MAKE EACH FIVE MINUTES COUNT
Madeline Hunter
The current emphasis on accountability in education should make us aware of the need to
conserve our most valuable classroom resource—the time and energy of teacher and learner.
Serious erosion of time and energy occurs when learners are waiting—waiting for class to begin,
for the reading group to gather, for papers to be distributed or collected, for the dismissal bell.
Too often students spend this time aimlessly daydreaming or talking to classmates, and
additional time is lost when the teacher has to refocus attention for the next learning episode.
Every day contains those unavoidable waiting periods, but they need not be unproductive. You
can convert waiting time to learning time with the help of sponge activities—learning
opportunities which “sop up” those precious droplets of time that would otherwise be lost.
The concept of sponge activities was developed at UCLA’s lab school. Its purpose is to review
or extend previous learning, build readiness or “set” for the next lesson and eliminate the
discipline problems which often develop in transition periods.
When planning your own sponge activities, remember to build them around skills or concepts
that have already been learned, but that need additional practice, or are relevant to the next
scheduled lesson. Make the experience vivid and intense, yet flexible enough to accommodate
the late arrival and early departure of individual students. Remember that several short activities
are usually more effective than one long one. The following examples can be used as guides.
REVIEW AND EXTENSION
Mathematics
1.
As a group gathers, students can practice counting by 2’s, 3’s, 5’s or 10’s.
This may be done aloud in unison so that continual prompting is offered, or
silently, then with the teacher calling individual students for the next number
in the series. This activity is equally effective in dismissal; a student who
gives the correct answer can leave, while the rest concentrate on the next
response.
2.
Word problems enable learners to practice and refine their mathematical
understanding. Involve social studies or school episodes in the problems you
present to the class (for example, “If Columbus sailed five weeks…” or “If we
complete our assignment in 15 minutes…”). Having students create word
problems to fit a number problem written on the chalkboard tests their ability
to apply what they’ve learned to life situations, and can alert the teacher to
problem areas that require further instruction.
3.
Dismissal time is a good time to give the class short mental computations,
their degree of difficulty determined by the group’s ability level.
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Language
1.
When the first student enters the room at the beginning of the day, or after
recess, have him start a game of “Hangman” on the chalkboard, listing each
letter as it is guessed so that later arrivals can easily join in. Reading and
spelling words can be reviewed in this way, while the teacher takes attendance
or makes preparations for lessons.
2.
A game of “I Spy” can provide phonic practice. Begin with something easy
(“I spy with my little eye something that begins with B”.) and continue with
more complex challenges (“…something what begins with BL and ends with
D.) Rhyming words, middle sounds and words with silent letters can all be
practiced during those scraps of spare time.
3.
A few quick questions can aid alphabet practice and vocabulary development.
“Which word comes first in the dictionary, blue or black?” “Let’s think of all
the words that mean shades of red.”
4.
Avoid stampedes when students turn in work by announcing, “Be ready to tell
me one new thing you learned from this lesson when I take your paper.” At
dismissal, test their ability to discriminate by saying, “Those people who are
wearing blue may leave.” Vary this procedure from color recognition to more
complex discriminations.
5.
When students read independently, give them activities to occupy the time
they might ordinarily spend waiting for others to finish. Write on the
chalkboard, “If you finish early:
a. write a question you have about the story,
b. write a different ending,
c. list the parts you liked best,
d. write what the main character might say/think/do if he entered our
classroom.”
A similar activity can follow a math assignment, with children making up problems
similar to those just completed. Sponge activities at the end of an assignment extend and
reinforce learning and eliminate the “What do I do now?” problem.
CREATING MENTAL SET
A second important use of sponge activities is based on the psychological principle of
mental set, or predisposition to perform. All teachers have experienced the frustrating
phenomenon of intellectual inertia at the beginning of a lesson or work period. Sponge
activities can help to focus children’s attention, elicit their interest and increase their
motivation to learn.
Often a question on the chalkboard can provide the necessary transition. The teacher
should examine the ensuing lesson and decide what aspects of it can be used to provide a
springboard into the new learning, combining them with an idea or concept relevant to
the past lesson. Such propulsion not only focuses the learner, but, provides impetus that
will carry a lesson much farther with efficiency and effectiveness. Writing the question
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or task on the board lets students assume the responsibility to start themselves, and
provides practice in reading and generating responses.
The following examples may help in devising appropriate activities for your own group.
1.
Be ready to describe the main character in two sentences.
2.
How was Daniel Boone like an astronaut?
3.
What explorer would you like to be? Why?
4.
Make up one sentence using these words.
5.
Think of three smells you like.
6.
Make up a word problem using multiplication or division. Be ready to tell it to
the group.
7.
How would you solve this problem?
8.
Read the first page of this story. Then think of a question about it to ask your
friends.
9.
What question stumped our group yesterday?
The important common characteristic such activities should have is immediacy; they should
elicit an instant response from students in order to engage their interest at once. A lesson on
creative expression might begin with asking learners to “Signal when you have thought of the
sentence you will use to begin your story (or poem)” or “… the color and shape you will paint
first”, or “… the first thing you need to do.” By using this technique, learners will begin their
work with a sense of purpose and definite idea, rather than going to their seats, chewing their
pencils and waiting for inspiration.
Questions at the end of a lesson constitute an excellent review, and can summarize or extract the
essence of an activity while children are excused from the group. For example:
1.
What new words did we learn today?
2.
What did we do that you liked best?
3.
What do you think were the most important points of the lesson?
4.
What part of the story (or activity) would you have changed?
5.
What is the next thing you will do?
Teachers who systematically make use of sponge activities, which are appropriate to their group,
will find that children arrive more promptly for lessons or group sessions, because they know
there is something they can do at once. And students will be more alert, once they are used to
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“turning on” their thinking as soon as they arrive. As a result, many discipline problems will be
eliminated, and valuable time, which would otherwise be wasted, will be put to very good use.
Once the lesson itself begins, continue to get the most out of classroom resources by avoiding the
following practices:
1.
2.
3.
Devoting time and energy to an objective that is too difficult for most of the class
to attain, or to one that has already been attained. Waste occurs when a learner
tries valiantly and unsuccessfully to master a task which he should never have
been assigned.
