The purpose of this paper is to investigate how explanation is interactively constituted in two mathematics instructional sequences during one year-long teaching experiment in a second grade classroom. The position taken is that classroom norms for what constitutes an acceptable explanation are a joint construction between teacher and students.…

This packet contains a teacher's guide and student guide for a videotape and audiotape that introduce learning styles concepts for adult learners and provide them with tools to begin to recognize their own behavior and to make the most of their personal style strengths. The teacher's guide provides background information on learning styles and the…

This paper traces the history of 11 prominent learning style theorists from the 1970s to the present. Several theorists focused on the student's cognitive processing style. Manuel Ramirez attributed Mexican-American students' tendency toward field sensitivity to their socialization. Charles Letteri classified learners as analytic, global, or…

This paper reports on a study of seventh grade students (N=4) who attend a rural K-12 school. Students participated in a 5-week teaching experiment designed to build on their existing knowledge of the unit concept and extend it to the rational number operations of multiplication and division. Data collected comes in the form of videotapes,…

Teaching reasoning and judgment to children under the auspices of philosophy is an idea that has emerged recently in the modern era. It is theorized that, through practice in logic and ethics, children will begin to apply reasoning skills to their own life situations, think for themselves, and become better critical thinkers, all in a context that…

Czech students (n=160) of German as a foreign language were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their learning strategies. The purposes of this questionnaire were to find out: (1) to what extent students formed their own learning strategies, and if they were influenced by teachers; and (2) the changes in students' learning strategies caused by…

The usefulness of the Cognitive Engagement in Cooperative Learning (CECL) model for evaluating the learning outcomes associated with various cooperative learning activities is explored. The instructions that a set of learners is given, however broad or specific, is called a script. These scripts are associated with different learning outcomes…

Designed for teachers of kindergarten through grade 6, this book contains practical and innovative ideas on fostering literacy generated from discussions with teachers from the United States and Canada, visits to their classrooms, and observations of their interactions with students. The book addresses all levels of learner-centered literacy…

A learning circle is an informal, co-operative way of learning that is based on natural patterns of human interaction. Learning circles use learning materials to catalyze discussion. This book was designed under the assumption that these materials will most often be television programs with supporting print material. The first section, "What…

This document contains papers and transcripts from a university faculty colloquium which shared views about teaching methods and information on successful approaches. Following a copy of the colloquium announcement and a brief introduction, the main section presents transcripts of the presentations. The first discusses the structure and role of…

A study compared test scores of students instructed to use graphic organizers while reading social studies content material with those of students not using the strategy. Subjects, students in two fourth-grade classes in a primarily middle class, suburban community, studied two chapters from a social studies textbook and completed chapter tests…

The purpose of this newsletter, published six times yearly during Western Michigan University's (WMU) fall and winter semesters, is to provide a forum for the exchange of information about instruction at the university. The first of six issues collected here looks at the contribution and role of adjunct professors. This issue includes a list of…

For those educators who work with college students either as teachers, advisors, or in learning centers, the construct of learning style can be a powerful tool in their interactions with students. Educators can sometimes tune in to students' styles by listening to the verbs the students use. An informal assessment of students' learning styles is…

Noting that the ability to think critically and creatively can be encouraged even in the very young, this book provides practical strategies and lesson plans for introducing children in kindergarten through grade 3 to the fun and rigors of skillful thinking. The first set of four lessons is designed to start children thinking and to lay the…

The major purpose of this study was to identify effective methods or procedures that high school biology teachers would recommend to help their students master the skills needed for reading and understanding their biology textbooks, workbooks, laboratory manuals, and other printed materials used in biology classes. It was hypothesized that…