This article investigates how group speaking test candidates manage group talk during assessed, time-limited tasks. Drawing on recorded and transcribed data, it explores how higher-scoring learners manage spoken assessment tasks through their talk, moving conversations on or slowing them down in order to perform and complete the tasks'…

The author discusses how to teach students to extend economic models using in-class scaffolding assignments, supported by discussions and workshops. Methods include discussions of a model's strengths and weaknesses; small group, in-class assignments that provide steps toward model extension; informal presentations of the work resulting from these…

The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers' learning improvement through participation in study groups. In particular, this study examined how two second grade active participant teachers' classroom practice changed over time and how their changes were related to changes in their study group meetings, which they called Professional…

This document provides a rationale and suggestions for the use of small-group instruction in the classroom. It is argued that participatory education, in general, places the teacher in a position of being a coordinator of learning rather than a dispenser of knowledge. The following benefits to be gained from this are noted: a) by relating his…

The authors examine their own experiences with the small study group method used in professional continuing education in the optometric profession, offering some observations and tentative conclusions for other professionals considering the method. (WL)

Study (n=62) at suburban community college tested method of conceptual change in which treatment students worked in small cooperative groups on tasks aimed at eliciting their misconceptions so that they could be discussed in contrast to scientific conception that had been taught in direct instruction. Treatment group had significantly lower…