This digest looks at research findings and instructional applications of effective teacher presentation skills. Research has identified five critical skills: eliciting frequent responses, maintaining an appropriate pace during the lesson, maintaining attention, monitoring student responses and adjusting the lesson, and ensuring all students an…

This digest highlights features of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), explains how to use the system most effectively, and offers suggestions on how teacher education faculty can present and use the ERIC system to supplement classroom instruction. Following a description of how resources in ERIC can be helpful to teachers and…

Literature on evaluating the communication skills of teachers is briefly reviewed in this paper. Topics under consideration include how different states evaluate communication, how communication should be evaluated, whether or not state assessments reflect current research on teacher assessment, and how useful is the attempt to assess…

This digest looks at research findings and instructional applications concerning lesson structure for teacher directed initial instruction of mildly handicapped students. Research has identified seven critical elements of teaching method: gain the learner's attention, review relevant past learning, communicate the goal of the lesson, model the…

The principal focus of this brief report is on findings and observations from relatively recent research on the learning of mathematics. The distinction between learning and the concepts of curriculum and instruction is first reviewed. Then Piaget's theory of intellectual development is discussed, with the conclusion that it does not provide a…

Fred N. Kerlinger has been hailed as having contributed to the transformation of the way that behavioral scientists and educators read research reports, design and execute research, and draw conclusions about research. In 1960 he introduced the notion that educational research is fraught with mythology. Three of the research myths that he…

Recent advances in cognitive psychology provide insights into thinking processes and learning behavior that can help teachers prepare students for the demands of the workplace. Studies of successful students have found that the depth of their information processing is directly related to the quality of their learning outcomes. That is, more…

The teaching of literature is not well understood in American schools, nor has there been any major change in conceptualizing secondary school literature instruction in the past 25 years. In addition, study of how students come to understand literature parallel to the study of the writing process is almost nonexistent. For the past few years,…

This digest highlights features of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), explains how to use the system most effectively, and offers suggestions on how health and physical education teacher education faculty can present and use the ERIC system to supplement classroom instruction. Following a description of how resources in ERIC can…

Some recent research findings with implications for improving mathematics instruction are reviewed in this report. The focus is on two topics: computation, in particular subtraction and estimation, and problem solving. Findings about each are listed, with references for each cited study included. Effective algorithms and strategies used by…

Aptitude tests are defined in contrast to intelligence and achievement tests. Although aptitude tests, like intelligence tests, measure a student's overall performance across a broad range of mental capabilities, the former also often include items that measure more specialized abilities (such as verbal and numerical skills) that predict…

This digest summarizes the research on effects of the full-service school model on students with disabilities. In the full-service model, schools house a variety of health care, mental health, and related services for children and their families. Examples are listed of preventive services, early intervention services, and intensive treatments for…

This brief paper defines participatory action research, reviews the literature on its use, and offers examples of how researchers and practitioners are applying principles of participatory action research data to select effective practices and support change and innovation in schools. Generation of data-based strategies in natural environments is…

A child's success in learning to read in the first grade appears to be the best predictor of his or her ultimate success in schooling as well as all of the events and outcomes that correlate with that. Yet, across the research literature reviewed for a recent book, "Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print," children's…

This digest explains five homework strategies appropriate for use with students who have disabilities and which are supported by research. These strategies are: (1) give clear and appropriate assignments (specific tips from both teachers and students are offered); (2) make homework accommodations (eight common accommodations are listed); (3) teach…