This booklet provides an introduction to the study circle, which features informal, face-to-face, sustained small-group discussion of social and political issues. Section 2 discusses how study circles integrate life and learning. Section 3 focuses on the significance of the study circle idea--bringing citizens back to political life. Study circle…

A study examined students' reactions to the Student-Directed Discussion technique (an attempt to develop a class "text" from the students' joint construction of meaning) as used in a methods course on language development. The students (25 of 27 were present the day of the survey) responded anonymously concerning whether they thought the…

A study investigated the relationship between classroom discussion and literacy development in a college developmental reading classroom. It explored the implementation of C. Goldenberg's instructional conversation model (1992/93), focusing on the relatively untested assumption that discussion promotes reading comprehension, interpretation, and…

Designed to improve the rigor and clarity of children's reasoning about ethical issues, this book provides a practical, down-to-earth, discussion-based approach to teaching ethics to second- and third-grade children. The book provides stories, lesson plans, questioning strategies, guidance on using children's books for ethics lessons, and a…

Students can be motivated to write and be guided through the writing process without giving them the impression that they are doing it again until they get it right. To motivate students, make it known as specifically as possible what kind of written assignment will be required and how it will be graded. Then guide the students towards the goal by…

The Foundational Approaches in Science Teaching (FAST) project, which began under the sponsorship of the Hawaii Science Curriculum Council, contains a series of interdisciplinary science courses that emphasize the foundational concepts and methods of the physical, biological, and earth sciences. By directly involving students in investigating…

Science and technology are often presented and taught as two separate essences. When this is done, students as well as teachers are forced to attempt to develop the appropriate linkages. This book is one of a series designed to help teachers develop their science and technological education in ways that are both satisfying to themselves and…

A study examined similarities and differences between adults' and children's responses to the same children's book, and the role of discussion in shaping adults' perceptions about the book and their understanding of children's responses. Subjects, 129 students in five university children's literature classes, read and responded in writing to…

The "focus group discussion," a qualitative technique often used in market research, has been a useful tool in corporate exploration of employee child care needs and preferences and has led to the development of management policy regarding child care. The child care focus group has helped the employer learn more about employees' child care…

This article considered the presentations, discussions, and group directions that focused on both methods and content of instruction and curriculum, for both the special educator and the art educator. (Author/RK)

The adult educational methods eliminate teaching but draw upon and mobilize knowledge and understanding already existing in individuals, making it generally available: (1) a type of brainstorming which avoids one-track discussion and one-member domination, and (2) a structured, task-based, personal encounter utilizing resource packets. (Author/AJ)

The author describes a program involving group discussion, role playing and other procedures that aim at prompting senior high school girls to consider careers that are traditionally identified as typical for males. (SE)

Defines interpersonal communicative behavior as behavior serving to increase immediate feelings of satisfaction, and investigates the relationships between this behavior and self-concepts. (MH)

The author advocates interactive instruction of small groups of students, rather than lecturing, and offers advice to both teachers and students involved in discussion groups. (SD)

This article describes the lack of cooperativeness, involvement, responsibility, and creative thinking that has characterized individuals as members of groups in western democracies, and suggests that participation training can help people to both learn better and to learn from and value one another. (CD)