Re: Best practices (and Classroom community)

Charles Bazerman (bazerman who-is-at humanitas.ucsb.edu)
Wed, 31 Dec 1997 12:07:11 -0800 (PST)

David, could you expand on the paragraph I append? Does this mean that
open-ended questions were not effective in subject areas other than
literature? Or that open-ended questions off the academic topic equated
with time off academic task? Or something else?
Chuck Bazerman

p.s. And best for the new year to you and all XMCA.

On Wed, 31 Dec 1997, David R. Russell wrote:

>
> His central finding is that what he terms dialogic instruction-based on
> open-ended discussion about literature rather than recitation-had a strong
> correlation with learning. This is especially telling since the average
> class engaged in less than one minute of it a day. Open-ended discussion
> unrelated to literature had a negative effect on learning (which may
> suggest why there were similar rates of open-ended questioning in all
> tracks, but greater learning in high track classes, where authentic
> questions were focused on literature). In general, extended writing
> enhanced recall and understanding, short answer writing degraded recall and
> understanding.
>