According to the authors, we live in a society that is deeply influenced by technology, and social studies classrooms are ideal places for students to conduct inquiries into timely and relevant technological issues. In this article, the authors describe an approach that can be used across many situations to teach students to think critically about…

The Puppy Love problem asked fifth and sixth grade students to use their prior knowledge of measures of central tendency to determine a data set when given the mean, mode, median, and range of the set. The problem discussed in this article is a task with a higher level of cognitive demand because it requires that students (1) explore and…

What happens in the first week of school could very well set the stage for the rest of the school year. Setting high standards for science activities based in inquiry can start on the first day of science class and develop as the year unfolds. With the use of simple, readily available, inexpensive materials, an efficient mystery box lesson can be…

Inquiry is the process by which teachers give students an open-ended question, and then students investigate the evidence and draw conclusions based upon their findings. This method promotes critical thinking, as students cite evidence to support their opinions. Inquiry is most effective when it builds upon students' prior knowledge. To promote…

Two experts on education offer a rich and diverse selection of children's literature and teaching strategies for the K-8 mathematics classroom. To date, a vast majority of classrooms continue to fall short in the implementation and direction of NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (PSSM), in part because most of these classrooms…

It is easy for intermediate students to get the wrong ideas about the purpose of reading. Educators pay so much attention to decoding and fluency in the early years that children sometimes come to believe that flawless and rapid word recognition is the point. As texts get more demanding or unfamiliar, some of the "good readers" in classes begin to…

The purpose of this practice brief is to provide schools, districts, and states with background knowledge about best practices for older students who struggle to read. It focuses on the reading skills that adolescents need to more fully access content-area curricula and, in turn, secure a productive future. The authors define adolescent reading as…

In this article, the author shares her experience in teaching sixth grade Spanish at Autrey Mill Middle School in Alpharetta, Georgia. Through the school's implementation of the middle school teaming concept, the author and her colleague on the sixth grade team have teamed up with other teachers in order to provide reading and writing…

With the advent of the standards movement, most states have produced statewide tests that evaluate children's understanding of expository science text. Expository texts are designed to explain, describe, or present a logical argument. Usually, the purpose of expository texts is to present new information. This article describes a research-based…

Research is only beginning to show the benefits of the effective use of manipulatives with students who have disabilities. This article highlights how teachers can incorporate three manipulative instructional strategies to help students with high-incidence disabilities.

This study explores difficulties that prospective elementary mathematics teachers have with the concepts of ratio and proportion, mainly when they are engaged in solving problems using algorithm procedures. These difficulties can be traced back to earlier experiences when they were students of junior and high school. The reflection on these…