Describes how the author uses text-based virtual environments to connect his students to a course. Details his experiences with this innovative technology to explore the development of critical thinking and discussion with high school students. Defines a "MOO" as a text-based virtual environment, a sort of sophisticated chat room…

Examines how secondary students socialized into the complex and demanding discourse of English Literature. Considers what factors from the student's perspective, particularly those for whom English is their second language, distinguish those who more actively participate from those who do not. Addresses how one teacher sought to do this through an…

Presents a part of a larger study attempting to retrieve the versions of the child implicit in the everyday life of a literature classroom. Focuses on a children's novel, "Magpie Island" (Thiele, 1974), and the classroom talk about that novel. Findings reveal that the version of the child implicit in the novel and that enacted in the classroom…

Endeavors to reassert the validity of a many-faceted agenda to which qualitative analysis of classroom talk remains central and to present a review of advances made in the gathering and interpretation of talk-evidence so that possible lines of further development can be indicated. (44 references) (Author/CK)

Finds that including media studies at the end of a traditional literature course is an effective pedagogical instrument for instigating discussion regarding the literary canon, since students recognize and address the important contribution of popular culture when it is in dialogue with more traditional material. Selects the film…

Although Americans still cling to the ideal of free public education, the broad mandate that once tied schools to this ideal and other social, economic, and political objectives is fading. Publics, created out of multitudinous self-interests, form via deliberation. Deliberative forums can produce an agenda for actions linked by a shared sense of…

The National PTA, which helped plan and conduct many Phi Delta Kappan public education forums, believes that parent and community involvement, competent and caring educators, and adequate funding are key components of educational excellence. As parents discuss these vital components with other community members, they can jointly develop awareness,…

Discusses how guidelines for classroom discussion, popular in women's studies and sociology, have set off campus controversies over freedom of speech. (EV)

Describes an assignment for an introductory computer science class that requires the student to write a software program that simulates an automated teller machine. Highlights include an algorithm for the assignment; sample file contents; language features used; assignment variations; and discussion points. (LRW)

Suggests that using scenario activities can provide the means for training teachers to lead meaningful discussions. Provides sample scenarios and discusses how teachers model the process and adapt it to small and large group discussions. Contends that the power of discussion accrues over time when the conversation leads students to new and broader…

Reports the findings of a study conducted on Clemson University's electronic collaboration tool "Collaborative Learning Environment" in order to determine student opinions, and specifically why they didn't collaborate with each other in a discussion but instead repeated the teacher-as-questioner and student-as-answerer paradigm. Outlines…

Considers how to involve students more in discussing poetry. Describes a class activity involving creating a low-risk poetry porthole: the list poem. Talks about learning how to discuss the poetry of others. Presents ideas for making the transition to the discussion of "school" poetry. (SG)

Analyzes the process of how the inquiry problem is revised and improved. Involves 7th grade students in the study, discussing the inquiry problem to be investigated. Reports that students always discussed the method in light of the problem, and the existence of the method of the problem affected the endurance of problem. (Author/YDS)

Surveyed university faculty shortly after the September 11 attacks to investigate how they engaged with their students following these events. Classrooms became safe spaces for expressions of emotional vulnerability and public grieving. Some professors offered themselves as moral guides, striving to forestall the expression of hostility. Others…

Evaluated the work of sixth grade students' creative problem-solving groups, proposing that providing students with specific guidelines about what makes an exemplary group product would improve the character of the discussion and quality of the group product. Student groups did learn as a result of their discussions and creation of group products.…