struction (CBI) in the chain of shopping tasks in the store setting would be effective in teaching subjects how to buy two specific items, whether the skills acquired would be retained for six weeks, and whether that item-specific exercise would be generalizable to grocery shopping for other items. Findings tended to confirm the benefits of the instructional strategy, although the fairly high number of chained-task errors highlighted the need for more CBI (often, as in this case, expensive), as well as more preparatory classroom simulations.
Effectiveness of the full-inclusion model and strategies for implementing it are increasingly the subject of special-education research. Tichenor, Heins, and Piechura-Couture (2000) conducted a survey of parental attitudes toward a full-inclusion, team-teaching classroom comprising 4th and 5th grade children, some disabled and some not. The concept is that a standard and a special-education teacher make lesson plans together and share teaching duties, with the special-education teacher available to assist exceptional students as necessary, while other students continue with studies. Parents of both general-education and exceptional students were generally positive about their children's reaction to the classroom, the team teaching, the benefits to social skills, self-esteem, and scholastic performance. The authors call for more comprehensive team-teacher training curricula.
On the theory that systematically building their own knowledge, practice, and experiential base can help teachers of exceptional and/or at-risk populations, Black, Sileo, and Prater (2000) constructed a study of how keeping a "learning journal" meant to coach teaching-methods trainees doing classroom instruction into reflection on their experiences inside and outside the learning environment might help them integrate and profit from the interpenetration of curricular content and extracurricular experiences. The journals, al...