Brigham Young University (Utah) is developing a program to improve reflective thinking skills in preservice students. The beginning professional course includes the following reflective teaching components: (1) instruction on the theory and process of reflection; (2) participation in selected microteaching episodes; (3) reflecting on the classroom…

Forty-one readings are presented on the social ecology variables and interventions that characterize the life of persons with disabilities. The readings are grouped into six categories dealing respectively with background, assessment of student-centered variables, interventions relating to student-centered variables, program-centered variables,…

The six editions of the newsletter provide a forum for the sharing of research findings and instructional strategies by faculty of Western Michigan University. Topics addressed include: active learning; lecture variations; lecture techniques; grading student participation; leading discussions; overcoming silence; discussion challenges; course…

The chapters and authors in this volume are as follows: "The New World of Continuing Education" (Thomas); "Compared to What? Comparison Studies as an Added Dimension for Adult Learning" (Kidd); "Culture in the Classroom" (Barer-Stein); "Planning for Learning: A Model for Creative Decision Making" (Herman);…

Home study is practiced by most managers, who read or write reports, reflect on work projects and problems, and catch up on professional journals at home. A goal of home study advocates is to make such home study as useful as possible. A management development process known in England as action learning requires that 60 percent of study be done at…

This practicum report describes an individualized multiple methods/materials approach to the teaching of reading to improve the critical reading skills of seventh grade students in a middle school in Georgia. The core of the program was the use of novels selected with the particular interests of adolescents in mind. Sixty-four students in the…

A study measured the effectiveness of traditional classroom instruction versus computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in raising the competency levels of adults enrolled in adult basic education (ABE) classes one grade level for each 80 hours of instruction. Classes were conducted in Indianapolis and Richmond, Indiana, from November 1988 to April…

The Department of Foreign Languages at Tarrant County (Texas) Junior College (TCJC) places primary instructional emphasis in elementary and intermediate language courses on the development of students' oral communication competence. Noting the differences in the oral proficiency of TCJC students and that of area high school graduates seeking…

The Collaboration to Improve Reading in the Content Areas (CIRCA) project, a collaborative effort between the Center for the Study of Reading and the Chicago Public Schools, is described in this paper. Noting that the project was designed to translate research about content area reading into practice, the first section briefly discusses the…

This report offers an overview of the work of the Institute for Research on Teaching (IRT), the relationship between research and practice, and what has been learned about improving teacher performance. Some difficulties of teacher improvement are noted, and a description is given of how IRT research findings are communicated to the profession. An…

Prepared under contract with the International Council of Archives for Unesco's Records and Archive Management Programme (RAMP), this study explains and documents the variety of ways in which archives can be made an integral part of pre-university education, and illustrates how both teachers and students can increase their understanding and…

This handbook contains a competency-based curriculum for teaching marketing education in Alaska. The handbook is organized in seven sections. Section 1 introduces the competency-based curriculum, while Section 2 provides the scope and sequence and hierarchy of marketing education competencies. Section 3, the core of the curriculum, includes the…

A project to help students assume more responsibility for the quality of teaching and learning is described. A three-credit-hour course in learning analysis (LA) exposed 875 students at six colleges to alternative teaching methods. Faculty members who were outstanding practitioners of various learning strategies (Keller Plan, audiotutorial,…

Included in this document are two reports of studies using data from the same l5 research sites in Alberta, Canada. The first study, "Critical Variables in ECS-Grade One Articulation," documented factors associated with successful articulation of Early Childhood Services (ECS) and primary school programs. Data were collected through…

The curriculum now being taught in many kindergartens is profoundly different from what it was two decades ago. The kindergarten classroom, once conceived of as a play- and group adjustment-oriented setting, may now also be a classroom with an "academic" approach, characterized by direct teaching of discrete skills with specific…