Public deliberation is a little-used concept that gets people talking about education and working together to improve it. Study circles discuss each solution's pros and cons, explore people's deeper motivations, weigh others' views carefully, work through conflicting emotions, and identify common ground. Pueblo, Colorado's process is profiled.…

Explains and illustrates the features of practical argument engagement, noting it is one way to understand why teachers do what they do. Observations, interviews, and dialogs with teachers illustrate that, by working with partners to examine actions occurring in their daily work, teachers can enhance their capacity for reflection, change beliefs…

Discusses interactivity in distance education and outlines four models: (1) no-interactivity; (2) resource-learner interactivity and peer-peer interactivity, similar to a face-to-face classroom setting; (3) decentralized self-managed peer-peer interactivity; and (4) coordinated-decentralized interactivity. Tables and diagrams depict these…

USENET newsgroup topics are created, and they evolve, mutate, and become extinct in ways fundamentally different from spoken dialog. These differences can be explained partially by the asynchronous nature of electronic communication, as well as by other factors unique to such wide-scale multi-user media. (Author)

Compared performance on language arts tests for students who were or were not permitted to discuss the story they were required to read and interpret. Results for approximately 5,000 10th graders show that a 10-minute discussion of the story in three-person groups had a substantial impact on students? understanding of the story. (SLD)

A finance course incorporates two technologies to reinforce instruction: threaded discussion and a course website. A bonus point system for discussion contributions elicited mixed reactions from enthusiastic and reluctant participants, lurkers, and nonparticipants. (SK)

This article identifies a variety of creative programs and projects designed to foster a healthy body image. Model practices are drawn from diverse educational and treatment settings. (Author/MKA)

Discusses three constructs--subject, purpose, and frame--and how they can be used to analyze and characterize the quality of students' mathematics classroom discussion in terms of the mathematics learning potential that those discussions provide. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/ASK)

Describes a discussion format called Collaborative Reasoning, part of a literature-based reading program in which students discuss a central question about a story they have read. Discusses the background of Collaborative Reasoning, its discussion framework, and instructional moves that support the development of reasoning. Notes the high rate of…

Argues that peer evaluation can work effectively if the teacher realizes that success should be measured more in long-term, cumulative benefits than in the immediate success or failure. Uses a fictitious scenario involving a teacher's first efforts at peer editing to make the above point. (TB)

Compares the effectiveness of traditional lecture methods of instruction to group discussion methods of instruction in developing critical thinking. Finds no significant difference in the two instructional methods, but significant gains were found from the pretest to the posttest for both instructional strategies. Concludes that face-to-face…

Illustrates how in one particular second-grade classroom students had opportunities for learning the academic and social content of literature while simultaneously engaging in the processes and practices of reading. Focuses on the kinds of opportunities offered to students in their involvement in Book Clubs and how those opportunities occur when…

Describes the Coordinated Resource Management (CRM) in the Classroom project, in which Wyoming high school students work on an authentic natural resource problem, using a decision-making process based on consensus to reach agreement on solutions to the problem. Notes implementation issues of professional development and support, and considers…

This reflective analysis of an online professional development event illustrates in three narratives and a meta-reflection how three practitioners negotiated the conceptual framework, the activity design, and the roles and presence of the two online facilitators. Authors show how they examined their experience and developed some insights into…

Investigated British teachers' use of an online discussion group over 2 years. Results indicate that, although the online forum was widely used as both an information and empathetic exchange resource, many claims of establishing collectively- focused virtual communities of teachers remain exaggerated, as the forum was limited by various caveats…