Presents an account of a week of learning and instruction from a high school physics course to provide a context for discussion of the role and demands of teacher inquiry. Argues coordination of student inquiry and traditional content is a matter of discerning and responding to students' particular strengths and needs. (Author/KB)

Describes an inquiry-based project on kinematics piloted at a rural middle school in 1996 by a Maine collaboration of university faculty, graduate students, and K-12 teachers. The group examines the new science standards, develops new curricula based on physics education research, helps middle-school teachers implement that curricula, and assesses…

Describes a research project in which the students examine data showing the income disparity between men and women. The students decide on which sociological theories might explain this discrepancy and devise a study to test this hypothesis. Includes instructions for the assignment and guidelines for cooperative learning. (MJP)

Reviews a series of teaching activities that revolve around family photographs, letters, and artifacts. Outlines how these items can be used to teach recommended National Council for the Social Studies strands and provides classroom examples. Discusses developing a unit of study and includes a form for a Family Artifact Report. (MJP)

Focuses on the importance of vocabulary knowledge as fundamental to proficiency in a second language (L2). The article notes that each of the studies in this issue examines L2 vocabulary learning from a particular angle, including lexical progress, learning strategies, context effect, the role of learner factors such as age and first language…

A speech communications course at Navajo Community College (Arizona) combines traditional course content with Navajo philosophy by teaching college students how to organize formal speeches through a culture-based process involving thinking, planning, taking action, and developing confidence and competence. Includes student perceptions of this…

Presents an overview of Gaelic immersion programs in operation in Scotland and of the models in which they are deployed. The article highlights the teaching methods used and outlines the views and experiences of classroom teachers and the parent body. Findings reveal that the teachers want more resources and the parents are highly supportive.…

Argues that incorporating research into teaching intermediate macroeconomics can present challenging material to students thereby increasing their critical and evaluative thinking. Recommends sacrificing advanced textbook topics, historical perspectives on theories and policies, and current debates in favor of theoretical insights and empirical…

Investigated the effects of cooperative instruction, individual instruction, and learner control of instructional elements (practice items, summary material, review material) on 128 undergraduate students' test performance, attitudes, option use, and student interactions and found that posttest performance was not influenced by either learner…

Examined kindergartners' and third graders' recall to test the effects of four learning strategies applied to items involving three conceptual relations--taxonomic, contextual, and unrelated. Found that (using a constructivist framework for interpretation) learner activity and causal processing improved memory when memory was not supported by…

This study examined whether and how computer conferencing could be used to help prospective teachers become aware of the consequences of action. Results indicated that conferencing activities provided clear insight into prospective teachers' awareness of the consequences of action. Four levels of consequences were apparent in students'…

Reviews current practice in the study of phonological interlanguage. The methodology of 22 pieces of research is surveyed in terms of subjects, range of phonological features, "synchronic" and "diachronic" approaches, techniques and materials, audio-recording and transcription. The article discusses the advantages and…

Argues that from the perspective of second language learning, college teachers should focus on an integrated undergraduate curriculum combining the teaching of linguistics and literature with language learning in an instructional approach informed by second language acquisition research. Emphasizes that multiple benefits are derived from a…

Presents a lesson plan that utilizes the study of Asian Americans in Hawaii to help students to develop the critical faculties needed to detect stereotyping and bias. Students create presentations on popular images of Hawaii. Later, they produce more critical and better researched presentations on the island and its inhabitants. (MJP)

This article examines what students report learning and how they received instruction over an eight-month period. Results indicated that students of teachers in the graduate program recalled more specific health content and participated in more interactive activities than did control teachers' students. (SM)