Describes a museum experience for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders designed in the form of a treasure hunt/questionnaire. This tour format, which does not require the presence of an art specialist, was used at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. (SJL)

This paper takes a descriptive look at Community Science Workshops (CSWs). This paper discusses what CSW is, how it arose and spread, how local CSWs are structured and led, and what programs and experiences they offer to youth. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

Described is a project in which third graders create their own corporation--a cupcake factory--and learn first-hand about economic principles and the decisions that businesses must make in the market economy. The cupcake factory is one example of how enterprising educators can make economics comprehensible and captivating. (RM)

Dialog from a filmed lesson that uses graphing to explain positive and negative numbers is presented. The material highlights the responses of children. The work was also presented to a class of low, mixed-ability pupils since the filming, and the work of two pupils from this group is noted. (MP)

For the past five years, Andover, Kansas middle-schoolers in an amateur radio club and class have sent and received Morse code messages, assembled and soldered circuit boards, designed and built antenna systems, and used computer programs to analyze radio communications problems. A successful bond issue financed a ham shack enabling students to…

Research shows that when students learn in outdoor settings (compared to classrooms), they learn more quickly, appreciate the experience more, and retain skills longer. This article describes the University of Georgia's School Design and Planning Laboratory, a Georgia middle school's living history/wetlands project, and two other outdoor-learning…

Three companies (Voyager Expanded Learning, Mindsurf, and EXPLORE) have introduced after-school programs that emphasize stress-free academic enrichment activities. The companies differ, but share a fun-learning concept, maintain low staff-child ratios of about 1:8, and serve grades K-8. The operative words are flexibility and affordability. Some…

This paper argues that Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) offer the potential for advancing existing techniques for computer assisted instruction and deepening the understanding of issues in the learning and teaching of writing. The paper: (1) outlines the goals and significance of research in ITS, emphasizing their value in formulating knowledge…

Fourth-graders in Oklahoma City used the Internet to find an expert to identify a 75-pound Pleistocene-Era mammoth femur they found in a nearby river. A superintendent explains how his technologically backward district wired its schools for Internet learning and facilitated genuine instructional improvement. (MLH)

Southeastern New Hampshire schoolchildren are involved in three network science projects for grades 2-8: Batnet, Birdnet, and Treenet. The listserv projects were developed by a group of teachers interested in using the computer-Internet connection to enrich and extend the science learning. Network science makes topics more real, lends immediacy to…

Profiles four successful charter schools. San Diego's O'Farrell Community School provides an enrichment curriculum for inner-city middle schoolers. The Minnesota New Country School, established by three teachers, stresses individual and group projects. Saint Paul's City Academy engages 60 racially diverse youngsters with real-life construction…

The nature of an investigation into numbers termed Nearly Isosceles Pythagorean Triples (NIPTs) is detailed. The exploration, even though it is stated to have no practical value, is defended as helping pupils see the beauty of patterns in mathematics. Two questions regarding the pattern of generating NIPTs are noted. (MP)

The current and future development of "Geography 16-19," a curriculum project which combines a man-environment approach to geography with enquiry-based learning is discussed. Included is an overview of the curriculum framework, courses, syllabi, and teaching materials. (DC)

Describes a science program designed for gifted seventh and eighth grade students. Includes curriculum guidelines; implementation, development, and evaluation of the program. (MA)

A method of discovery learning in which students learn the technique of observing and formulating questions is applied to landscape archaeology. This method demands that the relationship between tutor and student be adjusted so that the tutor becomes a fellow researcher rather than a conveyor of information. (Author/CSS)