Abstract
The author, based on Bernard Shaw's didactic statement, evaluates five "great" literary works in search of the answer: F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby", Pearl S. Buck's "The Good Earth," Shaw's "Pygmalion," Annie Dillard's "The Writing Life" and Bauby's memoir, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." The author concludes that Shaw's argument has validity only in regards to literature but didacticism alone does not make anything great.

From the Paper
"Pearl S. Buck's classic, The Good Earth, is a work of great art that seems to defy Shaw's contention. It is a book whose greatness is attributed to the story of a family's perseverance through the barren land of china as they made their way through the dregs of society surviving famine, working for nothing, watching loved ones die, allowing their home to be ravaged, reviving their land the story of a family's champion over life."

Tags:criterion, fitzgerald, buck, shaw, dillard, bauby, argument, validity, classic

Abstract
This paper discusses several articles that deal with the use of drama in the classroom. The paper examines how drama instruction, such as role-play, miming, puppetry, improvisation and readers theatre, in the early elementary classroom can improve learning. The paper highlights the positive experiences that children gain from incorporating drama in their every-day lessons.

From the Paper
"Barbara Ryan Larkin (2001) shares her classroom experience with drama among elementary school students. Her young students would ask to act out stories they read in class, and once Larkin began studying the theories behind drama in education, she came to realize the beneficial effects that taking time to do so would have with student development. Rather than leaving drama for a separate area of study, Larkin found that "drama is presented as a meaningful context for children to read, write, speak, and listen. Struggling students especially seem to be motivated by this experience." (Larkin 2001) Reader's theater is one way of approaching drama in education. It is an interpretive activity where students practice and perform with each other, using methods like repeated readings and improvisation to enhance comprehension and to build on knowledge. Larkin's students responded very excitedly to reader's theater, immediately embracing the opportunity to take on characters, learn scripts, block scenes, and perform with and in front of one another. The teacher read a story to students, helped them learn the vocabulary, reviewed the entire text of the script as a class, then let students develop parts in groups. "

Tags:acting, role, play, miming

Abstract
Practical experience in teaching is a controversial issue. There is no consensus about it. This field includes training physical education teachers for schools. Many students believe that practical experience is the core of the teaching process that applies the theories they learned, the didactic methods to impart knowledge skills. This paper examines several influential parameters, including the interaction between teaching students and the pedagogical instructor, as well as mentor, and their contribution to the practical training of physical education instruction students. The paper also indirectly proposes changes and emphasis on content in the practical experiment curriculum of these students, which makes an essential contribution to their training success.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter A Literature Review
Teacher Training
The Behaviorist Model
The Rationalist Platonic Model
The Hermeneutic Model
The Critical Model
The Constructivist Model
Physical Education
Chapter B Research Methods
Chapter C Findings
Chapter D Discussion
Chapter E Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations
Bibliography
Appendices
Appendix A
Appendix B

From the Paper
"In addition, during the practical training, factors that are involved in training students in their training process and that affect them are involved, such as pedagogy and the mentor (Reichenberg 1998). There are two basic perspectives regarding the practical application of theories in the work conducted by students of teaching.
The first, and more dominant, views actual teaching in a classroom as an applicable science, i.e. a process that links the theory to practice. In other words, the development of the ability to apply theoretical knowledge learned by the student within the educational framework, and the practical experience in the training process in schools."

Tags:experience, practical, didactic, instruction

Abstract
This paper explains that the didactic approach is strong in both Jane Austen's "Emma" and the film "Clueless" because each of the protagonist characters, Emma and Cher respectively, works to help others in her social circle obtain true love without regard for her own need for love. The author points out the similarities in the main characters: Emma is part of the rich, upscale society of a "large and populous village" in nineteenth century England; whereas, Cher lives in rich, upscale Beverly Hills. The paper relates that in both the novel and the film the minor characters work to illustrate the main characters and continue the pace of the storyline.

From the Paper
"Because of their wealth, both Emma and Cher are spoiled, in control socially, and tend to think too highly of themselves. This is a result of the lack of a maternal figure in their lives, as well as their fathers' over-indulgence. Cher has everything a teenage girl could want: money, her own Jeep, a huge wardrobe, et cetera. Like a lot of girls, she spends a large amount of time and money at the mall; however, she spends hundreds and thousands of dollars on her clothes, not the kind of money a typical teenager would spend."

