructional consulting, raises some questions about the conceptual underpinnings for consulting practice, examines who offers and who sells consultation, and urges training in consultation skills and greater…

This article analyzes an essay by Joseph Renzulli reviewing his work on gifted models by using the career of Renzulli himself as a case study of the components of creative, productive giftedness. It finds that creatively gifted individuals must face challenges that are formalized in the Sternberg and Lubart investment theory of creativity.…

Argues that the student-as-customer model of medical education has many failings that result in educationally dysfunctional interactions. Proposes a new model (based on Deming's 14 principles for quality in business) in which faculty are managers of instruction, students are learning workers, the product is successful learning, and the customers…

A models and modelling approach was adopted to investigate the educational potential of a science museum exhibition. It focused on patterns of relationship between the teaching models proposed by designers and students models in regard to four exhibits concerning astronomical cycles. Student's models were elicited by interviewing 21 pupils…

The authors describe what preparations they undertook before introducing self-determination theory and its corresponding teaching model to the Japanese special education system for students with intellectual disabilities. The Japanese special education services are designed to nurture students to be individuals who are independent, know and…

Seeking the best pedagogical practices for bilingual higher education and guided by the principles of the sheltered instruction observation protocol (SIOP), we describe a sub-study of the Sheltered Instruction Research Project (SIRP) which deals with how professors at ÚNICA college in Bogotá, Colombia implement one of the components of the model:…

This paper describes an assignment that gives students the ability to improve written and verbal communication abilities, which they will be using throughout their lives, by enhancing communication skills and competencies in a class setting. It is a two-part assignment that begins with a discussion on how to produce a successful cover letter and…

The research presented in this paper consisted of an investigation of the effectiveness of a four-step constructivist-based teaching activity on student understanding of how pressure and temperature influence the dissolution of a gas in a liquid. Some 44 Grade 9 students (18 boys and 26 girls) selected purposively from two school classes in the…

Professional learning is a social enterprise where peers rely on the expertise and support of one another to adopt innovative practices. Reciprocal interactions in a community of practice, where teachers take responsibility for each other's learning and development, may provide an effective means of supporting situated professional learning. We…

In this special issue, readers were introduced to three powerful, evidence-based instructional practices that hold great promise for ameliorating many of the reading difficulties encountered by pupils in 21st century classrooms. Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), ClassWide Peer Tutoring (CWPT), and START tutoring have emerged from over…

Burke's own teacher-research has resulted in solutions for real classroom situations. In this, his last contribution as a column editor for "VM," he offers two more practical ideas for helping students achieve, and sends his readers off with advice to look to their own classrooms for solutions to the ever-present challenges of teaching. (Contains…

Despite its frequent use, there is little understanding of the concept of differential among upper high school and undergraduate students of physics. As a first step to identify the origin of this situation and to revert it, we have done a historic and epistemological study aimed at clarifying the role and the meaning of the differential in…