This article outlines a learning intervention which the authors call Learning by Design. The goal of this intervention is classroom and curriculum transformation, and the professional learning of teachers. The experiment involves the practical application of the learning theory to everyday classroom practice. Its ideas are grounded in pedagogical…

The aim of this study is to design and develop a Physically Interactive Learning Environment, the PILE system, by integrating video-capture virtual reality technology into a classroom. The system is designed for elementary school level English classes where students can interact with the system through physical movements. The system is designed to…

This study involved fourteen semistructured interviews with teaching staff at a Brazilian university. These interviews were aimed at unveiling possible transformations caused by distance education in classroom teaching and in medical assistance practices. The discourses collected were analyzed using qualitative methods and divided into groups with…

This paper explores Fred Genesee's Classroom Based Assessment (CBA) as an alternative model for assessing instruction as it affects students' learning in an immersion program. CBA collects information on language while instruction and other activities are taking place, allowing teachers the flexibility to alter teaching strategies to be more…

A collaborative teaching model that replaces the hierarchical graduate teaching assistant (TA)/tutor structure can be used to train basic writing TAs with a pedagogy that stresses reflection and dialogue. Usually, new graduate students tutor for a semester in Basic Writing classrooms and then later move on to teach their own classes; in this case,…

This paper describes the Ecological Inventory, a technique developed to document the range and frequency of literacy-related activities available in pre-kindergartners' everyday lives. This technique can be used by teachers to broaden understanding of their students' home-based experiences. Results from the Ecological Inventory can be used as a…

The practice of treating students as valuable contributors to the educational process can be traced back at least as far as Socrates. Unfortunately, the predominate pattern of pedagogy in the United States has been one of exclusion. Those instructors who are part of recent movement to help their students enter the academic discourse face the…

This annotated bibliography describes foreign language assessment instruments that are currently in use in elementary and middle schools across the country. The instruments featured are drawn from a wide variety of program models: FLES (foreign language in the elementary school); middle school sequential foreign language instruction; and immersion…

Comprehensive examinations, long a bastion in many doctoral programs, are one of many customs under scrutiny for possible change in a movement towards more authentic means of educational assessment. This preliminary study surveyed chairs of departments of educational administration from universities across the United States to learn how computers…

The intent of this paper is to examine the current educational literature relevant to interdisciplinary instruction. Its focus is to provide educators with information to facilitate planning for effective interdisciplinary instruction, particularly at the secondary level. Current research literature indicates that using an interdisciplinary, or…

Critical thinking skills figure prominently among the goals for education proposed by educational researchers, parents, and employers. This digest discusses the skills related to critical thinking and three specific strategies for teaching these skills. The first, Building Categories, is an inductive reasoning tool that helps students categorize…

This digest identifies Internet resources of particular interest to the educational assessment community. Gopher sites and web sites are identified and discussed for the following organizations and institutions: (1) American Educational Research Association; (2) American Evaluation Association; (3) Arizona State University College of Education;…

Intended to make the First Amendment relevant to young people by addressing issues that speak directly to their lives, this guide assists teachers in using "Talk about Freedom," a series of eight educational print advertisements (ads) for teenagers, in the classroom. The eight print ads presented in the guide address: (1) censorship of…

Contrary to the beliefs of many, right-handedness is not a single factor existing in almost all people, with a few exceptions termed left-handed: neither extreme exists independently of the other. During the first 4 years of life there is a period of fluctuation between right and left-handed dominance. Statistics and findings vary in determining…

This publication contains the first two of three training workshop manuals designed to be used in conducting an update of the Indonesian Education and Human Resources Sector Assessment. Workshop I covers the basic concepts, skills, and methods needed to design subsector updates and develop a draft plan for update activities. Workshops II and III…