Using time and energy inefficiently and ineffectively while supposedly engaged in
learning. Classic examples of this waste are “Write it 100 times”, or assigning 50
problems of the same type.
Devoting time and energy to an objective that is not important or worth the effort.
Memorizing lists of names, dates or state capitals, copying and recopying and
perfecting trivial tasks are common examples.
Once you become a “time-conscious” teacher, you’ll be amazed at how the extra minutes
accumulate. Children will enjoy the new impact of their learning time, and it will pay dividends
in increased achievement.
© copyright November 1973, The Instructor Publication, Inc.
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Volume 59 Number 4 December 2001/January 2002
Schools and the Law
Discipline and the Special Education Student
James A. Taylor and Richard A. Baker Jr.
If special education students are subject to a different disciplinary standard, they are not
fully participating in the mainstream curriculum. An effective disciplinary code that
applies to all students can help create a more productive learning environment.
John is a special education student who attends only one resource class each day. Otherwise, he
participates in regular education classes. During English class, the teacher corrects him for
disruptive behavior, but he continues to make inappropriate comments. The teacher asks him to
step into the hallway so that she can address his behavior privately. As she begins speaking to
him, he walks away, then turns to her and says, "Shut up, you bitch." The teacher submits a
referral to the assistant principal, who consults the district handbook and recommends that John
spend three days in the supervised suspension center.
Because of John's status as a special education student, however, personnel at the district level—
without conducting a hearing or a meeting with John's individualized education program (IEP)
team—allow John to spend the three days at home. The district's concern is with John's
protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. But is the district's action in
compliance with federal law?
The general belief among teachers and administrators is that the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act insulates special education students from experiencing consequences for their
disciplinary infractions and sets them apart from the school's regular disciplinary procedures.
Horror stories abound about students whose behavior, like John's, threatens the safety of staff
and students, disrupting learning for themselves and other students.
The misperception that educators are supposed to tolerate such behavior is largely the result of
the unclear administrative procedures outlined under the Education for All Handicapped
Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142) and the Supreme Court decision in Honig v. Doe
(1988). Aware of these unclear procedures and educators' common misunderstanding of the law,
the U.S. Congress took care, when reauthorizing the Education for All Handicapped Children
Act as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1990 (Public Law 101-476) and 1997
(Public Law105-17), to address the issue of appropriate disciplinary procedures for special
education students. Educators need to know the provisions of the current law as they develop
schoolwide discipline plans and the individualized education programs required for special
education students.
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The 1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act amendments clarify that the only
disciplinary procedure that applies exclusively to special education students is the determination
of a long-term change of placement—that is, a long-term suspension or removal to an alternative
school setting. If the disciplinary measure for behavior infractions lasts for 10 or fewer days, and
45 or fewer days for weapon or drug infractions, the special education student receives the same
treatment that students without disabilities receive. If, however, the special education student's
suspensions are recurrent and add up to more than 10 days in a school year or more than 45 days
for a serious infraction, the local education agency must conduct an assessment of the student's
behavior and implement an intervention plan to address the student's behavior problems.
After conducting classroom observations and closely examining the evaluation of the student's
disability and the implementation of the student's individualized education program, a committee
designated by the local education agency must decide whether or not the student's behavior is a
manifestation of the student's disability. If the committee determines that it is, the student's IEP
team must immediately rewrite the student's program to correct the behavior. If the committee
determines that the behavior is not a manifestation of the disability, the child must be disciplined
"in the same manner . . . applied to children without disabilities" (Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1415 [k][5]).
In the case of John, the district should have applied the same disciplinary measures that it applies
to students without disabilities. If the district plans to treat John differently, or if the behavior is
recurrent and disciplinary measures have exceeded 10 days, the district must hold a meeting with
the IEP team to determine whether this behavior is a manifestation of John's disability. If the
team decides that it is not a result of the disability, the district must assign the same disciplinary
consequences to John that it assigns to students without disabilities.
A Discipline Policy for All Students
To meet the federal standard, schools need a humane and just administration of discipline that
respects and protects all students' rights to a free and public education. Comprehensive discipline
guidelines must cover the treatment of students with and without disabilities. Moreover, the
discipline plan must do more than take corrective action for offenses; it must also prevent
discipline problems and support positive behavior (Charles, 1999).
As administrators and IEP teams develop behavioral intervention plans for students with
disabilities, they should keep in mind the overall goal of implementing a schoolwide discipline
system that is more than merely corrective. Special education students must understand that they
are subject to the same disciplinary measures as other students. Such practices as before-school
and after-school detentions, weekend detentions, additional written work, or required community
service, commonly found in school discipline plans, do not create a change in special education
placement and may serve as corrective measures for disciplinary infractions that are not directly
related to the safety of fellow students or disturbance of the learning environment. Integrating
these alternatives into behavioral intervention plans for special education students reminds them
of the consequences of their choices. The discipline plan for all students should also incorporate
preventive and supportive discipline measures.
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Preventive Discipline
Preventive discipline promotes behaviors that are beneficial to the learning environment. By
affirming and practicing them and reflecting on their meaning, everyone can practice showing
concern, modeling courtesy, and supporting one another. Translating classroom rules and
procedures into affirmative "we" statements to which the students and teachers commit
themselves helps to identify good behaviors and strengthens the sense of belonging that both
learners and adults need.
For example, Mr. Boudreaux has taught 7th graders for several years and knows that they will
enter the classroom in an energetic, boisterous manner. Without a preventive discipline plan, the
students will take a long time to settle down and focus on the lesson. Mr. Boudreaux, however,
meets the students at the door and requires them to enter according to a specific procedure. First,
he says, we enter in silence, then go to the materials shelf, read the assignments on the board, and
assemble our materials. Instruction begins within three minutes of classroom entry, with all
students having materials in place. In this way, Mr. Boudreaux meets all students' need for
structure, limits, and routine.
Learning experiences that are worthwhile and enjoyable provide the foundation of a quality
preventive discipline plan. Three elements—fun, focus, and energy—are essential components of
a preventive discipline plan (Taylor & Baker, 2001), particularly for students with disabilities,
whose classes and activities are often unchallenging and devoid of opportunities for creative
expression.
Supportive Discipline
Supportive discipline helps students channel their own behaviors productively. As a weight lifter
needs a spotter to provide support during a challenging lift, students need positive intervention.
