Policymakers have recently tinkered with length of day and number of years in kindergarten. They might better institute curriculum changes recognizing that five year olds have different learning habits than older children. The key is providing developmentally and individually appropriate learning environments for all kindergarten children. A…

Summarizes 25 years of teaching research, highlighting changing implications and developmental continuities. Discusses process-outcome research, including school effects and teacher effects inquiry, and research on teaching for understanding and use of knowledge, meaning construction, subject matter teaching, indepth study of fewer topics, and…

Although teacher effectiveness research prescriptions predominate in today's classrooms, educational research is being influenced by the work of Piagetian cognitive psychologists and educational anthropologists like Shirley Brice Heath and cultural psychologists like Michael Cole. These experts stress the importance of personal invention and the…

Stanford Professor Lee Shulman reflects on the limitations of effective teaching generalizations and describes how case histories, or specific stories about classroom experience, can enrich our collective wisdom of experience. Certain "effective teaching" practices (like asking short, focused questions suitable for standardized testing) do not…

The past decade has seen the emergence of numerous new terms, research approaches, and evidence of the nature of learning. Some new concepts are authentic activity, apprenticeship learning, case-based research, conceptual change, constructivism, distributed knowledge, and socially shared cognition. Constructs underlying the new terms involve the…

Although scaffolds (forms of support to help students bridge the gap between their current abilities and intended goals) can be applied to teaching all skills, they are almost indispensable for teaching higher-level cognitive strategies. Especially helpful scaffolds for clarifying thoughts, summarizing, and solving mathematical problems are…

An emerging view of professional development recommends enhancement of current practice by integrating research-based strategies into teachers' classroom repertoire. This article describes an urban elementary school enhancement program involving intensive collaboration between teachers and master teachers. Two case studies are described. (10…

A recent study examined 20 social studies teachers' beliefs and theories in 4 areas: instructional goals, depth vs. breadth of content coverage, perceptions of students, and conceptions of thinking. Teachers who reflect about their own practices, value thinking, and emphasize depth over breadth of coverage tend to have classrooms with a measurable…

Unlike the effective teaching research, which attempted to identify generic teaching skills, current research focuses on relationships between teaching and learning in specific subjects. Attempts to change school structure have rarely led to reliable changes in either teaching practice or student learning. When geared to students' conceptual…

Teacher-researchers at Douglas County (Colorado) School District are expanding their understanding of teaching and learning by viewing their classrooms as "thoughtful communities," where they, too, are learners. Various research projects are described, along with sample insights into professional development. (six references) (MLH)

To gain insight into her students' natural styles of writing, one middle school teacher attempted to discover which students wrote notes, which developmental styles were being practiced, and how writing teachers could help. Capitalizing on students' notes to improve writing can succeed if teachers officially ban note writing and practice…

Outlines popular cooperative learning models to acquaint administrators with their titles, developers, and major program characteristics. Provides guidelines for determining observational focus and feedback for teachers. By understanding differences between a teacher-directed and cooperative learning lesson, administrators recognize teacher…

In one Colorado fifth grade classroom, math period begins with Mathematician's Chair, an activity allowing students to share their problems with entire class. Using this technique, students became adept at writing math problems, solving their own and peers' problems, using math-related writing as important medium of social discourse, and making…

Personal narratives can reveal the nurturing dimension of the teaching role, characterize important changes in teachers' professional lives, and encourage more reflective practice. Such stories are not superfluous features of teachers' lives, but rather are basic to their continued individual and professional growth. (25 references) (MLH)

In "The First Year of Teaching: Real World Stories from American Teachers," editor Pearl Rich Kane collects 25 stories probing male-female differences, moral classroom dilemmas, and teacher training deficiencies. In "A Lifetime of Teaching: Portraits of Five Veteran High School Teachers," Rosetta M. Cohen examines outstanding teachers' passionate…