[KiwiHopeful]

Dare I weigh in ...

As a teacher, I've been very conscious of this. Perhaps there's been more interest in this issue in the US for longer? I was taught different ways to get reluctant students to respond and discuss in class, such as moving around the room, giving 'wait time,' doing quick whips around the classroom, etc. Lately they've been pushing the use of little whiteboards in math classes, so everyone can respond without anyone else knowing if they got the answer right or wrong.

Basically, I think this is all a good idea--too often in class, the heavy lifting is done by a handful of the more assertive students (and believe me, I was one of them) while the more passive or shy students just melt into the background. It's hard to learn a lot if you're just a spectator.

BTW, not surprisingly, the headline on the article (yahoo's, not MB's) *totally* distorts what the article actually says in order to inspire the most controversy.