Students in an abnormal psychology course worked in teams to produce dramatizations of diagnostic interviews and then presented them in class. Positive and negative aspects of the activity are discussed. (RM)

This study shows how a university writing instructor successfully prepares and conducts discussions and handles student responses and reviews students' attitudes toward this method. The description indicates it is possible to derive a realistic model of discussion and implies such operational models can be derived for most other teaching methods.…

Various studies of interaction between teachers and American Indian students indicate that nonverbal behaviors interfere with classroom communication and educational performance. American Indian children exhibit such behaviors as less talking, low voice tones, and averted gaze during conservations. These behaviors seem to hinder students in the…

In an undergraduate course in international economics, students are required to answer all questions on examinations and to assign weights to the questions to be used in calculating grades. Seventy-three percent of the students like this format. One surprising result is that poorer students have a much better perception of their knowledge level…

Reports on personal observations of students using computers and concludes that computers can, indeed, revolutionize learning in the classroom. (FL)

This small exploratory case study describes an attempt to integrate the academic and practical aspects of a teacher education course in order to promote deep understanding of children's ways of understanding mathematics. The assessment regime of the course was used as a strategic tool for engaging students, and the assessment tasks themselves were…

The purpose of this report is to examine issues associated with studying teaching of literature in reference to a study of high school students' responses to multicultural literature. The purpose of this study was to determine how students' discourses of race, class, and gender influences their responses to multicultural literature as well as how…

Four Introduction to Psychology and six Developmental Psychology graduate teaching assistants collected student ratings from their students with the newly created Evaluation of College Instructor (ECI) rating instrument. A total of 82 Introduction to Psychology students and 186 Developmental Psychology students completed the ECI shortly before the…

This investigation examined whether the professional trainers could benefit from a needs analysis course in which real cases from various organizations were used and all the learning activities and materials were geared closely to the learning expectations and preferences of adults. Specifically, this study attempted to find out whether the use of…

This paper is about improving mathematics achievement among the lowest attaining students in some mainstream secondary school through focusing on thinking in ordinary lessons. The research is funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation (grant numbers 01-1415 & 02-1424) and involves three academics and nine teacher-researchers. A research perspective…

Taking advantage of the opportunity to heighten cultural awareness and create an intercultural exchange, this paper presents two articles that provide a summary of the rationale, methodology, and assignments used to teach the linked courses of an introductory speech communication course and an English-as-a-Second-Language Oral Skills course. The…

A course on detective fiction proved to be very popular at the University of Michigan, Flint. Fifty students signed up for the class, which was supposed to be limited to 45. Surprisingly, though, only 10 of these identified themselves as readers of detective fiction; those remaining were mainly curious. The course featured a range of works…

A sabbatical spent exploring the genre of travel writing began a writing instructor's journey to figure out what travel writing teaches--and how--and why it is so compelling to students. Her research in the genre of travel writing began as she was preparing students going abroad to keep meaningful journals. In middle- and advanced-level travel…

The traditional K-3 social studies curriculum has focused on food, clothing, shelter, communication, transportation, and other cultural universals. Very little information exists about children's prior knowledge and thinking about these topics. This study was designed to provide such information with respect to the topic of family living, and in…

A female African American educator with dreadlocks in a class of predominantly white college students begins each semester by warning students that the terms "black" and "white" will be used regularly. She also points out factors that might inhibit speaking in class, such as white students' fears that awkward phrasing of their…