Explores students' verbal interaction in small multiethnic groups after the students had participated for several months in classes conducted with either the Group Investigation Method or the traditional whole-class method. Found that the two instructional methods affected students very differently and that, additionally, these different effects…

Reports the effectiveness of nine in-service summer institutes designed to improve geography instruction. Discusses strengths and weaknesses of the workshops and the institutes' long-term effectiveness. Finds that participants not only made substantive changes in how they taught geography, but also conducted high-level inservice programs. (CFR)

Explores the relationship between teaching methods in elementary school social studies and development of critical thinking for 18 fifth and 18 sixth graders receiving direct instruction in critical thinking, contrasted with 17 fifth and 27 sixth graders traditionally instructed. Efficacy of direct instruction is not demonstrated. (SLD)

Presents a continuation of previous research on a general development process consisting of successive levels in conceptualization. Explores how young children conceptualize the writing system. Considers both social background and preschool system of education. Concludes that teaching activities used in French nursery schools are less effective…

Describes study of undergraduates at Pennsylvania State University that was conducted to investigate the instructional effectiveness of integrating rehearsal activity into visually complemented prose instruction. The effect of students' prior knowledge on learning is examined, and the effect of visual/verbal testing on information retrieval is…

This study of 20 mothers and their fluent children (ages 3-5) found no significant differences between the effects of instructions to slow maternal speech rate and instructions to slow and simplify maternal speech. Children's speech rate and language complexity did not parallel maternal adjustments, which is problematic for parental involvement in…

Investigates effects of a manipulative instructional approach and traditional instruction on the achievement of subtraction facts for 4 African-American and 26 white second graders in a rural North Carolina school. Greater gains in achievement of subtraction basic facts occurred with the manipulative instruction approach. Implications for…

Considers what constitutes an effective multicultural teacher. Effective multicultural teachers positively acknowledge cultural diversity and use the necessary instructional strategies to enhance learning for all students. Willingness to promote the development of such teachers must become an integral component of teacher education programs. (SLD)

Discusses the use and advantages of integrated learning systems (ILSs) in elementary and middle grades, and reanalyzes 30 evaluations of ILSs by using effect size statistics. Research problems are described, including poor evaluation designs and inadequate data collection and analysis; and a table summarizes the ILS research reports and…

Four fifth grade students with learning disabilities were taught a strategy to facilitate setting product and process goals, generating and organizing notes, continued planning during writing, and evaluating goal attainment. Strategy instruction had a positive effect on students' essay writing and knowledge of the writing process, and effects were…

Two college courses, one in literary analysis and one designed to help students apply prior learning, were redesigned to incorporate time for students to tell the class about their own learning experiences. It was found that the narratives enriched faculty and students' understanding and awareness. (MSE)

The technique of having college economics students write brief reaction papers in response to assigned readings has been found to be useful in motivating and enhancing student preparedness for classroom discussions. The reaction papers also helped students study for exams and develop writing skills. (MSE)

A Purdue University (Indiana) pharmacy course on issues facing health care providers, consumers, and payers incorporated discussion of articles from health care journals, writing assignments, and small group exercises. Course assessment by pretest/posttest, students' brief essays, and formal course evaluation pointed to the course's positive…

Discussion of the need for school reform focuses on teaching students enrolled in teacher education programs how to use systems approach principles to help with instructional planning. Topics discussed include setting objectives; selecting instructional materials; evaluating instructional effectiveness; constraints and pressures faced by teachers;…

Effects of a theoretically based LOGO programing environment on executive metacognitive abilities were studied for 48 third graders who took pretests and posttests after LOGO training or no training. The LOGO group scored higher than comparisons on two metacomponential measures: correctness of response and use of an individual metacomponent. (SLD)