The teacher and students need a set of common signals so that either can ask for or offer
assistance without judgment or confrontation. Such agreed-upon techniques as "eye drive" (a
deliberate look that signals affirmation or correction), physical proximity, silent signals, and
head movement can communicate the need for a refocus to productive behavior.
The teacher's goal is not to control the students but rather to support students as they learn to
control themselves. A supportive disciplinary action is an offer to help, not a judgment or
imposition of will. To minimize the need for corrective discipline, educators need to explain the
supportive elements of this approach to students with disabilities and to their parents.
Several supportive techniques have been developed by Mr. Boulanger, an 8th grade teacher. His
signals remind students that they are responsible for controlling themselves. When he stands in
front of the room and looks intently from student to student, they understand and respond to his
signal by focusing on the task at hand. Through routine and consistent reinforcement, each
student learns that the purpose of these signals is to help them achieve the level of excellence
they desire.
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Corrective Discipline
Even the best preventive and supportive approaches sometimes fail, at which point corrective
action becomes necessary. Educators must administer corrective discipline expeditiously, invoking
well-known guidelines about consequences for certain kinds of behavior. The purpose of
corrective discipline is not to intimidate or punish but to provide natural consequences for
disciplinary infractions that disrupt the learning environment.
The person in authority must never ignore disruptive behavior. One helpful technique for
remaining calm is to administer corrective action in a matter-of-fact manner, adopting the
demeanor of a state trooper: "May I see your driver's license, insurance card, and automobile
registration? You were traveling 50 miles per hour in a 35 miles per hour zone."
Invoke the insubordination rule when necessary. Use a predetermined plan to command assistance
if it is necessary to correct the situation. The behavior intervention plan that the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act regulations now require must include clear corrective procedures.
For example, Mrs. Thibodaux has developed a set of consequences for the most common
infractions. Each student knows that being late to class will mean a period of after-school detention
for a certain number of school days. Each knows that repeated failure to complete assignments will
result in a telephone conference with a parent during work hours. Educators must work out these
corrective measures ahead of time. Although the measures are not harsh or excessively punitive,
they should be consistently inconvenient for the students and parents.
The U.S. Congress has now made it clear that schools should not allow children with disabilities to
disrupt learning environments. All students need guidance to become respectful, responsible
citizens who enjoy and effectively exercise their rights. If educators make excuses for special
education students' behaviors, they deny them the benefits contained in the laws. All students
deserve well-disciplined learning environments that are fun, focused, and full of creative energy.
Developing discipline systems that combine preventive, supportive, and corrective measures for all
students will move our schools toward that ideal.
References
Charles, C. M. (1999). Building classroom discipline. New York: Addison, Wesley, Longman.
Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, Public Law 94-142 (1975).
Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305 (1988).
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq. (1997).
Taylor, J. A., & Baker, R. A. (2001). High-stakes testing and the essential curriculum. Basic Education, 45(5), 11.
James A. Taylor (jtaylor@edleaders.com) is President and Richard A. Baker Jr. (rbaker@edleaders.com) is Vice President of Edleaders.com,
4925 Elysian Fields, New Orleans, LA 70122.
Copyright © 2001 by Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
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February 2003 | Volume 60 | Number 5
Using Data to Improve Student Achievement Pages 6-11
How Classroom Assessments Improve Learning
Teachers who develop useful assessments, provide corrective
instruction, and give students second chances to demonstrate
success can improve their instruction and help students learn.
Thomas R. Guskey
Large-scale assessments, like all assessments, are designed for a specific purpose.
Those used in most states today are designed to rank-order schools and students
for the purposes of accountability - and some do so fairly well. But, assessments
designed for ranking are generally not good instruments for helping teachers
improve their instruction or modify their approach to individual students. First,
students take them at the end of the school year, when most instructional activities
are near completion. Second, teachers don't receive the results until two or three
months later, by which time their students have usually moved on to other
teachers. And third, the results that teachers receive usually lack the level of detail
needed to target specific improvements (Barton, 2002; Kifer, 2001).
The assessments best suited to guide improvements in student learning are the
quizzes, tests, writing assignments, and other assessments that teachers
administer on a regular basis in their classrooms. Teachers trust the results from
these assessments because of their direct relation to classroom instructional goals.
Plus, results are immediate and easy to analyze at the individual student level. To
use classroom assessments to make improvements, however, teachers must
change both their view of assessments and their interpretation of results.
Specifically, they need to see their assessments as an integral part of the
instruction process and as crucial for helping students learn.
Despite the importance of assessments in education today, few teachers receive
much formal training in assessment design or analysis. A recent survey showed, for
example, that fewer than half the states require competence in assessment for
licensure as a teacher (Stiggins, 1999). Lacking specific training, teachers rely
heavily on the assessments offered by the publisher of their textbooks or
instructional materials. When no suitable assessments are available, teachers
construct their own in a haphazard fashion, with questions and essay prompts
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similar to the ones that their teachers used. They treat assessments as evaluation
devices to administer when instructional activities are completed and to use
primarily for assigning students' grades.
To use assessments to improve instruction and student learning, teachers need to
change their approach to assessments in three important ways.
Make Assessments Useful
For Students
Nearly every student has suffered the experience of spending hours preparing for a
major assessment, only to discover that the material that he or she had studied
was different from what the teacher chose to emphasize on the assessment. This
experience teaches students two un-fortunate lessons. First, students realize that
hard work and effort don't pay off in school because the time and effort that they
spent studying had little or no influence on the results. And second, they learn that
they cannot trust their teachers (Guskey, 2000a). These are hardly the lessons that
responsible teachers want their students to learn.
Nonetheless, this experience is common because many teachers still mistakenly
believe that they must keep their assessments secret. As a result, students come to
regard assessments as guessing games, especially from the middle grades on. They
view success as depending on how well they can guess what their teachers will ask
on quizzes, tests, and other assessments. Some teachers even take pride in their
ability to out-guess students. They ask questions about isolated concepts or
obscure understandings just to see whether students are reading carefully.
Generally, these teachers don't include such "gotcha" questions maliciously, but
rather - often unconsciously - because such questions were asked of them when
they were students.
