Strategies are given for enhancing learning in the informal environment of the museum. Collaboration between the school and classroom is encouraged. (SA)

Considers how the book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"'s achievement of the status of a modern classic provides evidence that children's collective voices can sometimes cause the walls erected by the field's adult gatekeepers to come tumbling down. Discusses reasons for the popularity and controversy surrounding the book. (SC)

Reviews research on learning among visitors to museums and other interpretive sites. Discusses central and peripheral information processing, need for cognition, intrinsic motivation, visual memory, and metacognition. Describes an evaluation model for exhibits and programs that incorporates visitor learning. (SAS)

Examines computer documentation writers' tactics for conceiving of their audiences. Describes and evaluates technical communicators' tactics for understanding audiences, constrained and supported by their organizations based on two ethnographic case studies and insights from activity theory. Discusses the advantages and limitations of each tactic,…

Persuasive speeches are a common assignment in numerous public speaking and hybrid communication classes. One theme of persuasion is that the persuasive message should be tailored to the intended receiver. Not only do effective rhetors adapt to the circumstances in which they find themselves, but persuasive efforts are much more likely to be…

Discusses two senses of the word "community" (natural and elective) and how they influence writing. (MG)

This article seeks answers to questions, such as how children's writing develops and how young students express themselves in writing at various stages of their development. This article reviews the literature through a wide lens as it examines elementary students' writing and is intended to lead to a more comprehensive understanding of…

Communicative competence is the ultimate goal of most learners of a second language and intelligible pronunciation a fundamental part of it. Unfortunately, learners often lack the opportunity to explore how intelligible their speech is for different audiences. Our research investigates whether synchronous-voice computer-mediated communication…

Student-led chapter presentations provide an excellent opportunity for instructors to evaluate a student's comprehension of the assigned chapter, as well as the student's ability to present and convey information in a public forum. Although several instructors realize the benefits of requiring students to complete chapter presentations either as…

The purpose of this research was to determine whether using an audience response system improves student achievement. Audience response systems are computer-based tools for use in classrooms for the purpose of providing feedback to students on questions asked during instruction. This study used a quasi-experimental design to determine if students…

With a clearer understanding of the way humor works, individuals might be better able to give it the attention it deserves when they study and teach the arts. But where do they turn to find a theoretical framework for the study of humor--one that will help them clarify the role that humor plays in the arts and that will help them as well to…

How are educators moving museums' interpretive goals beyond exhibition galleries? How are programs creating new relationships between a museum and its adult audiences? As plans for physical transformation at the Chicago History Museum took form, the education department launched a parallel process of planning to redefine the "look and…

As well as being a founding father of modern chemistry and physics Michael Faraday was also a skilled lecturer, able to explain scientific principles and ideas simply and concisely to nonscientific audiences. However science didactics today emphasizes the use of open and student-centered methods of teaching in which students find and develop…

Using data taken from the National Endowment for the Arts' Surveys of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) which were conducted in 1982 and 1992, this report looks at the effect of age on adult arts participation in seven benchmark or core art forms: classical music, opera, ballet, musicals, jazz, plays, and art museums. The report examines the…

This article considers the implications of a disability arts, culture and scholarship series "The Unruly Salon", undertaken at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver in Canada, which ran from January to March 2008. It asks how and whether the encounter of this Series with its diverse audiences makes a lasting contribution to the…