Near the conclusion of their final term in the calculus sequence at The United States Military Academy, cadets are given a week long group project. At the end of the week, the project is briefed to their instructors, classmates, and superior officers. From a teaching perspective, the goal is to encapsulate as much of the course as possible in one…

Sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), the IEA Preprimary Project is a multinational study of unprecedented size and scope. At age seven, in primary school, more than eighteen hundred children from 10 of the participating countries had follow-up assessments. The study affirms that preschool…

For its 53rd annual meeting, the Association of Educators and Researchers met in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Marriott Charlotte City Center. This year's conference theme was "Building Literacy Communities", which was also used as the title for this year's Yearbook, Volume 32. This organization has long been the home of some of the nation's…

With increasing pressures being placed on early childhood teachers to provide academic programs, many are turning away from programs that foster pretend play. This study examined two contrasting approaches to teaching preschool children and considered their effects on children's linguistic and social abilities. One of the teaching approaches…

This paper is intended to assist teachers in examining and altering their own teaching practices and in transforming the classroom from a place of "dull sameness" to an environment where excitement reigns and student growth is at the forefront. The teaching strategies outlined were chosen for three criteria: active student involvement,…

Because of the limitations of traditional text-based instruction, it has been recommended that teachers use additional resources to enliven their instruction and make it relevant to students' lives. Literature can serve as a segue into the sometimes difficult and scary world of science. Reasons for integration are explained and supported by…

This study is part of a larger study on the problems that high school students' have in the interpretation and production of drawings and graphic representations in practical work in the biology laboratory, specifically with the use of the microscope. This part of the study focuses on classroom discourse among students and teacher as they use the…

A truly interactive approach in the classroom involves giving students the freedom to add their own "twist" to course materials and allowing them to decide to some degree how the information will be used. Two learning activities employed in a psychology course serve to illustrate how interactive techniques can encourage students to…

Cooperative learning is a teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Typical cooperative learning strategies used in grades 2 through 12 involve student teams in which students: (1) work on group projects that emphasize…

To meet the challenges created by diverse learning styles and abilities, community college students are often required to take placement tests to identify individual learning styles. This study was conducted to determine whether organizing students into activity groups based on learning style contributes to performance; and whether grouping…

This guide offers advice on using and running teleconferences, beginning with background information on what teleconferencing can and cannot do; situations, systems, and applications; and how and why to use visuals. Ideas on how to run a teleconference are then presented. The preparation of a teleconference is discussed in terms of organizers and…

Cooperative learning is a teaching strategy involving students in small group learning activities that promote positive interaction. Cooperative learning is one of the most thoroughly researched strategies available to educators. Studies have consistently found that cooperative learning promotes increased academic achievement and can be…

A procedure called the Group Mapping Activity has been used to provide for dynamic interaction of students through discussion after reading and to gauge the extent of readers' interactions with text. In using the procedure, however, it was discovered that some students regularly shifted the protagonists in their mapping. A study was undertaken to…

Noting that students in groups learn more effectively when working cooperatively than when working competitively or individualistically, presents guidelines, assignments, and class activities designed to foster cooperative learning. Describes such student-student interaction sessions as describing sense perception details, receiving peer feedback,…

Describes an introductory geology course for non-science majors that focuses on problem solving and group dynamics at The Ohio State University. Reviews its format and contents and compares it with other course options for non-science majors. Includes evaluative comments and provides a listing of group studies project topics. (ML)