Many students are deterred from science because of the way science courses are packaged. To find out what makes science hard for intelligent students, the author employed nonscience faculty and graduate students as surrogate students in science. Their responses to the sequence of the units, demonstrations, homework assignments, examinations, and…

Summarizes the Big6 Skills information problem-solving approach: (1) Task Definition; (2) Information Seeking Strategies; (3) Location and Access; (4) Use of Information; (5) Synthesis; and (6) Evaluation. Discusses parent and student roles in information problem solving, the value of assignments, and technology and the Big Six. (PEN)

Argues that homework, correspondence courses, and independent study were early forms of distance learning, and that emerging technologies have simply advanced the field to the development of synchronous, interactive communication and instructional systems. Maintains that it is unlikely that distance learning at the college level will totally…

Details a study investigating the effect of well-designed homework activities on 6-7 and 11-12 year-old students' second-language acquisition and literacy skills in Portugal and Luxembourg, and whether parental involvement in these homework activities enhances students' learning. Highlights findings that strongly suggest this is so. Includes…

Outlines conditions that should be present in an electronic tutoring system, and describes the Electronic Homework system. Discusses the modules contained in the system's two main components--the Computer Tutor and Homework Administrator. Gives an example of the tutoring process, and examines the overall effects of using Electronic Homework. (AEF)

Investigates the scope and nature of tasks demanding students' application of higher order thinking skills while studying biology in junior and senior high schools in Israel. Contains 29 references. (DDR)

Middle school students (n=86) with learning disabilities or emotional disturbance who participated in Cooperative Homework Teams achieved a higher rate of homework completion and higher percentage correct on homework than controls but did not perform better in mathematics achievement. Significant effects were found for grade level but not for type…

Compares homework styles of Chinese students characterized by: (1) high versus low self-achievement and attitudes; (2) high versus low teacher-rated homework completion and quality; and (3) high versus low academic achievement in mathematics. Examines gender differences of homework styles in these students. Focuses on 329 fifth graders and 244…

Uses the World Wide Web to provide an active learning environment with rapid and accurate homework feedback which is also an effective tool to foster critical thinking skills. Allows students to submit a second chance homework following feedback to a previously wrongly answered question. (YDS)

This longitudinal case study draws on sociocultural theory to investigate language learning as a socially mediated process through computer-mediated communicative tasks in an international languages class. The study reports on the design, implementation, and outcomes of a thematic, task-based curricular innovation in which paired Korean-and…

The Coleman report, published 12 years after the Brown decision, confirmed that widespread school segregation in the United States created inequality of educational opportunity. This study examines whether racial and socioeconomic segregation, which is on the rise in the United States, is still contributing to the achievement differences among…

In this study, the author compares the views of faculty members who give quizzes and those who do not regarding (a) the potential drawbacks of quizzing and (b) the viability of various quiz alternatives such as graded homework. The results suggest that quizzers and nonquizzers have much in common and that quizzing is simply one of a variety of…

In spring 2003, the Distance Education Network (DEN), Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), had 860 students and more than 1,000 enrollments in 70 courses toward 10 different degrees. Typically, for assignments in engineering courses, professors require students to show how their answers are derived so that…

Unless the sample encompasses a substantial portion of the population, the standard error of an estimator depends on the size of the sample, but not the size of the population. This is a crucial statistical insight that students find very counterintuitive. After trying several ways of convincing students of the validity of this principle, I have…

Writing treatment that involved repeated copying and recall of target words was implemented with 8 individuals with severe aphasia in order to discern the best candidates for the treatment. Four of the 8 participants had strong positive responses to the copy and recall treatment (CART), relearning spellings for 15 targeted words during 10 to 12…