The origins of study circles can be traced back to the Chautauqua movement in the USA in the late nineteenth century. However, interest diminished in the USA and the Swedes discovered and enthusiastically imported the study circle idea as a remedy to their problems of poverty and illiteracy and to educate the broadest possible spectrum of society…

It is widely publicized that student attitudes and achievement in math in the United States require improvement. U.S. students have shown lackluster mathematics achievement scores compared to their international peers in other developed countries. As a former high school math instructor, this author observed that the attitude of many high school…

They sat in the Cubberley Education Lecture Hall to hear visiting experts. More often they could be found meeting in reduced-size classes, or working on small-group activities. They usually took notes; sometimes they took field trips. They memorized lists and sat for exams, but they also watched films and acted out scenarios. Rather than take…

Collaboration and the appreciation for multiple perspectives have become increasingly important. The current political and economic condition in the United States and globally has exemplified the urgency for people of many different backgrounds and ideologies to work together to find solutions to world problems such as climate change and economic…

One professional development approach that has supported teachers in learning about particular children so as to become better teachers of those children is called the Descriptive Review Process (DRP), and involves taking an in-depth look at an individual child (Himley & Carini, 2000). The DRP is a ritualized close look at a particular child…

This paper investigates the links between the "contributing student pedagogy" and other forms of peer-mediated learning models, e.g. "open-ended group projects" and "communities of practice." We find that a fundamental concern in each of these models is the attribution of "value"; specifically, recognition…

At United States Military Academy, a unit on biological modeling applications forms the culminating component of the first semester core mathematics course for freshmen. The course emphasizes the use of problem-solving strategies and modeling to solve complex and ill-defined problems. Topic areas include functions and their shapes, data fitting,…

Our dialogue explores the development of community/university publishing partnerships in the United States through the dual lens of the U.S-based "Students' Right To Their Own Language" and the U.K.-based Federation of Worker Writers and Community Publishers, a national alliance of working-class writing groups. At the conclusion of the…

More than 400 students from four universities in America and Britain completed measures of learning style preference, general knowledge (as a proxy for intelligence), and preference for examination method. Learning style was consistently associated with preferences: surface learners preferred multiple choice and group work options, and viewed…

The theme for the 58th annual conference of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER) was Bridging Cultures Through Literacy. In the first section of the Yearbook, Parker Fawson's presidential address captures the unique nature of ALER and its role in his professional development, and then moved beyond to capture the changing…

This report presents results of an interview study made by the National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC), a program of The National Council on the Aging, Inc. (NCOA). Thirty Centers were selected for on-site study. The criterion was a program directed to older adults, meeting at least once weekly on a regularly scheduled basis and providing some…

For the thirty-fifth year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the national AECT Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

This is a third-grade teaching unit on large cities (megalopolises) in the United States. The components of the unit are: (1) a content outline, (2) unit goals, (3) unit objectives, (4) activities, (5) unit evaluation, and (6) bibliography. The content of the unit focuses on defining a megalopolis, noting what can be found in it, its special…

Although relational demographers have based their arguments on self-categorization theory, they have paid little attention to the underlying processes associated with this theory. The authors examined whether demographic dissimilarity affects individuals' identification with groups by affecting the group's prototype valence and clarity and the…

This qualitative study presents findings from initial exploratory work that examined how father development workers (FDWs) supported fathers to become involved in their children's learning, within the context of father groups. The study found that there were two main purposes behind the father groups and the subsequent role of FDWs in supporting…