Tags:didactic, love, friends, motherless, rich

Abstract
This paper reviews the literature to understand the possible contribution of the unique psychosomatic predisposition of boys and its relation to the underachievement. The author believes that there is a clear urgency to analyze and restructure the educational methodologies to suit the special requirements of boys. The paper suggests replacing the dependency on didactic methods with more active participation of the students, which is more productive for boys as well as girls; use of computers and complementing textbook material with graphical presentations and shorter periods.

Table of Contents
Introduction
The Problem
Literature review
Father's Role
Solutions
Conclusion

From the Paper
"A British research program conducted by the Oxford University stresses that active participation by the father has a significant effect on the boy's educational performance. This 40-year-old study monitored the progress of the volunteering students at different periods of time from 7,11, 16, 23 up to 33 (years). The students were graded according to the level of participation of the fathers in their educational pursuits. The research data indicated that students who had the active participation and support of their fathers were the most successful in their educational as well as their social lives. The "British market research bureau" survey indicted that only 12% of fathers participate actively in their child's education. According to Mr. Ann Buchanan, one of the chief researchers in the Oxford project, opines, "The early years are critical. More needs to be done to involve fathers and help them understand they have an important role. School parent meetings need to become more father-friendly and health visitors and hospitals need to talk to fathers." "

Tags:father, attention, didactic, participation, computers

Abstract
This research paper seeks to focus on how the use of technologies to assist in the teaching of special education elementary school children presents unique challenges, and illustrates how the creative use of Web-based learning systems can accelerate and support the long-term retention of concepts with these specific students. The paper also aims to demonstrate how this can be accomplished through the use of a variety of teaching techniques. The paper explains that despite the potential benefits of using technology-based training, there is a lack of adoption of Web-based training materials, websites, and strategies specifically focused on individualized learning plans including scaffolding. The paper asserts that reliance on traditional forms of didactic teaching have continued to falter and not fully take into account the specific needs of these children. Finally, the paper presents specific recommendations for transforming purely didactic and often statically-defined study programs into more tailored and customized ones that compensate for individual student strengths and weaknesses.

Outline:
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Background and Statement of the Problem
Purpose and Research Questions
Context of the Action Research Study
Summary
Chapter 2 - Review of the Literature
Introduction
Student Performance
Student Attitude
Student Satisfaction
Disadvantages of Web-based Learning To Supplement In-Class Teaching
Advantages of Web-Based Learning To Supplement In-Class Teaching
Disadvantages of Web-Based Learning To Supplement In-Class Teaching
Conceptual Holes, Problems and Needs
Implications for Practice
Rationale for Action Research Question and Study Design
Chapter 3 - Research Designs
Introduction
Action Research Plan
Data Gathering Methods and Procedures
Ethical Considerations
Summary
Chapter 4 - Data Analysis and Discussion
Introduction
Findings
Discussion
Limitations
Chapter 5 - Summary and Conclusion
Implications for Teaching Practice
Implications for Further Research
References

From the Paper
"There is a coverage area not specifically addressed by the research studies cited, specifically in the area of elementary school special education students. This lack of coverage has been thoroughly researched as is shown by the Literature Review of this Action Research paper. What remains specifically to be done is quantify the impact of Web-based learning and in-class learning as a hybrid strategy for getting elementary school special education students to improve their math and statistics scores through the use of Java-based applets online. From the existing research on Web-based instruction performance where Java Applets are used for teaching the fundamental concepts of mathematics and statistics to elementary school special education students, the research infers that scaffolding strategies (Najjar, 2008) are effectively used for tailoring individual learning plans for these students. Scaffolding has proven very effective as a framework specifically for teaching high school, university and post-graduate students more complex concepts through the use of graphically based learning aids including Java applets. It is the contention of this Action Research paper that the concepts as defined by the thorough literature review completed that the same dynamics of how people learn later in their academic careers can also be applied to elementary school special education students."

Tags:challenged, Java, applet, elementary

Abstract
In this literary study, Homer's "The Odyssey" is examined in relation to the unified Epic format of ancient Greece. The writer proposes, that by examining plot structures and character actions in Homer's epic tale of Odysseus, one can realize how Plato critically examines the role of drama versus didactic narrative in the epic genre. The writer further explains that, in essence, the problem of drama in Homer's epic does portend a didactic set of moral principles in which young men should live through the philosophical principles displayed in Plato's Republic. The paper analyzes how the moral lesson of chastity and loyalty, in Book 19 of Homer's "The Odyssey", is presented though the plot structure, which is based on a dramatic marital view of Grecian society.

