This Digest explores the practice of looping, a pedagogical strategy in which a teacher advances from one grade level to the next along with his or class. It describes how teachers and students in looping classes need not start from scratch every fall, learning new sets of names and personalities. By spending several years with a class, teachers…

This digest discusses the nature of interactive videodiscs and their educational applications, provides information about educational uses of videodisc technology, and presents lists of videodisc-related organizations, books, and periodicals. A general description of a reflective optical laser videodisc is presented, as well as the equipment…

This digest considers approaches to langugae arts teaching that are based on mythic or archetypal ways of experiencing and knowing. The Digest argues that such approaches address students' inner lives more directly than do the usual instructional methods such as whole language or student-centered instruction, and thus can help to promote…

The theory of multiple intelligences (MI) broadens the traditional view of intelligence as solely composed of verbal/linguistic and logical/mathematical abilities. MI theory maintains that all humans have at least eight different intelligences that represent a variety of ways to learn and demonstrate understanding. This digest underlines the basic…

Given recent research that encourages more frequent use of the discussion method in teaching, this digest reviews the role of instructional conversations (ICs) in second language learning. ICs, instructional in content and conversational in quality, offer natural and spontaneous language interactions that are free from the didactic characteristics…

This ERIC digest discusses the theoretical basis of case teaching and examines its strengths and limitations as a tool for teacher education. Case teaching presents authentic, concrete teaching problems for students to analyze. The study of a classroom fight, for example, might draw discussion of racial, ethical, political, and other community…

This brief report summarizes a longer document with the same title. It reviews literature on the importance of using active learning teaching techniques in the classroom, describes what active learning is, discusses how this technique can be incorporated into the classroom and identifies barriers to the use of this approach. Strategies that…

An ERIC digest considers several approaches to community study within the social studies curriculum. Material is divided into four sections. Following an introduction, "A rationale for community study" outlines skills and concepts that can be presented through community study and presents the rationale that community study can provide…

This digest summarizes a larger document of the same title which takes the position that because American democracy is founded on the premise that citizens need to engage in free and open discussion of opposing points of view, it is important that intellectual conflict become part of college instruction. It suggests several ways in which…