The authors of this article argue that it is the responsibility of teacher educators to provide preservice teacher candidates with the tools necessary to address issues of social justice and equity in their future classrooms. By incorporating a critical literacy approach, primary sources, role playing, and civic debates within the teaching…

The purpose of this study was to research the effects of online discussion on face-to-face (F2F) classroom participation and academic achievement for 18 public high school students in a senior English class. The teacher used a variety of data collection including surveys, test scores, journal reflections, and teacher observations to study the…

This article describes the new Occupational & Life Skills (OLS) program at Bellevue Community College in Bellevue, Washington. The OLS-Venture program, as it is now called, grew out of a series of continuing education classes in personal finance, cooking, and related life skills for people with autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other…

Using consensual qualitative research, the perceptions and reactions of White faculty to classroom dialogues on race were explored. Difficult racial dialogues were characterized by intense emotions in both professors and their students, most notable anxiety, that interfered with the ability to successfully facilitate a learning experience for…

The hierarchical system of speech acts developed by Sinclair and Coulthard ("Towards an analysis of discourse: The English used by teachers and pupils." Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975) to describe interaction in traditional classrooms and later applied to face-to-face communication by Stenstrom ("An introduction to spoken interaction"…

CSCL systems which follow the dual-interaction spaces paradigm support the synchronous construction and discussion of shared artifacts by distributed or colocated small groups of learners. The most recent generic dual-interaction space environments, either model based or component based, can be deeply customized by teachers for supporting…

Online courses continue to gain popularity at colleges and universities, with a primary tool for demonstrating critical thinking and interaction being the discussion forum. Instructors and students of online courses are faced with the dilemma of sifting through potentially hundreds of postings when all students are placed within a forum. The…

A growing number of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who display complex learning needs present challenges to educators who struggle to meet their educational needs. Teaching is stressful and additional instructional challenges may increase teacher vulnerability to burnout, leading to a greater likelihood of attrition. Increasing…

An investigation was conducted to determine how fifth graders with prior experience in student-led literature discussions assisted peers familiar with teacher-led discussions in basal reading programs. Tapes, observations, and writings of students indicated that students quickly adopted leadership roles, interacted, and helped one another conduct…

Discusses a foreign-language-reading approach through which students are exposed to various books that they self-select and discuss in literature circles, noting 49 college students' reactions to the approach in a French language class. Student surveys indicated that the method had a positive impact on their reading comprehension and attitudes,…

In this article, the author describes a simulation of a coevolutionary "arms race" and introduce a way of teaching it that lets students use the theory of natural selection to explain the outcomes of the simulation. The simulation uses the numerical cards from an UNO[R] playing card deck to represent the speeds of individuals in populations of…

Social studies teachers are charged with imparting an understanding of what democracy entails. Unfortunately, a major component of any authentic democracy, the acceptance of dissent in the face of majority views, is often omitted from classroom discussions due to practical considerations such as maintaining classroom order. Many scholars insist,…

In this paper we identify four formats of classroom talk for integrating everyday and scientific discourse--replacement, interweaving, contextual privileging and pastiche. In the replacement format, progress in understanding is gauged by the extent to which scientific representations replace the more concrete and everyday representations in…

Professional development in most schools has a predictable look and feel: summer workshops, brown-bag luncheon trainings, and the infamous in-service day. These events can be successful, and there is no doubt they have helped numerous educators become better at what they do. Web 2.0, however, opens up a new world of professional learning. This…

Teaching films like "Crash" gives teachers and researchers the opportunity to discuss films as social texts that engage students in critical thinking and self-reflection. This particular movie is especially effective in its use of a pulp-fiction visual rhetoric. Unfortunately, the film equates and replaces the term "race" with the term "prejudice"…