This narrative account describes issues confronted by third grade students, their teacher candidates, and their experienced teacher as they sought to implement a knowledge building approach. Data come from the class database, videotape recordings, and the teacher's narrative account of the year. There is particular emphasis on the teacher's…

California Lutheran University's (CLU's) School of Education created Project MAGNETIC CONNECTIONS to strengthen links between teacher preparation programs and K-12 schools through real-time connections and shared learning opportunities between partners. Three technology-rich schools became laboratories for learning for CLU students and faculty,…

At the beginning of the spring 2000 semester, 19 sophomores enrolled in the Principles of Teaching class at Heidelberg College (Ohio) were asked to complete weekly e-mail journal entries about the course. At the end of the semester, they were asked to give their perceptions regarding journal use. Sixteen students completed this particular entry,…

In multigrade instruction, children of at least a 2-year grade span and diverse ability levels are grouped in a single classroom and share experiences involving intellectual, academic, and social skills. "The Multigrade Classroom" is a seven-book series that provides an overview of current research on multigrade instruction, identifies…

This paper discusses how the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) can be adapted for use in online instruction. The four basic stages of the NGT (listing, recording, collating, and prioritizing) are described, and modifications for online delivery are detailed, including: (1) the instructor posts the Socratic question or problem to be posed; (2) students…

This book explores the creative opportunities offered by information and communications technology (ICT), and provides an authoritative survey of the ways in which ICT is currently transforming core teaching functions. The contributed chapters in this book are organizes around these core processes of learning and teaching: subject matter…

"Sketches of Innovators in Education" is a collection of articles in which Indiana State University faculty and staff members discuss their experiences developing courses and teaching with educational technologies. This edition features a special section written by graduate student employees of the University's Faculty Computing Resource…

This book introduces third through sixth grade teachers to problem-based learning (PBL), a system for classroom instruction and curriculum development. It combines the PBL system with practice in locating, evaluating, and thinking about information from the Internet. It provides 8 PBL units for use in the classroom, offering instructions for…

To travel is one of the greatest ways to learn about the world. It is the "getting there" that provides the learning experience, not so much as the destination itself. Education is also a journey, one that should last a lifetime, but for many students today, it is one that lasts only as long as they are in the classroom. In such short…

This paper discusses computer based virtual field trips that use technologies commonly found in public schools in the United States. The discussion focuses on the advantages of both using and creating these field trips for an instructional situation. A virtual field trip to Cumberland Island National Seashore, St. Marys, Georgia is used as a point…

The Open University of Israel (OUI) is a distance education institution that offers over 250 computer-mediated courses through the Internet. All OUI students must pass an English reading comprehension exemption exam or take the University's English reading comprehension courses. Because reading instruction differs from content instruction,…

This study examined the use of concept maps for Web-based applications in higher education. The purpose of the project was to design concept maps that could serve as prototypes for navigating and searching Internet resources. It also explored the value of concept mapping as a method of bibliographic retrieval for the ERIC database. Following an…

A recent master's level course in the Department of Educational Administration and Foundations at Illinois State University pushed the envelope on using instructional Internet technologies. This course utilized several in-person sessions (both on- and off-campus), e-mail, and a dedicated World Wide Web site. The majority of classes were held over…

This paper examines research on urban education, looking at what works and what does not. It introduces a theme issue of the "Illinois Schools Journal" that examines various interventions from the perspectives of members of the Center for Urban Research and Education (CURE) and tenure-track professors from Chicago State University's College of…

This paper details a 2-year study of exemplary uses of electronic texts (information displayed electronically on a computer screen) in two English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learning contexts. Topics include the following: the need and desire to communicate; opportunities for topic control; and opportunities for planned and unplanned discourses.…