Asserts that traditional strategies of problem-solving are inadequate and that a new method is needed. Suggests four ways to redirect attention in problem solving: overcoming an instant or linear perception of time, interacting between the problem's components and its whole, searching for the meaning or sense of a problem, and studying the…

Presents five articles on humor in early child care: (1) "What Makes Young Children Laugh?" (David Elkind); (2) "Humor as a Tool in the Workplace" (Jerry Parr); (3) "Vincent's Vignettes" (Vincent Duffy); (4) "Family Humor" (Bill Strader); and (5) "Books to Tickle Funny Bones" (Karen Stephens). (SD)

Describes how scheduling regular parent visiting days was a successful way to involve parents in a Montessori classroom for young children. Presents guidelines for parent visits and describes outcomes of parent visits for children, parents, and teachers. (KB)

Describes a quantitative study of secondary school teachers' beliefs about curriculum design. Uses the 33-item Science Curriculum Orientation Inventory (SCOI) to measure five distinct orientations to curriculum: academic, cognitive process, society-centered, humanistic, and technological. Collects data from 810 integrated science, chemistry,…

Presents preservice elementary teachers' frames (points of view) on science curriculum. Uses Carl Sagan's text, "The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark". Explores how students retelling their reactions to experiences of their own design might influence their awareness of beliefs in general and reconsideration of…

Observes an eighth grade science class in two overlapping perspectives: an action orientation and a discourse orientation. Reports that the teacher's actions encouraged univocal discourse between students and their reproductive understanding of scientific concepts. Concludes that before a class can become more like a scientific discourse…

Outlines two challenges, one conceptual and one statistical, to those who advocate continuing to use raw student evaluation of teaching data in the determination of teaching effectiveness as part of summative evaluations. Also explores why administrators continue to use such data to determine teaching effectiveness, suggesting that expedience…

Presents the development and application of a new content analysis scheme that focuses on evaluating videoconferencing to support remote tutoring of small groups. Despite an element of subjectivity, the proposed scheme is thought to provide a useful tool capable of identifying the educational impact of variations within a videoconference learning…

Chronicles the development of a writing course into a G1 online course, which provides students with handouts and links to developmental education sites. Outlines the recommended processes for effective writing: prewriting, drafting, editing, and presenting. Provides links to the course Web site for others interested in adding an online component…

Helps students connect science concepts with real world issues at New York's Baruch College. Fuses journalistic writing and research techniques into introductory science courses by requiring students to write journal articles based on knowledge generated during course work. Discusses successes and failures of this project. (ASK)

This article critiques the research methodology used by Mudford, Hogg, and Roberts (1999) that resulted in a failure to achieve inter-observer agreement on adults with mental retardation when using an experimental, 13-category behavior state code. Arguments are provided on why their videotape study does not meet requirements of acceptable…

A daily 5- to 6-minute individual reading fluency intervention with 49 middle school students with learning disabilities used repeated readings focused on phonics, sight phrases, and oral reading. Intervention was for 6-9 months, 10-18 months, or 19-25 months. Significant growth in reading level and reading rate was found for all three of the…

Used responses to a questionnaire to examine preferred textbooks used by German faculty in first- and second-year German college courses to identify the perceived strengths and weaknesses. Responses also confirm the divide between advocates of current language learning theory and traditionalists in the professions. (Author/VWL)

Examines the assumptions behind three attempts to introduce formulaic language into second language teaching. Contextualizes the discussion by briefly outlining the nature of formulaic language as a phenomenon. (Author/VWL)

Discusses what to look for in identifying language disorders in culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional students (CLiDES). Describes Roseberry-McKibbon's Dynamic Dozen, highly successful teaching and learning strategies for working with CLiDE students. (Author/VWL)