In an introductory middle grades course, teacher candidates synthesize and apply the concepts from key middle level documents through their coursework. Along with a popular middle grades text (Brown & Knowles, 2014), teacher candidates read "This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents" (National Middle School Association,…

This article examines a hybrid graduate history course called "Teaching Hidden History." Team-taught in Summer 2015 across two universities, the course fundamentally tasked graduate students in history and history education with creating online learning modules based on the idea that hidden within any artifact is a larger historical…

In a typical chemistry instrumentation laboratory, students learn analytical techniques through a well-developed procedure. Such an approach, however, does not engage students in a creative endeavor. To foster the intrinsic motivation of students' desire to learn, improve their confidence in self-directed learning activities and enhance their…

We sometimes struggle with the question of whether our primary goal is for students to recall or understand answers to questions, or for students to do science and improve their "scientific temper". This article describes how an enquiry-based laboratory experiment was carried out in which the stress was on the latter. The students…

Describes a course on human memory in which the students keep a diary of instances of forgetting during the semester. These examples can then be used for analysis by the individual, the instructor, or the class. (RM)

Discusses how the use of pupil-created political cartoons has put some color and excitement back into a 9th grade world cultures course. (RM)

This project involves secondary students in selecting and researching an event in U.S. history and writing a poetic ballad, from a first person point of view. Completed works are presented at a school assembly. (RM)

The experiences of college students enrolled as majors in elementary education in designing art appreciation activities for use in elementary classrooms are described. The college students had no art background. (RM)

A US history activity which generated excitement and enhanced class discussion involved students in writing each other letters as imaginary correspondents living through the period under study. Follow-up activities included displaying letters on bulletin boards, reading correspondence aloud in class, a debate, and a class-written history play. (RM)

A course, designed to illustrate the correlation of the biochemistry and physiology content of the curriculum with clinical applications, is described. The entire presentation, from introduction and interview of the patient to the correlation of the clinical application with the basic sciences, was managed by the students. (Author/MLW)

An art project that involved middle school students in picking a story, making puppet characters, and filming a television show is described. The students also made television commercials. (RM)

This art project involved fifth graders in producing one-minute television commercials. The subject matter for the commercials was determined by school events. The commercials were shown several weeks before the special event they advertised. (RM)

A cross-age art project involving second graders and high school students is described. Each group investigated the design qualities of several popular picture books and then wrote their own stories. The second graders had to illustrate the high school stories and vice versa. It was a tremendous success. (RM)

Assignments that combine case studies with applied research can work for presentations as well as for written reports. One such assignment that has proven to be successful both in the author's classes and later in the students' professional lives is based on (1) incorporating banking concepts and encouraging their use in presentations; (2)…

A teacher's experiences in teaching higher education in the United States during the 1981 fall semester at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are discussed. The course is an introductory course for graduate students in the higher and adult education doctoral program, but it also attracts students from throughout the university and…