This original teaching idea uses an adaption of the STEM activity the Paper Tower Challenge to have students examine task and maintenance roles as well as non-functioning behaviors in small groups. While problem solving as a small group, students navigate conflict and frustration, assume various small-group roles, and then reflect on their own and…

Most American colleges and universities assimilate students into highly competitive undergraduate experiences. By placing achievement for personal and material gain as the bedrock of a college education, these institutions fail to educate students to become collaborative learners: people who are committed and prepared to join with others in…

Recent research in problem solving has shifted its focus to actual classroom implementation and what is really going on during problem solving when it is used regularly in classroom. This book seeks to stay on top of that trend by approaching diverse aspects of current problem solving research, covering three broad themes. Firstly, it explores the…

Self-advocacy, self-management, self-regulation, and self-knowledge are complex terms, often considered forms of self-determination. Whatever term you may use, helping young adults with intellectual disability (ID) make authentic decisions about their own goals and behaviors often results in passive agreement. Even though advancing…

This guidance report focuses on the teaching of mathematics to pupils in Key Stages 2 and 3. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive guide to mathematics teaching. We have made recommendations where there are research findings that schools can use to make a significant difference to pupils' learning, and have focused on the questions that…

Argues that teachers should lead their students to a broader study of people and their needs. Offers strategies that can be used in social studies classes to help students become aware of crisis situations and how to deal with them. (FL)

The paper is intended as a guide to the levels curriculum for teachers of emotionally handicapped secondary students. The levels curriculum is introduced as a motivational system for behavioral improvement based on a series of steps with increasing student priveleges and responsibilities. Students develop individual goals and learn communication,…

Examines the dynamic common to the English-as-a-Second-Language classroom in which the teacher takes from the student the burden of the next step in solving a problem, identifies four reasons this is inappropriate, looks at why teachers do it, and offers techniques for handling such situations. (MSE)

Describes alternative form of evaluation that enables the teacher to assign a grade to students problem-solving skills as they participate in a discussion to solve a problem. Discusses room arrangement, the role of the audience, grading, and secondary benefits of the method. (MDH)

Problem solving continues to be a major focus of K-12 mathematics education reform. This case study shows how a teacher's middle school mathematics instruction evolved from teaching problem solving as computation exercises to teaching how to select and implement combinations of problem solving strategies. The teacher's thinking about problem…

A class council can collectively decide what components will make up the instructional system in an elementary school class. A class council is a friendly assembly made up of the students and the teacher; it meets to discuss and make decisions about all aspects of the instructional system, including objectives, grading, and materials. Each student…

The Kids in Dispute Settlement mediation program for grades 3 through 12 recognizes that conflicts are a part of everyone's life and that students can responsibly and constructively solve their own conflicts. Mediation uses the help of a third party to facilitate the conflict resolution process by working out differences non-judgementally. Student…

This article discusses a project that investigated a student-based problem-solving model for reducing crime in the nation's schools. A quasi-experimental research design was employed that captured data in three waves from more than 450 students attending 11th grade social studies classes in two schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Public Schools…

Discusses historian Henry Adams' disillusionment with the educational system and with his own teaching. Suggests improving history instruction by involving students more actively in learning. Proposes incorporating interactive learning strategies including (1) interactive lectures; (2) questioning; (3) small groups; (4) critical thinking and…

Provides excerpts from videotaped dialogue between two third grade students and their interactions with their teacher while solving a counting problem to describe student thinking and communication during the task. Discusses the teachers' role in the dialogue and implications for classroom practice. (MDH)