Peer coaching promises to reduce teachers' isolation, create a professional and collegial school environment, and promote skill transfer from training to the workplace. To help peer coaching achieve these results, several guidelines are presented. Peer coaching programs need administrative support, adequate training, participant trust, and…

This first in a planned five-part series on the videodisc as an instructional tool provides a basic introduction to videodisc technology and highlights features that make it a desirable educational medium. Videodiscs are compared to slide projectors, films, and videotapes, and two basic videodisc formats are explained. (LRW)

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has called for sweeping changes in mathematics instruction, arguing that knowledge should emerge from experience with problems. Deborah Ball's third grade class in East Lansing, Michigan, is a community of youthful mathematicians who argue, concur, and theorize about odd and even numbers. Instituting…

Computer-based integrated instructional systems (IISs), also called integrated learning systems, are becoming more prevalent in the classroom. Several critical factors influence IIS effectiveness, including coordination of the IIS with the school's curriculum, appropriate staff training, choice of system manager, principal and district support,…

Offers ways in which a principal can support student and teacher transformation. Lists 12 characteristics of a transformational principal. (SC)

Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSSs) are replacing traditional training in many settings. This article describes a package to determine the return on investment (ROI) of an EPSS used by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, applicable as well as to the calculation of ROI for other EPSSs. (Author/AEF)

Considers what is fueling the boom in distance education and examines the value of distance education. Notes that the research on distance education does not include a theoretical or conceptual framework, nor does it account for the fact that distance learners have higher drop-out rates than other students. (SC)

Presents a script for a play that focuses on the death of a teacher co-worker of the actors (teachers) in the play. Discusses how the "traditional" grammar teaching methods of the deceased teacher were not always respected by his fellow educators, yet he did have a place in the school and education of the students. (SG)

Studies how people--scientists, writers, teachers, students--come together to share their expertise, to construct something more than they might have alone, and to learn from one another in the process. Notes the powerful collaboration tools being developed and explored in a "virtual workspace." Lists websites where educators can get involved. (SG)

Describes how students at Lumberton, North Carolina, High School have taken advantage of the offerings of the Virtual High School (a growing consortium of 30 schools) in which course content is offered through the Internet, teacher-designed labs, and multimedia. Notes that time, distance, funding, or teaching staff no longer restrict student…

Describes an experience using students as assistants in a simulation-based instructional unit of a large introductory American government class. The assistants had participated in the simulation as students and came back to serve as part of an independent study project. The assistants facilitated the use of simulation in a large class where it…

Offers a tangible suggestion for how dot paper can be used to implement an exploratory approach to problem solving in middle school geometry. Presents some intriguing mathematical tasks that demonstrate the elegance of mathematics, the usefulness of dot paper as a teaching tool, and the value of divergent thinking approaches to problem solving.…

Defines infotecture as a combination of design and engineering for course development and describes experiences teaching political theory classes for the Virginia Tech CyberSchool using the World Wide Web as the main method of course delivery. Topics include planning and implementation, administrative and technological constraints, and the use of…

Considers how students' texts are rituals that should both sanction existing truths and consecrate inventive freedom. Notes that in teaching writing, educators limit students' development by training them to practice only one kind of public ritual: the "official feast" of thesis-and-support writing. (SG)

Argues, in the context of national concern about standards in writing, for a reconceptualisation of the teaching of writing that acknowledges both the significance of the writer's voice and the need to teach about how written texts create meaning. Considers how young writers need opportunities to express their ideas and support in developing…