Examines the collaborative discourse practices of the Red River Writing Project Teacher Research Group as well as the processes by which this diverse group of classroom teachers, most with only limited experience in conducting research, developed into a discourse community of teacher researchers. Argues that the inquiry-oriented context fostered…

Teaching is about designing, creating, and inventing intellectually challenging work for students--work that engages students and is so compelling that students persist when they experience difficulty and feel satisfaction, indeed delight, when they successfully accomplish the challenge (Schlechty 1997). Whether thinking skills are taught…

During recent renovation work at the Collin County Courthouse in a suburb of Dallas Texas, workers discovered "for colored" and "for white" signs underneath layers of plaster above the bathroom doors. The discovery has ignited controversy between citizens who are concerned with the eventual fate of the signs. Some residents of…

Social studies educators advocate discussion as an influential instructional method to encourage students to apply knowledge and develop higher-order thinking and understanding. The classroom reality, however, is that teachers only use the discussion method sparingly. Instead, teachers predominantly use a quasi-discussion form called recitation to…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect that participating in online literature discussions would have on the discourse and learning of adult students. Would electronic literature (e-lit) discussions promote grand conversations? Would students feel that e-lit discussions enhanced their understanding of what they read, and, if so,…

In this article, the authors provide a historical review of how the U.S. government has funded its participation in major wars during the past 150 years. They focus attention on five conflicts--the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Those conflicts were funded in different ways, with each funding method…

Tools for measuring cognitive engagement within online groups have been concerned only with measuring an individual participant's cognitive engagement, without any concern for measuring cognitive engagement within groups. There remains a serious need for a scheme that measures cognitive engagement of groups and the validation of such a scheme…

Academics are experiencing pressures related to accountability and appraisal, excellence, effectiveness and efficiency. These pressures can intensify when the role of postgraduate supervisor is added to an already crowded professional and personal life. Although support and discussion groups for supervisors have been used in professional…

This article details a variety of activities that can be used with middle school students to investigate the size of the number 1,000,000. The activities focus on real-life applications of mathematical proportions and helps students to understand the magnitude of large numbers. (Contains 8 figures.)

I tested whether students' reported use and perceived helpfulness of textbook pedagogical aids and other instructional methods (e.g., group discussion) related to better exam performance. More than 200 undergraduates rated 10 commonly used pedagogical aids and instructional techniques. Students reported using boldface and italics terms and…

Recent reexaminations of adolescent literacy have expanded previous cognitive psychological models of reading to include views of the social and cultural aspects of literacy. The term critical literacy refers to approaches that focus on the social forces that influence the creation and interpretation of texts. When applied to the study of literary…

In an age when international terrorism poses a threat to peace and stability, the use of not only nuclear, but also biological and chemical weapons are important topics for classroom discussion. In this article, the author explores four approaches to teaching this topic. Examining a controversial topic involves the evaluation of values, the use of…

The present research examined relationships among medical school applicants' preferred approaches to learning, methods of instruction, and specialty areas (n=912). Based on confidential responses to a progressive series of paired comparisons, applicants' preferences for lecture (L), self-study (SS), group discussion (GD), and computers (C) were…

More universities are offering online instruction for students though we know little about effective online learning. Some have found online instruction increases student participation while others have reported that students prefer the traditional face-to-face format. This study of gifted education graduate students follows the expectation that…

Where learner discourse has been the focus of much recent research on asynchonous online instruction, the specific forms of instructional discourse used by online educators has yet to be examined. Indeed, the majority of work in the area of foreign language and telecommunications has concentrated on student-student, student-peer interaction, and…