Among the most serious obstacles to the growth of participatory methods of teaching are columns of desks in classrooms. While pupils are forced to sit looking at the backs of their fellows, with the teacher as a sort of perpetual commander in front of them, little participation is feasible. The ...

Even in the very first year at school a few pupils are disruptive. They are called 'disruptive', 'immature', 'aggressive', 'lacking in concentration' and 'hyperactive' and in moments of stress a lot of worse names! I prefer to call them 'difficult to teach'. A week or more was spent in each ...

Teachers who understand that spelling is a complex developmental process can help students acquire spelling competency. Initially, the teacher must recognize five stages of spelling development. Once the stages are identified, the teacher can provide opportunities for children to develop cognitive strategies for dealing with English orthography, and assess the ...

Writing and going to school are intimately linked in the minds of many people. The second 'R; even more than reading, is regarded as a particularly school-like activity, and images of pupils huddled over desks gripping their pens, scrawling out lines on a clean page, readily spring to mind. The ...

Theories of how we learn to read are important springs for research and as research data piles up their strengths and weaknesses are being revealed. Meanwhile, back in the classroom, trial and error is as important as theory and data. In this item we have the experiences and methods of ...

What is work experience for? The main goal may be to make students more employable, or it may be to teach students about the community in which they live. It may be to help students to become more responsible and socially mature, or, to establish links between school and community ...

Most claims of bias in a test concern its content. Each of the three illustrations contains elements of content bias, which is the type of test bias that comes readily to mind for most people. A test with biased content contains questions that in one sense or another are 'unfair' ...

Browsing is the most common way of choosing what book to read. Coming closely behind is selecting an author, and selecting a subject. However, men put choosing the subject first, and browsing wins only by averages. Those who read a lot mentioned more ways of choosing what to read than ...

On June 12, 1982, a little book with a long title, Ko Ngā Kupu Pū Noa o te Reo Māori: The First Basic Māori Word List, was launched by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. The 'basic-ness' of the words included in the book (there are about 800 ...

It describes different types of solvent abuse, lists some of the signs and symptoms of sniffing, and makes some practical suggestions about ways of dealing with sniffing 'epidemics'. It is intended primarily for teachers and principals, but other professionals, including  those in health areas, may find it useful as background ...