Classroom assessments that serve as meaningful sources of information don't
surprise students. Instead, these assessments reflect the concepts and skills that
the teacher emphasized in class, along with the teacher's clear criteria for judging
students' performance. These concepts, skills, and criteria align with the teacher's
instructional activities and, ideally, with state or district standards. Students see
these assessments as fair measures of important learning goals. Teachers facilitate
learning by providing students with important feedback on their learning progress
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and by helping them identify learning problems (Bloom, Madaus, & Hastings, 1981;
Stiggins, 2002).
Critics sometimes contend that this approach means "teaching to the test." But the
crucial issue is, What determines the content and methods of teaching? If the test
is the primary determinant of what teachers teach and how they teach it, then we
are indeed "teaching to the test." But if desired learning goals are the foundation of
students' instructional experiences, then assessments of student learning are
simply extensions of those same goals. Instead of "teaching to the test," teachers
are more accurately "testing what they teach." If a concept or skill is important
enough to assess, then it should be important enough to teach. And if it is not
important enough to teach, then there's little justification for assessing it.
For Teachers
The best classroom assessments also serve as meaningful sources of information
for teachers, helping them identify what they taught well and what they need to
work on. Gathering this vital information does not require a sophisticated statistical
analysis of assessment results. Teachers need only make a simple tally of how
many students missed each assessment item or failed to meet a specific criterion.
State assessments sometimes provide similar item-by-item information, but
concerns about item security and the cost of developing new items each year
usually make assessment developers reluctant to offer such detailed information.
Once teachers have made specific tallies, they can pay special attention to the
trouble spots, those items or criteria missed by large numbers of students in the
class.
In reviewing these results, the teacher must first consider the quality of the item or
criterion. Perhaps the question is ambiguously worded or the criterion is unclear.
Perhaps students mis-interpreted the question. Whatever the case, teachers must
determine whether these items adequately address the knowledge, understanding,
or skill that they were intended to measure.
If teachers find no obvious problems with the item or criterion, then they must turn
their attention to their teaching. When as many as half the students in a class
answer a clear question incorrectly or fail to meet a particular criterion, it's not a
student learning problem - it's a teaching problem. Whatever teaching strategy was
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used, whatever examples were employed, or whatever explanation was offered, it
simply didn't work.
Analyzing assessment results in this way means setting aside some powerful ego
issues. Many teachers may initially say, "I taught them. They just didn't learn it!"
But on reflection, most recognize that their effectiveness is not defined on the basis
of what they do as teachers but rather on what their students are able to do. Can
effective teaching take place in the absence of learning? Certainly not.
Some argue that such a perspective puts too much responsibility on teachers and
not enough on students. Occasionally, teachers respond, "Don't students have
responsibilities in this process? Shouldn't students display initiative and personal
accountability?"
Indeed, teachers and students share responsibility for learning. Even with valiant
teaching efforts, we cannot guarantee that all students will learn everything
excellently. Only rarely do teachers find items or assessment criteria that every
student answers correctly. A few students are never willing to put forth the
necessary effort, but these students tend to be the exception, not the rule. If a
teacher is reaching fewer than half of the students in the class, the teacher's
method of instruction needs to improve. And teachers need this kind of evidence to
help target their instructional improvement efforts.
Follow Assessments with Corrective Instruction
If assessments provide information for both students and teachers, then they
cannot mark the end of learning. Instead, assessments must be followed by highquality, corrective instruction designed to remedy whatever learning errors the
assessment identified (see Guskey, 1997). To charge ahead knowing that students
have not learned certain concepts or skills well would be foolish. Teachers must
therefore follow their assessments with instructional alternatives that present those
concepts in new ways and engage students in different and more appropriate
learning experiences.
High-quality, corrective instruction is not the same as reteaching, which often
consists simply of restating the original explanations louder and more slowly.
Instead, the teacher must use approaches that accommodate differences in
students' learning styles and intelligences (Sternberg, 1994). Although teachers
generally try to incorporate different teaching approaches when they initially plan
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their lessons, corrective instruction involves extending and strengthening that work.
In addition, those students who have few or no learning errors to correct should
receive enrichment activities to help broaden and expand their learning. Materials
designed for gifted and talented students provide an excellent resource for such
activities.
Developing ideas for corrective instruction and enrichment activities can be difficult,
especially if teachers believe that they must do it alone, but structured professional
development opportunities can help teachers share strategies and collaborate on
teaching techniques (Guskey, 1998, 2000b). Faculty meetings devoted to
examining classroom assessment results and developing alternative strategies can
be highly effective. District-level personnel and collaborative partnerships with local
colleges and universities offer wonderful resources for ideas and practical advice.
Occasionally, teachers express concern that if they take time to offer corrective
instruction, they will sacrifice curriculum coverage. Because corrective work is
initially best done during class and under the teacher's direction, early instructional
units will typically involve an extra class period or two. Teachers who ask students
to complete corrective work independently, outside of class, generally find that
those students who most need to spend time on corrective work are the least likely
to do so.
As students become accustomed to this corrective process and realize the personal
benefits it offers, however, the teacher can drastically reduce the amount of class
time allocated to such work and accomplish much of it through homework
assignments or in special study sessions before or after school. And by not allowing
minor errors to become major learning problems, teachers better prepare students
for subsequent learning tasks, eventually need less time for corrective work
(Whiting, Van Burgh, & Render, 1995), and can proceed at a more rapid pace in
later learning units. By pacing their instructional units more flexibly, most teachers
find that they need not sacrifice curriculum coverage to offer students the benefits
of corrective instruction.
Give Second Chances to Demonstrate Success
To become an integral part of the instructional process, assessments cannot be a
one-shot, do-or-die experience for students. Instead, assessments must be part of
an ongoing effort to help students learn. And if teachers follow assessments with
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helpful corrective instruction, then students should have a second chance to
demonstrate their new level of competence and understanding. This second chance
helps determine the effectiveness of the corrective instruction and offers students
another opportunity to experience success in learning.
Writing teachers have long recognized the many benefits of a second chance. They
know that students rarely write well on an initial attempt. Teachers build into the
writing process several opportunities for students to gain feedback on early drafts
and then to use that feedback to revise and improve their writing. Teachers of other
subjects frequently balk at the idea, however, mostly because it differs from their
personal learning experiences.
