In a year-long study of classroom reform toward more constructivist teaching and learning practices, 125 rural seventh graders engaged in design-based inquiry and learned research and communication skills by designing hypermedia materials to teach peers. Data from one participating teacher illustrate the evolution of new instructional practices…

This paper reports on a study that observed students creating structured hypertext documents, and how they try to convey structural information, in order to formulate tentative guidelines/principles for the design of concept mapping tools or hypertext systems with an emphasis on the representation of structural knowledge, and to formulated…

Language arts teaching is supposed to be based on the principle of starting where the child is and communicating to him through channels which he has at that point, in language which is familiar to him, and with illustrative concepts with which he is familiar. Beginning materials in this area, however, have made only minor strides to this goal and…

There are ways in which elementary teachers in general and rural elementary teachers in particular can overcome inadequate science preparation and can upgrade the science program resources of their small schools. Parents and children should be involved in obtaining free and inexpensive science-related materials throughout the year. These can be…

The Language Experience Approach (LEA) is a particularly effective means of increasing the motivation and reading skills of students enrolled in adult basic education classes. A form of personalized rather than individualized instruction, the LEA is designed with the personal needs of a specific student or group of students in mind. The LEA is a…

This paper discusses the changing role of teachers and students working on the World Wide Web and outlines the following eight characteristics and associated descriptors of the engaged learning model: (1) vision of learning (responsible, strategic, energized, collaborative); (2) tasks (authentic, challenging, multidisciplinary); (3) assessment…

Papers from a seminar on instructional materials for second language teaching include the following: "Co-Operative Language Learning: What's News?" (Ted Rodgers); "Principles of Communicative Task Design" (David Nunan); "Teaching Spoken English in the Non-Native Context: Considerations for the Materials Writer" (Mary…