Over the past several years, an increasing number of educators have come to believe that teaching should acknowledge the transactional nature of knowledge and suggest that a shift be made to focus on social practice, meaning, and patterns. This style of teaching proposes that it is important to permit students to construct knowledge meaningfully…

This text was written for the elementary education teacher who has had little or no previous background in music. It is written primarily for classes in which fundamentals and methods of music are taught simultaneously. Section one includes step-by-step procedures to teach the structural components of each of the basic elements of music.…

Maurice Merleau-Ponty's philosophy offers an existential phenomenological interpretation of subjectivity and the shared world. He offers a perceptually based philosophy which can be mined for implications and interpretations for a new style of teaching relevant to the contemporary social and educational scene. This paper analyzes Merleau-Ponty's…

This book offers suggestions and ideas in definite and practical terms for teaching, evaluating teaching, and improving the school. Problems and possible solutions are discussed in the areas of: (1) classroom order and discipline; (2) teaching the basics; (3) dealing with written work; (4) planning for the class, the unit, and the year; (5) study…

A relationship has been hypothesized between metamemory (the self-knowledge of memory processes that an individual can verbalize) and actual memory performance. To explore this relationship, a study was conducted, in partial replication of earlier studies, using the strategy choice paradigm for paired-associate learning (PAL) on a metamemory…

A model for Continuous-Integrated-Sequential (C/I/S) curricula for social studies education is presented. The design advocated involves ensuring continuity of instruction from grades K-12, an integration of social studies disciplines, and a sequential process of refining and reinforcing concept and skills from grade-to-grade along the K-12…

A collection of reports on 12 classroom-based research projects is presented, representing the individual and collaborative efforts of faculty, advisors, and program coordinators from Sacramento City College and Irvine Valley College, California. First, a final report is presented on the Cooperative Classroom-Based Research project, including…

The development of the Pennsylvania State Department of Education's Tests of Essential Learning Skills (TELS) program objectives is described. A conceptual framework is presented that incorporates reading skills into the social studies curriculum. Instructional strategies designed to assist in the development of reading skills in the content areas…

Outcomes, processes, and emerging questions associated with using matrix structures as both a teaching strategy used by the instructor and a cognitive learning strategy used by cooperative groups of students were studied. In analyzing these concept learning strategies, an effort was made to triangulate sources of data and take into account aspects…

A study investigated the effects of the motivational variables of attribution and self-efficacy on the continued use of successfully learned strategies which promote independent learning from text. The subjects consisted of 11 freshmen and sophomore students participating in a two-week workshop on learning strategies which included a study project…

A study investigated the effectiveness of using a particular type of instructional graphic, a "frame," on fourth and fifth graders' ability to learn from reading their social studies textbooks. Six fourth- and six fifth-grade teachers taught social studies using either frames or the instruction suggested in the teacher's edition of the…

An ethnographic approach is taken to describe the development of student critical thinking in the Pittsburgh Discussion Project, focusing primarily on discussion experiences in three classes (one college-bound 9th-grade class and two mainstream 11th-grade classes) over the school year. Weekly discussions were audiotaped, and interviews were…

This digest is derived from Susan Baum's "Being Gifted and Learning Disabled...From Definition to Practical Intervention." The learning disabled gifted are grouped into three categories: identified gifted students who have subtle learning disabilities, unidentified students whose gifts and disabilities may be masked by average…

A study reviewed 88 doctoral dissertations written during a 4-year period in the 1980s on the use of feedback for performance improvement. The purpose was to sugget applications of the findings to teaching improvement in postsecondary education, and to determine the extent to which faculty development centers contribute to this research.…

To learn more about the impact of word processing on the writing of college freshmen, a 2-year study involving 320 students of average writing ability investigated whether (1) students using word processors write significantly better than those who do not; (2) manipulating and improving sentences on a screen affects students' awareness of grammar,…