Some teachers express concern that giving students a second chance might be
unfair and that "life isn't like that." They point out that that a surgeon doesn't get a
second chance to perform an operation successfully and a pilot doesn't get a second
chance to land a jumbo jet safely. Because of the very high stakes involved, each
must get it right the first time.
But how did these highly skilled professionals learn their craft? The first operation
performed by that surgeon was on a cadaver, a situation that allows a lot of
latitude for mistakes. Similarly, the pilot spent many hours in a flight simulator
before ever attempting a landing from the cockpit. Such experiences allowed them
to learn from their mistakes and to improve their performance. Similar instructional
techniques are used in nearly every professional endeavor. Only in schools do
student face the prospect of one-shot, do-or-die assessments, with no chance to
demonstrate what they learned from previous mistakes.
All educators strive to have their students become lifelong learners and develop
learning-to-learn skills. What better learning-to-learn skill is there than learning
from one's mistakes? A mistake can be the beginning of learning. Some assessment
experts argue, in fact, that students learn nothing from a successful performance.
Rather, students learn best when their initial performance is less than successful,
for then they can gain direction on how to improve (Wiggins, 1998).
Other teachers suggest that it's unfair to offer the same privileges and high grades
to students who require a second chance that we offer to those students who
demonstrate a high level of learning on the initial assessment. After all, these
students may simply have failed to prepare appropriately. Certainly, we should
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recognize students who do well on the initial assessment and provide opportunities
for them to extend their learning through enrichment activities. But those students
who do well on a second assessment have also learned well. More important, their
poor performance on the first assessment may not have been their fault. Maybe the
teaching strategies used during the initial instruction were inappropriate for these
students, but the corrective instruction proved more effective. If we determine
grades on the basis of performance and these students have performed at a high
level, then they certainly deserve the same grades as those who scored well on
their first try.
A comparable example is the driver's license examination. Many individuals do not
pass their driver's test on the first attempt. On the second or third try, however,
they may reach the same high level of performance as others did on their first.
Should these drivers be restricted, for instance, to driving in fair weather only? In
inclement weather, should they be required to pull their cars over and park until the
weather clears? Of course not. Because they eventually met the same high
performance standards as those who passed on their initial attempt, they receive
the same privileges. The same should hold true for students who show that they,
too, have learned well.
Similar Situations
Using assessments as sources of information, following assessments with corrective
instruction, and giving students a second chance are steps in a process that all
teachers use naturally when they tutor individual students. If the student makes a
mistake, the teacher stops and points out the mistake. The teacher then explains
that concept in a different way. Finally, the teacher asks another question or poses
a similar problem to ensure the student's understanding before going on. The
challenge for teachers is to use their classroom assessments in similar ways to
provide all students with this sort of individualized assistance.
Successful coaches use the same process. Immediately following a gymnast's
performance on the balance beam, for example, the coach explains to her what she
did correctly and what could be improved. The coach then offers specific strategies
for improvement and encourages her to try again. As the athlete repeats her
performance, the coach watches carefully to ensure that she has corrected the
problem.
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Successful students typically know how to take corrective action on their own. They
save their assessments and review the items or criteria that they missed. They
rework problems, look up answers in their textbooks or other resource materials,
and ask the teacher about ideas or concepts that they don't understand. Less
successful students rarely take such initiative. After looking at their grades, they
typically crumple up their assessments and deposit them in the trash can as they
leave the classroom. Teachers who use classroom assessments as part of the
instructional process help all of their students do what the most successful students
have learned to do for themselves.
The Benefits of Assessment
Using classroom assessment to improve student learning is not a new idea. More
than 30 years ago, Benjamin Bloom showed how to conduct this process in practical
and highly effective ways when he described the practice of mastery learning
(Bloom, 1968, 1971). But since that time, the emphasis on assessments as tools
for accountability has diverted attention from this more important and fundamental
purpose.
Assessments can be a vital component in our efforts to improve education. But as
long as we use them only as a means to rank schools and students, we will miss
their most powerful benefits. We must focus instead on helping teachers change the
way they use assessment results, improve the quality of their classroom
assessments, and align their assessments with valued learning goals and state or
district standards. When teachers' classroom assessments become an integral part
of the instructional process and a central ingredient in their efforts to help students
learn, the benefits of assessment for both students and teachers will be boundless.
References
Barton, P. E. (2002). Staying on course in education reform. Princeton, NJ: Statistics & Research
Division, Policy Information Center, Educational Testing Service.
Bloom, B. S. (1968). Learning for mastery. Evaluation Comment (UCLA-CSEIP), 1(2), 1–12.
Bloom, B. S. (1971). Mastery learning. In J. H. Block (Ed.), Mastery learning: Theory and
practice. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Bloom, B. S., Madaus, G. F., & Hastings, J. T. (1981). Evaluation to improve learning. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Guskey, T. R. (1997). Implementing mastery learning (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
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Guskey, T. R. (1998). Making time to train your staff. The School Administrator, 55(7), 35–37.
Guskey, T. R. (2000a). Twenty questions? Twenty tools for better teaching. Principal Leadership,
1(3), 5–7.
Guskey, T. R. (2000b). Evaluating professional development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Kifer, E. (2001). Large-scale assessment: Dimensions, dilemmas, and policies. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Corwin Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (1994). Allowing for thinking styles. Educational Leadership, 52(3), 36–40.
Stiggins, R. J. (1999). Evaluating classroom assessment training in teacher education programs.
Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 18(1), 23–27.
Stiggins, R. J. (2002). Assessment crisis: The absence of assessment for learning. Phi Delta
Kappan, 83(10), 758–765.
Whiting, B., Van Burgh, J. W., & Render, G. F. (1995). Mastery learning in the classroom. Paper
presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San
Francisco.
Wiggins, G. (1998). Educative assessment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Thomas R. Guskey is Professor of Education Policy Studies and Evaluation, College of Education, University of Kentucky,
Taylor Education Bldg., Lexington, KY 40506; mailto:guskey@uky.edu..
