This paper reports on critical Action Research into the scientific literacy of secondary school students, as evidenced in student Reflective Dialogue Journals. Focussed on one secondary school classroom located in Brisbane, Australia, the research draws on literature concerned with writing and its use across the curriculum, particularly as this…

This guide addresses how to both ask for and write letters of recommendations. To ask for a letter of recommendation is to ask for a favor, thus requests should be courteous and unassuming. An appointment to request a letter in person should be made at the professor's convenience, at least a month ahead of the recommendation deadline. If at a…

A "New American High School" is a place that prepares students for a global, knowledge-based economy, helping them to be effective citizens, parents, and workers. Case histories are provided for 10 high schools that received awards for instructional innovation. These schools were chosen by the United States Department of Education and…

This book for students contemplating medical school and medical students in postgraduate training is based on in-depth interviews with medical students at various stages of training. Each chapter also includes insights on the chapter topic by Bernard Virshup. Chapters address the following topics: (1) anticipation--the need for realistic…

This document details the planning process and briefly discusses the experiences of faculty and students in two distinct paired-course learning communities at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem (Pennsylvania). One learning community paired a critical reading course with principles of sociology, while the other paired a freshmen composition…

The focus of these four issues of a quarterly journal on gifted children is on the total child, gifted girls, asynchrony, and teaching teachers. Each issue also includes columns on parents, the Internet, home schooling, software reviews, and recommended books. Major articles include the following: "A Circle of Friends: The Nature and Nurture of…

This resource guide, for teachers and students in the upper elementary and middle school grades, has been developed in response to the nationwide interest in asking schools to play an active role in preparing students to become informed and responsible citizens. The guide is divided into seven sections, one for each character trait: Caring, Civic…

This paper argues that the creation of communities of literacy practice in classrooms can contribute to students' development of learnings of and about language, literacy, and texts. Such development can occur when literacy learning is seen as a social practice shaped by complex and dynamic participants and events. In these communities,…

Although helping students achieve academically is a major goal of public education, children come to school with a wide variety of needs and therefore should be treated as whole people rather than as detached receptacles for academic knowledge. A critical issue is the departure of adults from children's lives. What can schools do to promote a more…

This brochure is intended to be a useful tool for assessing students' development along a continuum of oral language growth as well as for providing information about the competencies that students are expected to learn in preschool and first grade. On the continuum in the brochure, descriptors list specific behaviors that detail students'…

The decisions today's students make ripple outward to their immediate family and school community. How can teachers help students make the right decisions and do the right things? When teachers help students make the connection between character and conduct, they begin to offer students a safe environment conducive to learning. This book shows how…

The perspective taken in this paper is that of a person (now an educator) born in the United States in 1947 who did not experience any forms of deprivation, overt discrimination, or doubt about the future while growing up in the Midwest. The paper discusses two books which identified values which are at the core of U.S. society: "The Morality…

It is the responsibility of educational designers and educators to understand the demands of the new information age along with the need for learner-centered approaches to reform education. To date, self-esteem research has focused on traditional, teacher-focused learning environments. This paper will present the findings of a research study whose…

This report provides a description of how developmental students perform in 26 of Michigan's associate degree-granting institutions. The study finds that 67% of students enrolled in developmental English passed; 52% of students enrolled in developmental math passed; and 67% of students enrolled in developmental reading passed. It is more common…

The pedagogical imperative to prepare students to become critical thinkers, critical readers, and critical writers for the coming millennium necessitates a comprehensive college discourse on critical thinking. The paper cites seminars and workshops that incorporate theoretical and practical dimensions of teaching critical-analytical thinking…