We examined the relation between self-explaining and encoding among kindergartners. For 5 days, children (n = 27) took turns solving addition problems with an adult expert who always used an advanced addition strategy. During the game, children explained the expert's answers (Explain-Expert), explained their own answers (Explain-Novice), or did…

Deliberative civic education is broadly conceived as instruction that utilizes varying forms of classroom deliberation and deliberative exercises to enhance the democratic skills of citizenship and to increase understanding of democratic practice. The purpose of this essay is to explore how the contemporary, critical elements of rhetorical study…

Although the class in advanced public speaking is a mainstay of communication instruction, little scholarship has addressed the nature of expertise in public speaking or the instructional techniques by which it is imparted. The present study conducted in-depth interviews with 23 active college teachers of advanced public speaking, inquiring…

This article operationally defines effective student class participation. Optimum class management and effectiveness depends on students being actively engaged, supportive of each other, and civil in their exchanges. Examples of student behaviors to avoid are also discussed. Desired student classroom behavior is argued to be enhanced by good…

The article focuses on teaching commonalities in diverse musical genres. Teachers need to relate the musical activities performed in class to music that students experience in the world around them since they understand music in relation to history and culture. A key to selecting high-quality musical examples is to find music pieces that contain…

In this article we describe a new classroom exercise for introducing the actor-observer bias in social perception. We describe 2 experiments that compared our new technique (which involves resolving interpersonal dilemmas for oneself and another) with a previously established technique (judging the applicability of traits for oneself and another).…

In the past, contributions by women have been largely overlooked in U.S. science instruction. However, the move toward standards-based integration of appropriate history of science topics supports bringing female scientists' viewpoints to the classroom--offering a range of perspectives on scientific advances. The authors' historical research in…

In this article, the author offers social studies educators a means to deepen students' understanding of and skills for constructive disagreement by bringing together four areas of study that inform one's awareness of the role of the body in democratic life. The author includes specific curricular suggestions and classroom activities that…

This article discusses the inclusion of movement education and motor activities of a kindergarten teacher in her class. She was becoming increasingly annoyed with the intense focus on academics at the expense of other important parts of her program. According to her, the children need exercise, and social skills, and music, and being outdoors.…

The body is probably one of a child's first science experiments. Young children are curious about their own bodies and how they work. They love to explore how they move (and do not move), the sounds they makes, how they look, how different textures feel on their skin, even how it tastes when they suck their thumb. Activities suggested in this…

In this article, Graham Nuthall critiques four major types of research on teaching effectiveness: studies of best teachers, correlational and experimental studies of teaching-learning relationships, design studies, and teacher action and narrative research. He gathers evidence about the kind of research that is most likely to bridge the…

Thanks to a generous grant from a family foundation, two retired art teachers from Washington Elementary School in Evanston, Illinois, were brought back to facilitate a series of special projects, giving every child in the school a meaningful experience with clay. Each grade level team was asked to decide on a part of the curriculum they wished to…

What social studies project challenges students with interdisciplinary learning, engages their various abilities and learning styles, offers them the opportunity for collaborative work-and encourages them to speak in strange voices? The answer is an eighth grade radio drama project. For most of the month of March 2004, the entire eighth grade at…

This article reports five studies in which a scale for assessing teachers' beliefs about classroom use of critical-thinking (CT) activities was developed and its scores evaluated for reliability and validity. The Critical Thinking Belief Appraisal (CTBA) is based on a four-factor "advantage effect" model: the theoretical premise that teachers'…

Ecobehavioural analysis procedures were used to examine the interactive engagement of children with developmental disabilities due to Down syndrome who attended inclusive preschools for 2 years. Compared with typical children, the children with disabilities displayed infrequent interactions with peers for the duration of the study. For the…