Copyright © 2003 by Thomas R. Guskey
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Assessment: A Window to Learning
Printed with permission from Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
www.http://sedl.org
Defining Our Goals
Fitting Assessment with Instruction
Tools for Record-Keeping
Putting Numbers on Performance
Getting Others' Views
Betty Culver never felt comfortable with traditional report cards for her students. In
fact, she was not satisfied with any form of impersonal reporting. Describing the
complexity of the children's learning throughout the year was difficult. Even parent
conferences, which did provide face-to-face explanations of the students'
achievements, could not adequately describe their growth and development. How
could one gather all the details from the past six weeks and communicate them in one
short session to a listening parent? Betty's solution was to capture on-going classroom
work and teacher-student interviews on video. She showed clips to the parents as an
introduction to their conference discussion. The videos helped her effectively
communicate student progress and analyze her own instruction. Assessment became a
tool of learning, not a weapon of control.
Defining Our Goals
What should instruction accomplish? Should students be memorizing multiplication
facts or solving problems? Or both? Should they be conducting inquiries or studying
codified scientific understanding? Or both? The answers to such questions should be
the basis for assessment strategies. When expectations for a core of knowledge, skills,
and practices are defined, teachers and students can identify what is required for
success. Rigorous standards, which articulate expectations or benchmarks for students
at various grade levels, can provide a foundation for teachers, schools, and
communities to build an assessment structure. Assessment results can be guideposts
that help both teacher and student identify what has been learned and what areas need
further work. They can be used as part of a cycle that includes instruction and
assessment, then evaluation and redesign of instruction. Such assessments are an
integral part of the teaching day, not a report that appears every six weeks. As much a
reflection of the instruction's success as of the student's progress, assessment can help
teachers redirect their efforts to match students' strengths or weaknesses. Assessment
should also help students think about their own learning.
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Fitting Assessment with Instruction
To be sure assessment supports learning, match it with classroom experience. While
textbook-based tests measure what the textbook has presented, they will not provide
information about students' contributions to a lively class discussion. If students spend
their time working in groups, they should be assessed in a similar setting. Observe
them as they interact, using criteria that define your expectations for success and be
sure they know your expectations before assessment occurs. If they use calculators to
solve problems, give them the same tools to complete their assessment. If the goal of
instruction is to assist all students in developing their understanding of mathematics
and science, use assessment to help them expand their understanding. While a single
assessment indicates understanding at a particular moment, a collection of student
work and the teacher's perceptions provides a reflection of the fluid, dynamic nature of
learning. Assessment that occurs as teachers listen, observe, interact, and reflect
provides a picture of student development over time.
Tools for Record-Keeping
Each day students provide evidence of their understanding in many ways - through
explanations, discussions, projects, and questions. This evidence of student learning
can be lost if there is no conscious effort to keep track. Traditional report card grades
and paper-and-pencil tests reflect only a part of the classroom experience; teachers
need a variety of record-keeping and reporting strategies to capture other evidence of
growth in understanding. These can include videos as well as checklists, rubrics,
student portfolios, and project evaluations - tools that can convey the complexity of
student learning. Teachers are researchers in their classrooms. They are engaged in
observing students who are engaged in learning. Walking around the classroom with a
clipboard and an observation sheet can be an effective way to keep track of student
progress. Some teachers have found that personal digital assistants (PDAs) are
invaluable portable aids to data collection. These hand-held electronic record-keepers
can be programmed with learner profiles and defined characteristics the teacher will be
looking for. The information can later be downloaded to a computer. Another tool the camera - can be used to take photographs that record activities and projects
providing excellent reminders of events, student participation, and products.
Putting Numbers on Performance
Single-answer questions are easy to score. Part of the power of standardized, singleanswer tests is the solid, quantifiable numbers they produce. But how does a teacher
quantify an open-ended class discussion? What can be reported about the processes
used in a science investigation? Teachers need ways to organize and report what
occurs in the classroom. One way to do this is through the use of rubrics. Rubrics are
scoring guides that assign numerical values to achievement outcomes. Many rubrics
include examples that illustrate and differentiate between the different categories. For
instance, one of the rubrics below addresses observation - an essential skill in
scientific investigation. The example provides a continuum of designations of
observational skill: Novice ("Sees only obvious things"), Proficient ("Can quantify
observations"), or Advanced ("Uses patterns and relationships to focus further
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observations"). Content knowledge is categorized in a similar way in the Food for
Animals rubric.
Getting Others' Views
Even with the aid of good instruments and tools, a teacher may want to involve others
in the assessment process. Expanding the audience for student performance helps
guard against personal biases and adds the value of additional perceptions to the
assessment process. A team of teachers can cooperatively grade a collection of
portfolios or projects. Groups of teachers who regularly discuss assessment practices
and issues will uncover alternative views of students' achievements. Teams from
within the school or the community can examine collections of students' work or be
the audience for student presentations. Students can contribute by suggesting
evaluation criteria and voicing their views of what constitutes acceptable and quality
work. Assessment is an essential part of the teaching process; some say it actually
drives instruction. If this is true, then introducing alternative ways of assessing
students will result in different ways of teaching. Instruction that helps students
perform confidently on a performance test is very different from instruction that
prepares students for a paper-and-pencil test. The resultant learning will reflect those
differences.
FOOD FOR ANIMALS
N

Anything an animal takes in is food.
N+

Shows some ideas from Novice level and
some from Proficient level.
P


Animals need food, water, and air to live.
Animals get food from eating plants or other
animals.
Animals get both nutrients and energy from
food

A

Shows some ideas from Proficient level, and
some from Advanced level.

Unlike plants, animals take in food and break
it into small particles in their guts.
Some food energy is stored inside animals,
and some is released as heat when animals
use the food to grow and function.

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OBSERVING AND MEASURING
N


Sees only obvious things; Notices few details
or changes; poor discrimination ability
Doesn't use all senses
N+

Makes somewhat focused and active
observations, but their quality, depth, breadth,
and accuracy is inconsistent
P

Uses all senses to notice details, patterns,
similarities, and differences
Can quantify observations using appropriate
measurements



A


Follows a regular program of observation and
measurement
Makes objective and accurate observations
and measurements consistently
Judges how frequent and accurate
observations and measurements need to be
for an experiment, and makes them
accordingly
Uses discerned patterns and relationships to
focus further observations
Classroom Compass Back Issues: Issue 2.2 Contents: Next
Copyright ©2001 Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
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Volume 58 Number 3 November 2000
The Science of Learning
Moving with the Brain in Mind
Eric Jensen
Brain research confirms that physical activity—moving, stretching, walking—can actually
enhance the learning process.
