There has been much discussion recently of the effect that gender and learning style have on student performance. Educators have attempted to develop new teaching and assessment strategies that accommodate a variety of learning styles, and both males and females are becoming more aware of gender-related traits and their relationship to classroom…

This study examines the role of discourse in the development of students' understandings of a rule for determining if a number is divisible by 8. The rule was suggested by a student in a seventh-grade mathematics class. Its validity was investigated in whole-class discussions that occurred on 3 consecutive days. In addition to making field notes…

Many people feel that the purpose of an education is to prepare students for life outside of school. To help reach this desire it has been suggested that students be allowed to experience and confront issues that they will experience later in their lives. This book confronts students with major issues in science that in many instances have created…

A study examined the claim that computer-mediated discussion groups, also known as "lists,""conferences," or "bulletin boards" in which individuals contribute electronically to an ongoing exchange of information and ideas within a field of common interest, affect participation by women. Examination of the claim was accomplished by analyzing…

This book is designed to provide practical guidance to persons acting as facilitators of community and decision-making groups. Examples, scenarios, real situations, and (where appropriate) research results are incorporated to illustrate all major points. In the introductory section, facilitation is discussed in a problem-solving and…

This program guide encourages discussion on the fundamental values on which the government's economic policies are based. This public talk series program is designed for the discussion of critical social and political issues through a balanced, nonpartisan presentation of a spectrum of views. The core of the program is consideration of four…

Questioning is one of the most popular modes of teaching, but it has the capacity to turn a child off to learning if done incorrectly. This digest provides teachers with information on the types of questions and questioning behaviors that can facilitate the learning process and on the types of questions that are ineffective. Good questions foster…

This paper presents a grounded theory study that developed an explanatory theory of influences on teachers' use of classroom discussion. This paper further suggests that grounded theory of this sort should be useful for studying the persistence of recitation under the guise of discussion and for improving instruction with classroom discussion.…

Preliminary efforts to operationalize more fully the concept of the instructional conversation (IC) approach for second language learning are reported, and an observational tool, the IC Rating Scale, is described in an examination of classroom-based reading comprehension lessons. Preliminary data on the reliability and validity of the IC scale are…

National Issues Forums (NIFs) were conducted for adult basic education (ABE) students in a Pennsylvania adult education and job training center. The forums provide a process of sharing thoughts and opinions about areas of pressing national concerns in an open exchange of everyone's opinion. After instructors participated in NIFs, they developed a…

Designed to improve the rigor and clarity of children's reasoning about ethical issues, this book provides a practical, down-to-earth, discussion-based approach to teaching ethics to fourth- through sixth-grade children. The book provides stories, lesson plans, questioning strategies, guidance on using children's books for ethics lessons, and a…

This program guide provides a forum for discussing the different beliefs that influence public policy about homelessness as well as policy goals. The central question is addressed in two parts: (1) what society ought to do for homeless people; and (2) laying out a range of possible answers for part 1. Four possible answers are discussed: help only…

James Berlin has idenitified three common ideological approaches in rhetoric in composition courses crucial to an understanding of how collaborative learning works in writing courses: the expressivist, cognitivist, and social-epistemic. One of the primary distinctions among these rhetorics is how the subject is perceived. In an expressionist or…

The manual offers a process and suggestions to help support groups working to make disabled individuals less dependent on professional recreationists and segregated programs. The manual is divided into 10 steps and can be completed in a 1-day meeting or over a period of weekly meetings. Step 1 focuses on leisure, what it is and how it happens.…

Recommendations are presented for dealing with difficult students and the questions they ask during classroom discussions. Brief ideas are provided for handling argumentative individuals, long-winded questioners, and questions for which the instructor does not have a good answer. A discussion of curved or loaded questions (pseudoquestions)…