Writing, an essential part of every young child's school life, is a complex affair involving cognitive, affective, and psychomotor elements. Most children learn to write, with varying degrees of success, and every school has children who can be classified as nonwriters. Some children are inhibited and frustrated by writing and are put off by the…

The availability of multi-media technologies in education has made the option of independent learning increasingly attractive. Whilst independent learning presents learners with a more flexible learning context, it also presents new challenges in assessment in that the onus is placed upon the learners themselves to monitor and evaluate their own…

Writing is a valuable learning tool in science classrooms. Written work provides an instructor with a tangible demonstration of learning and gives students the opportunity to connect their personal experiences to the content of the course. Most important, thoughtful writing assignments demand deep analysis of subject material and help students…

Two online collaborative assignments that connected students in courses at Unitec, New Zealand, and Baruch College, City University of New York, are the focus of this article. For the first assignment, small, blended groups used five different online techniques to explore topics being discussed in an intercultural communication course at each…

At some point between elementary and junior high school, something seems to occur that generates a rooted dislike toward the scientific disciplines in general and mathematics in particular. This results in most students in developmental education associating the word math with a series of illogical rules, totally disconnected from reality and…

Middle school classrooms are a natural laboratory where the relationships between science, reading, and writing can be developed and strengthened to provide a foundation for students' learning and future career success. Teachers do not need to know "everything" about science and reading to raise student achievement. Rather, they need to know a few…

Using multiple baseline designs, we studied the effects of having seven 9th graders edit their papers until a naive reader accomplished a drawing assignment during writer immersion (communication in writing only). During Experiment I, students received no feedback in the first phase, teacher editing feedback in phase 2, and writer immersion plus…

In this study, we investigated a variety of Reader effects that may influence the validity of ratings assigned to AP® English Literature and Composition essays. Specifically, we investigated whether Readers exhibit changes in their levels of severity and accuracy, and their use of individual scale categories over time. We refer to changes in these…

While the use of a search engine to find secondary sources is now a commonplace practice among undergraduate writers, recent studies show that students' online searches often lead to materials that are wholly or partially unsuitable for academic purposes. Accordingly, this project set out to determine whether using a more specialized search…

A qualitative study, presented in the form of an analytical narrative, examined children's symbolic and social use of superhero stories--popular media stories that vividly reveal societal beliefs about power and gender, which are themselves interwoven in complex ways with race, class, and physical demeanor. A second-grade classroom in an East San…

Technology can be incorporated as a tool in business communication courses to help students format, revise, and enhance pieces of writing. The capabilities of the microcomputer should be introduced slowly to build competencies and confidence. This paper provides instructional tips and activities for introducing technology into assignments. Steps…

A study determined if exposing middle school students to stories and poems that show what virtues look like, how they are practiced, how to recognize them, and how they work, would have a significant effect on the degree of assimilation of these virtues expressed by the students. Sixth-grade students (n=23) attending a suburban middle school in…

Intended to help students improve their writing and perform better on writing assessments, this concise guide discusses strategies for planning, writing, and revising a timed essay. The guide offers dozens of assignments and sample questions which provide many opportunities for students to practice and build confidence. It also informs about…

A project in a second and third grade classroom resulted in a classroom newsletter designed and written by regular and special education students to provide the school and parents with information regarding activities in their classroom and school. Students were provided with an authentic opportunity to express their ideas and feelings about…

When she began teaching, one instructor thought everything had to come from her. It took a couple of years before she understood that what students themselves bring to the experience is instrumental--even vital--in helping them connect with what happens in the classroom. In their freshman composition journals, students produced writing based on…