A study explored the perceptions of 155 early field experience (EFE) elementary education majors who were in one of six sections of a reading methods course at a midwestern university. Responses to an open-ended final examination question at the end of three consecutive semesters asked students to describe and evaluate the classroom reading…

Two studies investigated the modification of tasks by students in different public school settings. The first study examined task modification in physical education settings and the second study considered task modification by learning disabled students in a resource room and in two mainstream settings. In study 1 a systematic observation system…

The basic communication theory course offered at Central Michigan University is designed to provide students with an understanding of fundamental concepts and terminology, and to expose them to theory and research in communication. The course gives students the opportunity to engage in simulations and other in-class activities, thus making…

An expert reading instruction teacher was studied for one academic year to explore his interactive decision making processes. Previous lines of research have indicated that, for some teachers, interactive decision making involves more than simply maintaining established routines that assure smooth activity flow and involves deviating from the…

A study was made on the efficacy of prompting as a supervisory aid to preservice physical education teachers. Three student teachers were prompted in specific behaviors during teaching sessions with their students. Communication was by way of a wireless microphone and a FM receiver with mini-earphone. The students were prompted on: (1) use of…

An investigation was made to ascertian perceptions and practices of parents whose children had been retained in kindergarten as well as parents' perceptions of their child's reaction to being retained. Also collected were data on the demographic characteristics of the families and their children. Specifically, data were obtained by means of a…

A conflict exists over the use of animals in the classroom. One aspect of this use involved the dissection of animals. Animal protection advocates report that dissections constitute abuse of the animals dissected. The advocates state that what is learned by dissection could be more effectively learned by other means. Some science educators state…

The Learning in Science Project (1979-1981) studied the problems and difficulties of learning science at the 10-14 year old level in New Zealand to provide insights into the world of the science learner and provide an alternative perspective of the science classroom to that currently held by teachers and others. This paper offers practical…

Examining the cognitive processes of reading-to-write as they are embedded in the social context of a college course, this introduction to and overview of the 11-part Reading-to-Write Project study focuses on the study as a whole by sketching the reading-to-write task as one of practical importance, as a window on how students integrate reading…

This study is the seventh in a series of reports from the Reading-to-Write Project, a collaborative study of students' cognitive processes at one critical point of entry into academic performance. This part of the study examines whether students could make more significant revisions in their writing if they were merely prompted to examine and…

A discussion of teaching culture through the use of films focuses on how German Cinema films can be used successfully as a required extracurricular activity in German second-language-instruction. This kind of extracurricular activity is seen as a two dimensional educational experience. From the students' point of view, everything about seeing a…

Students on many campuses regularly evaluate their courses, and reports of these evaluations are sent to their instructors. Such feedback should result in improved teaching and in more positive evaluations, yet neither informal observation nor systematic studies reveal sizable feedback effects. The true effects of feedback of this kind are modest,…

This book documents and explores the range of strategies that a competent group of language users (17 students in a graduate course) employed when responding to a range of reading and writing tasks over a semester's time in a naturalistic instructional setting. The book is divided into the following six chapters: (1) "The Nature of…

Traditionally, matching test formats have been avoided in favor of multiple-choice items for several reasons, including item analysis properties and chance performance characteristics. In the light of research on test format and anxiety, this study postulates that, if a matching test could assess knowledge for a given topic as effectively as an…

The elements of design (line, shape, color, value, and texture) are the artist's lexicon rather than words, and the meaning of these elements is carried in their expressive properties in picture books as well as in paintings. Line can convey repose when horizontal, stability if vertical, and action when diagonal or curving. The element of shape…