Tags:homer, plato, epic

Abstract
This paper reviews Jane Austen's "Emma", a didactic novel whose chief lesson is that, although society as it was constituted at the time was well ordered, it was up to the individual to make more or less of her/his position within that order. It examines how Emma Woodhouse, with all her advantages, was simply not ready to marry until she learned how to learn, although conventionally Emma was fully ready to marry. Emma was unready because she was unable to accept guidance. The paper analyzes the guidance she receives from Mr. Knightley and others and how she learns to be a lady during the course of the novel.

From the Paper
"But the model of the lady Emma is to become does not exist at Highbury. There are a number of women who should either function as models or be fellow pupils in the art along with Emma but none of them suffices: not Miss Bates, Mrs. Elton, Mrs. Weston, Harriet Smith, nor even Jane Fairfax. In part this is the result of circumstance. Emma's mother is dead and her sister, never a strong influence, lives far away. Mrs. Weston was always "a rational, unaffected woman" as Knightley notes, but as Miss Taylor, Emma's governess and companion, she had been more dedicated to pleasing Emma, as he also notes, than to curbing her independence (Austen 11). "

Tags:knightly, lady, marriage

Abstract
The paper shows how the fundamental structure of "The Arabian Nights" by Sir Richard Francis Burton, consists of frame texts, or stories within stories, with "The Story of King Shahrayar and Shahrazad" as the outermost tale. The stories possess common didactic lessons, or morals, that connect them to one another. The paper examines how the morals are not often initially stated but rather revealed or re-emphasized from one tale to another, and they all possess a common feature that relate them back to the outermost tale?"The Story of King Shahrayar and Shahrazad". The paper shows that the organizing guidelines of the fables in The Arabian Nights are the particular moral, or lesson, they each portray.

From the Paper
"The Tale of the Fisherman and the Demon divulges into The Tale of the Enchanted King. This tale, like The Tale of the King's Son and the She-Ghoul, displays the consequences of returning good with good. The king saves the enchanted king from spending his life as half man, half stone and gains his companionship as a result. Even more importantly, the tale connect back to the The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon because the fisherman "was the cause of saving the young man and the city" (66). The moral, therefore, is not only re-emphasized but connected with the previous tales."

Tags:analysis, literary, vizier, Fisherman, and, the, Demon, Yunan, Duban

Abstract
This paper explores and compares the multiferous interpretations of two movies "Blade Runner" (1982) and "Brave New World" (1994). The paper shows how the contexts of the two movies are markedly different -"Blade Runner" exists in a context in which there is a growing support for libertarianism, influencing the increase in environmentalism, both of which detect the intended environmental and anti-authoritarian didactic of the texts, while "Brave New World" creates an aberration of the original intent, complicated by the mutating religious values of society.

From the Paper
"The final scene of Brave New World disseminates Huxley's opinion that the suppression of human nature will ultimately lead to one's demise, a message which is especially prominent to the libertarians. Libertarian is a term to describe those who revile the concept of suppression and as such a message of freedom would be interpreted. The suppression of one's human nature creates a spiral of depression which will result in the obliteration of oneself. The savage attempted to suppress his feelings for Lenina, yet ultimately failed in his attempt. The savage had been taught, conditioned by his society that lust as with "every evil inclination has to place itself under such great restraint, don so many masks, lay itself so often on the procrustean bed of virtue" (Nietzsche), his feelings for Lenina were perceived to be evil, being contrary to the teachings of, in this case, the bible. The contradiction of his feelings and his teachings led to confusion as to the correct course of action, confusion which led to the complete suppression of emotions. The suppression of his emotions resulted in a decent into a self- destructive spiral, beginning with the use of self- punishment as a source of redemption, an act which brought him great pleasure, developing masochist instincts. The savage ultimately commits suicide, hanging himself in the tower, unable to repress his desires. The tower is a symbol of the self-destructive spiral, the concentric circles of the tower leading to the death of The savage. The suppression of human desires ultimately leads to one's demise as one enters a self-destructive spiral, until one destructs. Within Blade Runner there is an overt condemnation of oppression and suppression within the conclusion."

Tags:context, dystopian