Teaching strategies that overcome the brain's natural tendency to limit information can open students' minds to new ideas and creative mental habits. Seven strategies to provoke divergent thinking and deepen understanding are hypothetical thinking, reversal, application of different symbol systems, analogy, viewpoint analysis, completion, and web…

If Socrates returned, he would find inculcation a ubiquitous feature of U.S. education. Students and teachers who dissent from the community's wisdom are still denied their voice. The ideal of genuine Socratic inquiry remains an elite proposition. The First Amendment, which should protect students' right to question long held assumptions and…

A teaching technique where the lecture is interspersed with a series of multiple-choice questions displayed on 35mm slides or transparencies that can be projected by the overhead projector is described. The lecture progresses by projection and full discussion of each question. Layout of a typical question is appended. (MLW)

Presented is a study in which students' intellectual reasoning development was evaluated following instruction that emphasized formal operations in a traditional lecture format. Results indicated that formal-operational students had significantly more success in the three reasoning areas than transitional students and transitional students had…

This study investigated the differential effects of pausing during mathematics instruction in which 22 students with mild disabilities either worked independently or together. Results provided support for incorporating pauses during lecture. Performance gains were found in both accuracy and fluency of computation. Only multiplication performance…

Describes a computer system (SPECIAL) that allows for the capture and playback of audio and slides from a lecture. SPECIAL provides random access to both audio and slides, and variable speed control of audio. Testing shows that learners prefer using faster speeds and that grades are higher for participants using this system rather than a textbook…

A study evaluated the effectiveness of video instruction in teaching the meanings and uses of idioms to 20 deaf adolescents. Students improved their knowledge and use of idioms more when exposed to the video/discussion approach than to the lecture/discussion approach. (DB)

Critics of student writing in British lecture courses as "mere rehash of lecture notes" are reminded that (1) by its nature, the lecture course focuses on and is limited to information conveyed in lectures, and (2) professors refuse to use materials such as U.S. textbooks that could supplement the information conveyed in class. (MSE)

This article utilizes several examples to describe the use of MathCAD, a computer scratchpad for calculations, within a lecture-demonstration method of teaching general calculus. Both hardware requirements and software features are discussed specifically related to the proper design of student worksheets with emphasis on parameter variation. (JJK)

Demonstrates how marginal benefit curves can be used in the classroom to illustrate income and substitution effects. Uses tables to explain choices, income effects, and demand curves. Provides explanations for terms and clarifies concepts for teaching methods for traditional subject matter. Explains that this technique allows a rigorous…

Describes a number of informal "turn-to-your-neighbor" approaches that create an active learning environment in college lecture settings. These include: launching class in discussion, breaking up the lecture for comprehension checks, closing class with small-group conversation, and debriefing exams. (DB)

Instead of presenting a body of research attesting to constructivism's effectiveness, Lynn Chrenka cites a litany of "supportive" comments from dead geniuses. The teacher as expert and lecturer is anathema to constructivist doctrine. Sages who speak passionately and authoritatively about a subject they love are increasingly rare in public schools.…

In response to policy developments in higher education in the UK, the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILTHE--now merged in the Higher Education Academy) was established in 1999 to provide a national framework for teaching and learning at tertiary level. This article considers the training environment of novice lecturers…

This article focuses on one instructor's evolution from formal lecturing to interactive teaching and learning in a statistics course. Student perception data are used to demonstrate the instructor's use of communication to align the content, students, and instructor throughout the course. Results indicate that the students learned, that…

Two studies examined effects of computer-assisted (CA) teaching methods in introductory psychology classes. In Study 1, we provided students with lectures supplemented with either overhead transparencies or CA visuals. In Study 2, we compared students who used an optional Web site with students who did not. In both studies we held constant lecture…