Foreign language instruction is known to develop better critical thinking skills in children. Therefore, the teaching of foreign languages should be promoted so that "all" students may attain better creative, divergent, critical, and analytical thinking skills. Research done in past years on cooperative learning models has consistently shown that…

Closed laboratories are becoming an increasingly popular approach to teaching introductory computer science courses, as they facilitate structured problem-solving and cooperation. However, most closed laboratories have been designed and implemented without embedded instructional research components for constant evaluation of the laboratories'…

Foster children are an educationally vulnerable population that is over represented in special education. This article describes a collaborative effort among a child welfare agency, a local education agency, and a nonprofit law office to improve the educational outcomes of children in foster care. Program procedures and the role of the education…

This study examined the behaviors and experiences of students who needed assistance while working in peer-directed small groups on mathematics problems and the processes that helped or hindered their learning. Students in 4 seventh-grade classes worked in heterogeneous small groups throughout a 3-week unit on operations with decimal numbers.…

This article describes a training program, Self-Regulation Empowerment Program (SREP), that school professionals can use to empower adolescent students to engage in more positive, self-motivating cycles of learning. It is a two-part approach whereby self-regulated learning coaches (SRC) (a) use microanalytic assessment procedures to assess…

One elementary school's ongoing process in developing an appropriate action research requirement for teacher candidates during their student teaching experience (internship) is described. The assignment has evolved from a pilot project with one intern and mentor teacher to a requirement for all interns at the school. Several issues that emerged…

Implementing best practices like cooperative learning, using concrete manipulatives, problem solving, technology, active learning, multi-age grouping, and team teaching have shown benefits for students when learning mathematics concepts within the curriculum (Zemelman, Daniels & Hyde, 1998; NCTM, 2000). What started as a professional development…

Working together and exchanging ideas is inherent in interactive learning. The focus of interactive learning is on what learners believe is important to learn, the various processes learners use to learn and how learners use learning in other settings and situations. Active learning processes that promote reflection, writing, demonstrations,…

Troubleshooting is a common form of problem solving. Technicians (e.g., automotive mechanics, electricians) and professionals (physician, therapists, ombudspersons) diagnose faulty systems and take direct, corrective action to eliminate any faults in order to return the systems to their normal states. Traditional approaches to troubleshooting…

An international trend in school psychology services is a shift from an emphasis on assessment-based activities to a paradigm of consultation problem-solving and behavioural intervention. As the profession experiences an expansion of roles and functions, school psychologists should have an understanding of a critical aspect of behaviour change:…

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at significant risk for a variety of comorbid conditions, including social skills deficits. Although interventions addressing various aspects of social difficulties with these children have been developed, few researchers have integrated new technology with existing social skills…

Norms govern the criteria by which students decide what is good and what is not good, and align their learning trajectories accordingly.We found that the high-school students' norm is to produce working, but not necessarily error-free, programs and to argue for their correctness solely on the basis of a few executions. Therefore, they prefer…

French farms have to adapt quickly in an economic and social context that is in profound change. For this, advice procedures must themselves be reconsidered. The aim of this work was to characterize the advice practices in beef-cattle systems in Creuse and define farmers' and advisers' requirements according to future methods of providing advice.…

Creative Problem Solving (CPS), a well-documented methodology for developing creative-thinking skills, has often been the focus of studies that have examined the impact of creativity training. The purpose of the present study was to extend this line of research in two ways. The first objective was to evaluate participants' reactions to specific…

The author's superintendency has been like a good marriage. Both she and the school community feel blessed to have had a true partnership built on mutually held beliefs and convictions, and to have had an opportunity to dream and make their dreams come true. Like most marriages, however, it has been a tremendous amount of work as they have…