Getting through to students in the classroom continues to be one of the great mysteries of an educator's life. What will capture their attention, and, more important, what will transform their thinking? Film industry veteran and educator Barbara Tobolowsky returned to her roots in visual media to find answers. Using video clips to introduce a…

This paper presents a case study of writing tasks in graduate courses at a large, American university. The study investigates writing tasks across the curriculum and draws implications for curriculum design in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Using actual course syllabi for task analysis, the researchers analyzed 200 course syllabi from 20…

Developed by national reading experts for "reading partners" to use with children, ages birth to grade 6, this booklet presents activities that help very young children to get ready for reading and writing, and guide older children to expand their reading and writing interests and skills. The booklet has three sections, one for…

An intensive college English Literature course provided a special learning opportunity through its innovative reading and writing assignments. From the beginning, students learned by individually selecting, finding, and reading texts and writing descriptive reports intended for class sharing and interaction. The final project involved a formal…

Describes a teaching exercise in an undergraduate psychology course in which students read a book with unconventional perspectives on the field of study. Maintains that the activity develops critical reading and thinking skills by confronting students with controversial views. Identifies some of the books selected to fit the criteria of this…

Assessment provides feedback to teachers so that instruction can be modified. It also provides feedback to students during and after the course. Discusses approaches to assessment in geology courses that relate assessment to instruction. Three student assignments are described: (1) Personal Question Sheets; (2) a report on Personal/Social Issues…

A method is described for computerizing assignments in electrical engineering courses which removes certain objections to traditional non-computerized assignments. (Author/RAO)

A researcher investigating first-grade reading instruction found that students and teachers viewed the purpose of seatwork very differently. Suggestions for making seatwork more meaningful are offered. (MT)

Presents six impromptu speaking exercises suitable for developing a variety of speaking skills. (PD)

Fifteen writing instructors report their favorite ways of getting students to write. (RL)

Researchers have posited that when students work on assignments with many discrete tasks, that each completed discrete task may be a conditioned reinforcer. If the discrete task completion hypothesis is accurate, then relative task completion rates should influence choice behavior in the same manner as relative rates of reinforcement. Results of a…

Presents four poems of the "self" (poems that represent authors' perceptions of themselves) by secondary school students. Discusses how to assess such poems and students' development in writing poems like them. (SR)

This is the fourth in a series of articles on using children's literature to foster the principles of the Circle of Courage. In this issue, the author provides selections that foster generosity and altruism. (Author)

A science fiction problem was placed before the students, they had to plan a profitable trip for Galactic spaceship tour and for which group of five students was made to solve the problem, which would encourage cooperative efforts, and different people in the group could work on different aspects. An important part of this problem is that students…

This is not another tired lament for a Golden Age when all students were brilliantly prepared for college, but rather an elaboration of a central pedagogical reality the authors had each separately faced--it is not easy to teach the complex set of skills subsumed under the heading "research," that organic, contingent, messy, recursive…