What is the role of movement in learning? Why should students get up and move around? One
reason that many students think that school is boring is the amount of seat work that middle
school, secondary school, and college teachers—and staff developers—demand. But boredom is
less the issue: It's about learning.
Get Moving
Although many school districts are increasing the amount of sedentary test-prep time, much
research suggests that activity is better for students. Here are seven good reasons to have students
move more to learn more.
Circulation. Movement increases heart rate and circulation, which often increase performance
(Tomporowski & Ellis, 1986). Stretching is especially important when students begin class in
sedentary positions. Stretching increases the cerebrospinal fluid flow to crucial areas. More
oxygen goes to key brain areas; the eyes can relax a moment, which prevents eye strain; and the
body gets a break from musculoskeletal tensions (Henning, Jacques, Kissel, & Sullivan, 1997).
Increased physical arousal (with 5–8 percent greater blood flow) narrows our attention to target
tasks (Easterbrook, 1959).
Episodic encoding. Movement gives learners a new spatial reference on the room. In animal
studies, activity enhanced spatial learning (Fordyce & Wehner, 1993). How? The brain forms
maps, not only on the basis of the scenery, but also from the body's relationship to the scenery.
More locations provide more unique learning addresses. The room doesn't have to be new—just
your position in the room (Rizzolatti, Fadiga, Fogassi, & Gallese, 1997). In my staff
development workshops, if I see a group for just one day, I have them switch sides of the room
after lunch.
A break from learning. Our brains are designed to learn short bursts of information followed by
time to process the information. We need time for memory formation and for "settling."
Evidence suggests that time spent not learning new content is very important (Pelligrini,
Huberty, & Jones, 1995). The human brain cannot learn an unlimited amount of explicit content.
Most educators feel pressured to cover more material in the time allotted, but doing so is a
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serious mistake. You can pour all the water you want from a jug into a glass, but the glass can
only hold so much.
The stopover station for processing information before it's stored is called the hippocampus, a
small, fast-learning, crescent-shaped structure with limited memory capacity (Spitzer, 1997). The
hippocampus organizes, sorts, and processes the incoming information before routing it to
various areas of the cortex for long-term memory. Overloading this structure results in no new
learning.
Movement can give learners a much-needed break. In Japanese and Taiwanese schools, spaced
intervals or breaks allow students to be in school all day and yet still learn. Asian children
actually spend less time receiving new content than their Minneapolis counterparts (Stevenson &
Lee, 1990). That may be attributed to their regimented breaks, recess, and formal play.
System maturation. As we grow up, our brains change and grow, too. Students experience
pruning (the elimination of existing synapses), neurogenesis (the growth of new brain cells), and
myelination (the strengthening of existing neural pathways). In some cases, neural tissue doubles
in size in a given area of the adolescent brain, whereas other areas shrink. This massive change
results in an even greater need for content breaks for cognitive remapping. The nervous system
does not even mature until somewhere between ages 15 and 20. If anything, we need more, not
fewer, breaks from learning. Psychology professor David Bjorklund says, "Young children in
particular may require more breaks from seat work" (Bjorklund & Brown, 1998, p. 604).
Good chemicals. Certain kinds of movements can stimulate the release of the body's natural
motivators. Two of the best are noradrenaline (the hormone of risk or urgency) and dopamine
(the neurotransmitter producing good feelings). Noradrenaline can be triggered through student
relay races, public speaking performances, achievable but tough deadlines, competitions, or
socially risky activities. Dopamine can be triggered through positive social bonding,
celebrations, nonmaterial rewards, or gross motor repetitive movements. These energizers wake
up learners, increase their energy levels, improve their information storage and retrieval, and
help them feel good. A very short break or energizer increases arousal, but longer breaks allow
the learner to be aroused and then come back to a more sustainable level of energy.
Too much sitting. Although people can learn while sitting, the typical notion of sitting in chairs
for an extended time may be misguided. The human body, for the last 400,000 years, has
primarily been walking, sleeping, leaning, running, doing, or squatting. It has not been sitting in
chairs, which are a relatively new invention in human history, only used for the last 500
generations. The typical student who sits much of the day runs the following risks: poor
breathing, strained spinal column and lower back nerves, poor eyesight, and overall body fatigue.
We expend much energy just to maintain a posture, even a bad one.
Sitting in any chair for more than a short (10-minute) interval is likely to have negative effects
on your physical self, hence your mental self, and at a minimum, reduce your awareness of
physical and emotional sensations (Cranz, 1998). The pressure on the spinal discs is 30 percent
greater when sitting than when standing (Zacharkow, 1988). That creates fatigue, which is bad
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for learning. Students may seem restless and unable to concentrate—or worse, they may become
undisciplined—when the real problem is bad ergonomics and lack of movement.
The typical office worker (chair sitter) has more musculoskeletal problems than any other
industry-sector worker, including construction, metal industry, and transport workers. Office
workers have about the same amount of seat time as most students. One researcher's conclusion:
Sitting is as much an occupational risk as is lifting heavy weights on the job (Hettinger, 1985).
We now know that today's chairs do not offer enough flexibility to optimize learning (Tittel &
Webber, 1973). But this complaint is not new. As far back as 1912, Maria Montessori described
the impact of chairs: "[When chairs were used], children were not disciplined, but annihilated"
(Montessori, 1986, p. 797). In addition, children cannot see as far as adults can. As a result, they
compensate by leaning over, rounding their backs, and creating strain. Typically, poor sitting
posture creates pressure on the diaphragm and internal organs. This restricts internal organ
function, reduces blood circulation and oxygen to the brain, and increases fatigue (Grimsrud,
1990). In fact, the director of the Institute of Occupational Health in Milan, Italy, said,
Holding any posture for long periods of time is the ultimate problem; but holding the classic right-angle seated
posture in particular has its special stresses, which no amount of ergonomic tinkering can eliminate. (Greico, 1986,
p. 345)
The value of implicit learning. Our explicit, semantic learning is what we use as we read this
article. Our explicit, episodic learning is made of the memories we'll store about where we were
when we read this article, what was around us, and with whom we talked about it. The explicit
system works by gathering information about the world in what (semantic) and where (episodic)
pathways.
