Inquiry is an approach that promotes engagement, motivation and learning, and which involves use of cognitive knowledge, bodily experience and communicative skills. Usually the inquiry method with skills like observations, planning, investigations, experimenting and drawing conclusions is related to natural sciences, but this paper describes an…

The reading framework for the 2017 NAEP describes the types of texts and questions that should be included in the assessment, as well as how the questions should be designed and scored. The assessment measures students' reading comprehension and ability to apply vocabulary knowledge by having them read passages in English and answer questions…

As the ongoing national indicator of what American students know and can do, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Reading regularly collects achievement information on representative samples of students in grades 4, 8, and 12. Through The Nation's Report Card, the NAEP Reading Assessment reports how well students perform in…

This article provides the rationale for using Fermi questions with eighth graders studying algebra. It describes the students' reaction to such questions as well as their thinking processes and solutions to questions posed to them by their teacher. (Contains 1 figure.)

Virtual environments are able to extend the space of interaction beyond the classroom. In order to analyze how distributed cognition functions in such an extended space, we suggest focusing on the architecture of intersubjectivity. The Euroland project--a virtual land created and populated by seven classrooms supported by a team of…

One of the advantages of having students work in pairs on language-related tasks is that teachers and researchers can listen to what the students say as they carry out their assigned tasks. What they say offers insights into the students' beliefs about the target language they are learning and using, and reflects the cognitive processes they use…

To investigate the factors determining why some children succeed at certain intellectual tasks while others of equal or near equal IQ, age, and motivation are unable to master the same task, 145 female and 144 male eighth grade students were administered "An Inventory of Piaget's Developmental Tasks" (IPDT). Labeled as concrete,…

A survey study asked Australian experienced teachers during workshops to rate what they believed to be the most difficult aspects of mathematics in grades seven and eight. Problem solving, number sense, and rational numbers were rated as most difficult. The research question provided a catalyst for action in professional development programs. (MDH)

Reports on 2 studies of 48 eighth-grade students in which mnemonic devices and strategies were employed. Finds that both regular and learning-disabled students preferred mnemonic instruction to traditional teaching methods. Concludes that mnemonic methods can help improve student learning of historical information. (CFR)

Reports misconceptions identified in students with respect to the topic of parallel lines and the teaching strategies found to be useful in challenging those misconceptions. (11 references) (MDH)

Contrasts two approaches to achieving depth in an 8th grade U.S. history class. One presents a detailed and chronological approach, the other a discipline-based matrix structure with chronological and regional evolutions as a backdrop. Favors stressing major principles and generalizations while focusing in depth on prototypical examples. (MJP)