This study examined whether having African-American middle school students write essays affirming their personal values improved their academic performance. The study analyzed data on about 175 African-American and 190 European-American students (the study's term for white students who are non-Latino and non-Asian) at a suburban middle school who…

This study investigated the use of reflective portfolios in science as a means to provide students a medium to develop a repertoire of study and self-regulation strategies. These self-regulation strategies can be accessed and utilized by students to engage in independent study and help to manage workloads from multiple teachers. The use of a…

Calibrated Peer Review[TM] (CPR) is a program that can significantly enhance the ability to integrate intensive information literacy exercises into large classroom settings. CPR is founded on a solid pedagogic base for learning, and it is formulated in such a way that information skills can easily be inserted. However, there is no mention of its…

This semi-longitudinal study examined the development of narrative writing quality of young Turkish second language learners in mainstream Dutch-only education, and the impact of student-level and classroom-level predictors of narrative writing quality, using hierarchical linear modelling. Writing samples of 106 third graders and 111 fourth…

Because of the recent revolutionary developments brought about by Web 2.0, the emergence and popularity of blogs as learning tools represent an important area of consideration by the higher education sector. Indeed, while many researchers have acknowledged the advantages of using blogs in this environment, it is clear that more investigation is…

With the strong emphasis of social constructivism, many educators are finding new ways to stimulate and enhance social activities within the classroom. One such method is the use of cooperative learning. A cohort of students worked in small teams cooperatively to complete an assignment while using blogs to document and reflect their work.…

In this study the authors investigate whether a whole-class educational blog could facilitate culturally relevant instruction and authentic intellectual work in U.S. history. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed that included student comments posted to an educational blog, classroom observations, and follow-up interviews. Based on the…

Writing in personal genres, like autobiography, leads writers to public voices. Public voice is a discursive quality of a text that conveys the writer's authority and position relative to others. To show how voice and authority depend on genre, I analyze the autobiographies of two writers who take opposing positions on the same topic. By producing…

Many undergraduate chemistry curricula are devoting increasing amounts of time to teaching technical writing skills. Significantly less attention, however, is given toward training students in nontechnical writing strategies. The ability of chemistry students to communicate effectively in writing to a wide variety of audiences is an essential (and…

When a person walks into any library media center, he or she will, no doubt, see lots of students busily working on classroom assignments. While these students may be focused and industrious, the real question is what drives their work, and are they learning? Student learning comes from active efforts to construct knowledge that requires them to…

The author, a teacher educator, likens taking an English class to playing a game, and by taking the metaphor seriously, he develops an innovative and engaging way to start off the school year. This article describes the classroom-as-game activity that he used during the first week of school. Using the concept of a game as metaphor for the…

Stovall makes an innovative deal with her students: Read 20 books this year and complete a creative project about each, and there won't be any other homework. Stovall describes her method, the projects, how it succeeded, and what the limitations were. (Contains 1 note.)

A paramount duty of education is to prepare young people for their role as citizens in a democratic society. Voting is one of the important responsibilities of a citizen but statistics indicate that young people often don't vote and don't believe they have a stake in the outcome of the presidential election. Storypath is a teaching strategy that…

Analysing the influence of new technologies/media (e.g., mobile phones, chats, instant messaging services) on the use and learning of maternal languages basic rules is the goal of this investigation, involving teachers and students (10th, 11th and 12th grade pupils, aged between 16 and 21) at the "Escola Secundaria de Silves" -- ESS…

This study investigated the effects of computer-assisted feedback strategies that have been utilized by university students in a technology education curriculum. Specifically, the study examined the effectiveness of the computer-assisted feedback strategy "Knowledge of Response feedback" (KOR), and the "Knowledge of Correct…