This paper describes how students can be personally challenged in the work they do and how secondary students or tertiary-level education students and teachers can collaboratively diagnose existing quality of classroom practice, via the concepts of personal challenge and interpersonal shared adventure. The approach involves the teacher obtaining…

In December 1989, the School District of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) and Research for Better Schools, Inc., with the support of the Pennsylvania State Department of Education, initiated a collaborative 2-year study of the district's Chapter 1 schoolwide projects. This report presents findings from the study of Spring Garden Elementary School…

In December 1989, the School District of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) and Research for Better Schools, Inc., with the support of the Pennsylvania State Department of Education, initiated a collaborative 2-year study of the district's Chapter 1 schoolwide projects. This report presents findings from the study of Walton Elementary School (grades K…

A report on implementation of the Multicultural Reading and Thinking (McRAT) Program in Arkansas from 1989-92 chronicles the program's development, operation, and results. McRAT is a staff development program designed to help teachers infuse higher order thinking processes and multicultural concepts into regular classroom curricula (grades 3 to…

This study assesses students' perceptions of and performance in sheltered and co-taught classes in an Asian remedial plan in Philadelphia's (Pennsylvania) New Instructional Model (NIM) secondary schools. The study used end-of-year marks and student focus groups to collect data. The focus groups were conducted with 247 Asian limited English…

A project that sought to describe current policies and practices for the recognition, identification, assessment, and provision for the needs of Scottish children with specific learning difficulties associated with literacy is described. Other aims were: to identify criteria used to judge the effectiveness of different approaches; to report on how…

This study examined the effects of instructional control and aptitude composition on performance, interaction, and attitudes during a computer-based cooperative science lesson. A sample of 152 fifth and sixth grade students completed the instruction either under the learner control (LC) or the program control (PC) treatment. In the LC treatment,…

This collection of papers is designed to provide an overview of validated practices that have been proven effective for children with language learning disabilities, preschool age through adolescence. The first section addresses oral language interventions, in "Preschool Language Intervention in the Classroom: Rationale and Organizational…

A pilot study with 17 middle school science teachers at 15 schools was conducted to determine how to use interactive videodisc technology to develop student ability to use visual skills in processing science information, thereby improving science achievement. The first year's progress is described in identifying how visual images seem to affect…

Despite evidence of ineffectiveness, the American educational system remains tied to the child-centered, Piagetian approach to educating children. Based on the romantic notions of Rousseau, this approach maintains that children should not be viewed as receptacles of information that is dispensed by teachers but as active discoverers in a learning…

This book examines embedded support in course material. The focus is on self-study and associated concepts such as independent learning, distance education, and open education, and the general context is adult and higher education. The seven chapters cover: (1) general introductory material, including a description of the future, distance…

This case study focused on the effects of collaborative activities between two teachers and their students. The authors explored the effectiveness of distance learning for adolescents in promoting self-esteem, achievement, and multicultural understanding. In Cultural Connections, diverse students across Texas collaborated on multicultural…

This paper describes the development, validation, and research application of the Computer-Delivered Instruction Configuration Matrix (CDICM), an instrument for evaluating the implementation of Integrated Learning Systems (ILS). The CDICM consists of a 15-item checklist, describing the major components of implementation of ILS technology, to be…

There is a wide array of approaches that produce materials (courseware) for the delivery of university level courses via Distance Learning (DL). DL has increasingly become part of university systems across the United States and is expected to grow to 10% of enrollment at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) by the start of the next…

The University of Wisconsin Learning Innovations Center's instructional design model for World Wide Web delivered courses incorporates a range of collaborative discussions and interactive experiences for the learner. In addition, these courses capitalize on the multimedia learning environment that the web offers to accommodate many kinds of…