A mother of one set of boy-girl twins observes that boys and girls use different strategies for learning. Contends that educators and child development specialists need to reevaluate the criteria they use to determine readiness for school. (MLF)

Examined development of multiplication skills in 8- to 12-year-olds taught by discovery methods. Found a general shift away from less effective strategies across ages 8 to 12, but by 11 years, relatively few used the most effective strategy of retrieval for all operands. Effective strategy development was related to nonverbal reasoning ability and…

Used data from the Third International Math-Science Study to examine the working conditions and beliefs of Japanese, German, and United States teachers. Core teaching practices and teacher beliefs showed little national variation, but other aspects of teachers' work showed variation. Models of national cultures of learning may overemphasize…

Voices and Visions is an initiative launched cooperatively by a school district, museum, and university. Situated within the museum, it is intended to help children feel curiosity and delight about people's differences while learning how much they actually have in common. The program also includes yearlong classroom activities, built around six…

This case study investigated gender-based differences in classroom participation through examining teacher-student interactions between a female biology teacher and two groups of middle school students, namely high achievers and low achievers. The female teacher used a questioning-orientated instructional strategy as her major teaching style which…

This study investigated the premise that action, manifested here through pretend play, is a semiotic arena that can enhance narrative development. It was hypothesized that children would produce structurally more complex narratives in play-prompted elicitation than in direct elicitation conditions, and that this competence would increase with age.…

Using an interdisciplinary approach and historical-materialist perspective, this article argues that economic systems largely influence and maintain the operation of all cultural activity. It contends that today's world has become increasingly dependent on a global economy dominated by capitalism--a profit-driven system--that has come to influence…

In this study, we investigated the use of humor in college classrooms. We examined how students perceived professors' uses of various types of humor during class and the types of humor that students and faculty recommend for use in class. We also correlated the way professors incorporated humor into their class lectures with their perceived…

Visual representations are essential for communicating ideas in the science classroom; however, the design of such representations is not always beneficial for learners. This paper presents instructional design considerations providing empirical evidence and integrating theoretical concepts related to cognitive load. Learners have a limited…

This article describes a step-by-step procedure to differentiate instruction through tiered lessons. (Contains 3 figures.)

The Teaching/Learning Centers (TLC) model is based on the assumption that the best foundation for meaningful, sustained, and transformative professional development is laid when teachers assess the particular needs for their school site, plan and implement professional development background. It is concluded that the TLC model of professional…

This article provides a summary of current research regarding literacy issues that boys face and offers practices and strategies that might help bridge the literacy gap for boys. The article began as a result of the author's son's struggles with literacy. By sharing Gabe's story, this teacher and researcher examines the issues he and other boys…

This article examines some of the issues that arise when two disparate cultures of learning engage with each other. It draws on various theories of language pedagogy and cultural appropriacy to suggest how such issues might be resolved. A snapshot of a specific teaching experience at a Gulf university is presented to illustrate some of these…

Statistics anxiety is prevalent among students whose academic background has little statistical training. The development and psychometric properties of statistics anxiety scales and the factors affecting statistics anxiety have been extensively studied for more than twenty years, but few studies focused on how to reduce the statistics anxiety for…

Pairs of students from two age groups made choropleth maps using Arc View. Evidence from their discourse is used to assess aspects of their cartographic understanding as well as the nature of their collaboration. Students from both age groups spent a high percentage of their time talking about cartographic strategy and a low percentage of time on…