The authors examine classroom discussions of Hamlet in two distinct and separate contexts. They display contrasting patterns of discourse to highlight the influence of a classroom's interpretive norms on students' opportunities for critical readings of literature. The excerpts of classroom talk focus on how two teachers and their students…

Activity structures such as classroom lessons and initiation-reply-evaluation sequences are important cultural tools that help students and teachers accomplish everyday activity, but they are not well adapted to open-ended inquiry conducted by students in small groups with teacher guidance. In this research, I identified alternative activity…

This article presents a discursive psychological approach in examining the ways that adolescent boys (ages 12-15 years) accomplish a sense of "maturity" by bringing off and managing certain features of "heterosexuality" in group interaction. We focus on and analyse moments when the boys negotiate implicit challenges, make evaluations and offer…

To improve the quality of undergraduate education, the Boyer Commission recommended a culminating, senior capstone course experience to help students draw together their undergraduate curriculum. One way to accomplish this culmination is through a student-designed and implemented community service project within the capstone course. In this…

Social stratification may be one of the most difficult topics covered in sociology classes. This article describes an interactive learning exercise, using a modified version of the game Monopoly, intended to stress the structural nature of social inequality and to stimulate student reflection and class discussion on social stratification in the…

The cases contained within organizational communication texts are generally two to three pages, often followed by questions. These case studies are certainly useful. They generally describe events in the present, provide some type of organizational context, include first-hand data, include a record of what people say and think, develop a…

Thirty-seven graduate students in two course sections were required to contribute to the online discussion of an instructional design case study. The discussion forums required different participation protocols; students in section one implemented a constructive argumentation approach while students in section two had less structure for their…

Since the early 1980s we have been engaged in the design, implementation, and evaluation of "cognitive acceleration" programs, which claim to enhance students' general intellectual processing skills. We have published extensive data showing long-term effects of these programs on students? cognitive development and academic achievement. In this…

During 2003, the North Dakota University System began to be concerned about the cost of supporting multiple course management systems. Since 1997, the 11 NDUS institutions had used 9 different course management packages, including one homegrown product (HTMLeZ) and such proprietary products as Blackboard, WebCT, and e-College. The University of…

This paper reports on a case study which identifies and illustrates sources of difference in agreement in relation to reliability in a context of quantitative content analysis of a transcript of an online asynchronous discussion (OAD). Transcripts of 10 students in a month-long online asynchronous discussion were coded by two coders using an…

Asynchronous computer conferencing refers to the use of computer software and a network enabling participants to post messages that allow discourse to continue even though interactions may be extended over days and weeks. Asynchronous conferences are time-independent, adapting to multiple time zones and learner schedules. Such activities as…

This study examined the development of a mathematics teacher's proficiency in managing whole-class discussion in the context of an inquiry-based classroom. We analysed three lessons taught with the same class by a teacher-researcher. The first and second lessons were 10 months apart, the second and third lessons were 6 months apart. For each of…

In this article two studies on the use of diagrams in computer-supported collaborative learning are compared. Focus is on the way argumentative diagrams can be used during collaborative learning tasks, more specifically how diagrams support argumentative interaction between students when they discuss ill-defined topics. The main goal is to…

There is a tremendous amount of pressure on educators to incorporate highly advanced computer-mediated communication (CMC) into the classroom, but the research shows that this is not an easy task. Part of the difficulty learners experience within current network applications is a lack of support from the design of the software for the development…

Students collaborating in small groups is a characteristic of problem-based learning (PBL) that is receiving increased consideration in the literature. In this paper findings from studies in this area are synthesized and discussed. A distinction is made between studies focusing on cognitive effects of group learning and studies focusing on…