This text critically examines traditional methodologies for teaching grammar in the context of Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PFL). It proposes an alternative, eclectic approach, which can be used in any foreign language. Drawing on evidence from research and pedagogical practices, it highlights areas for improvement in current approaches, such…

Although higher education transnational programs are becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide, little is known about student's conceptions of learning, which could help to improve the education quality of such programs. This study investigated Chinese undergraduates' conceptions of learning in programs cooperatively run by Chinese and non-Chinese…

Various techniques have been introduced among educators to relate concepts to application, from inductive learning, discovery learning, and student-centred learning (SCL). Mathematics has always been taught the traditional way--teacher is the main person to teach through lectures and activities, with students mostly in the passive receiver mode…

Results of two studies using the Esper paradigm to determine development of rule application and discovery are reported. Subjects learned and generalized when rule and structure were provided, but there was little evidence of rule discovery. Manipulations of memory and attention facilitated learning, but only attention facilitated rule discovery.…

Teaching to the test has significant undesirable effects. This practice skews scores and invalidates the test, promotes convergent thinking, promotes learning that may be obsolete, excludes the arts and extracurricular activities, promotes didactic instruction over discovery learning, involves only short-term memory, and excludes higher-order…

Chess experts remember meaningful knowledge in the form of networks or patterns. Applied to mathematics instruction, effective classroom approaches can use investigation to identify patterns or rules. Described are a class activity and a small-group activity to investigate addition of signed numbers and linear relationships. (MDH)