The implicit system, in contrast, works by organizing our responses to the world around us. This
includes the wow or knee-jerk responses—such as immediate emotions, conditioned responses,
trauma, and reflexive behaviors—and the more measured how responses, which are procedural,
skills-based, operational, and tactile. It's convenient to make distinctions between explicit (overt)
and implicit (covert) types of learning, but there is, in fact, no absolute distinction. Both systems
work together—they take in the information about our world, then organize our responses to it.
Most commonly, we use the semantic learning pathways for so-called seat work and the
procedural learning pathways for movement and skills-based learning, typical in an arts or
physical education class.
The point is simple: We are more likely to remember implicit learning. It is robust, easy to learn,
cross-cultural, efficient, and effective—regardless of our age or level of intelligence (Reber,
1993).
Suggestions for the Classroom
Teachers need to engage students in a greater variety of postures, including walking, lying
down, moving, leaning against a wall or desk, perching, or even squatting. A slanted desk means
less fatigue (better concentration) and less eye strain (better reading). Students experience less
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painful electromyogram activity in the lower back when they use slanted work surfaces instead
of flat ones (Eastman & Kamon, 1976).
Teachers should regularly engage students in movement. "The data suggest that exercise is the
best overall mood regulator" (Thayer, 1996, p. 129). Teachers who have learners of any age sit
for too long are missing the boat. Taking them for brisk walks is one way teachers can influence
students' moods. Howard Gardner writes,
I believe in action and activity. The brain learns best and retains most when the organism is actively involved in
exploring physical sites and materials and asking questions to which it actually craves answers. Merely passive
experiences tend to attenuate and have little lasting impact. (Gardner, 1999, p. 82)
Students can use the body to learn. Learners can stand up and demonstrate concepts, such as big
or small, tall or short, quick or slow. They can have more fun demonstrating such words as
crawl, roll, and surprise. Clapping or stomping out rhythms, words, or beats can make class more
entertaining.
Daily or weekly role-plays are helpful motivators. Have students play charades to review main
ideas or to dramatize a key point. Create one-minute commercials adapted from television to
advertise upcoming content or to review past content.
A variety of physical activities also help students learn. Use the body to measure objects around
the room and report the results: "This cabinet is 44 knuckles wide." Play a Simon Says game
with content built into it: "Simon says point to the south. Simon says point to five different
sources of information in the room." Do team jigsaw processes with huge, poster-sized mind
maps: "Get up and touch seven colors around the room on seven different objects." Teach a
move-around system using memory cue words: "Stand in the room where we first learned about
X."
Arm and leg crossover activities force both hemispheres of the brain to "talk" to each other:
"The left arm pats the right shoulder" or "Pat your head and rub your belly." These activities also
include marching in place while patting opposite knees, patting opposite shoulders, and touching
opposite elbows or heels.
If nothing else, stand-and-stretch breaks every 20 minutes can energize the class. At the
beginning of class, or any time that the class needs more oxygen, get everyone up to do some
slow stretching. Ask students to lead the group or let teams do their own stretching and rotate
leaders.
Stay Active
The take-home message is simple: Active learning has significant advantages over sedentary
learning. The advantages include learning in a way that is longer lasting, better remembered,
more fun, age appropriate, and intelligence independent and that reaches more kinds of learners.
Active learning is not just for physical education teachers—that notion is outdated. Active
learning is for educators who understand the science behind the learning. Let's support a stronger
blend of sitting and moving.
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References
Bjorklund, D. F., & Brown, R. D. (1998, June). Physical play and cognitive development: Integrating activity, cognition, and
education. Child Development, 69 (3), 604–606.
Cranz, G. (1998). The chair: Rethinking culture, body and design. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
Easterbrook, J. A. (1959). The effects of emotion on cue utilization and the organization of behavior. Psychological Review, 66 (2),
183–201.
Eastman, M., & Kamon, E. (1976, February). Posture and subjective evaluation at flat and slanted desks. Human Factors, 18 (1), 15–
26.
Fordyce, D. E., & Wehner, J. M. (1993, August). Physical activity enhances spatial learning performance with an associated alteration
in hippocampal protein kinase C activity in C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice. Brain Research, 619 (1–2), 111–119.
Gardner, H. (1999). The disciplined mind. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Greico, A. (1986). Sitting posture: An old problem and a new one. Ergonomics, 29 (3), 345–362.
Grimsrud, T. (1990). Humans were not created to sit—and why you have to refurnish your life. Ergonomics, 33(3), 291.
Henning, R., Jacques, P., Kissel, G., & Sullivan, A. (1997, January). Frequent short breaks from computer work: Effects on
productivity and well-being at two field sites. Ergonomics, 40 (1), 78–91.
Hettinger, T. (1985). Occupational hazards associated with diseases of the skeletal system. Ergonomics, 28 (1), 69–75.
Montessori system. (1986). In Encyclopaedia Britannica (Vol. 17, p. 797). Chicago: W. W. Norton and Co.
Pelligrini, A. D., Huberty, P. D., & Jones, I. (1995). The effects of recess timing on children's playground and classroom behaviors.
American Educational Research Journa, 32 (8), 845–864.
Reber, A. (1993). Implicit learning and tacit knowledge. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rizzolatti, G., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (1997, July 11). Enhanced: The space around us. Science, 277(5323), 190–191.
Spitzer, M. (1997). The mind within the net. Cambridge, MA: MIT Books.
Stevenson, H. W., & Lee, S. Y. (1990). Contexts of achievement. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 55
(1–2, Serial no. 221).
Thayer, R. (1996). The origin of everyday moods. New York: Oxford University Press.
Tittel, H., & Webber, M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Science, 4(2), 155–169.
Tomporowski, P., & Ellis, N. (1986). Effects of exercise on cognitive processes: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 99(3), 338–346.
Zacharkow, D. (1988). Posture: Sitting, standing, chair design, and exercise. Springfield, IL: Charles Thomas Publishing.
Eric Jensen is a staff developer and author of Teaching with the Brain in Mind (ASCD, 1998) and Learning with the Body in Mind
(The Brain Store, 2000). His book on arts and the brain is scheduled to be published in spring 2001. He may be reached at
eric@jlcbrain.com. Copyright © 2000 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights
reserved.
Visit ASCD's Web Site
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