A model is provided which shows how the community can become a laboratory in which the learner studies data and makes decisions. In the community laboratory, learners are both participants and observers, helping them understand why they live as they do and how citizens work together to improve community life. (Author/JR)

The CREST (Creative Resources Enriching Student Talents) program's creative arts model for gifted elementary school students offers courses in the visual and performing arts using community resources and artists to broaden and enrich children's creativity through general exploratory activities, group training activities, and individual and small…

A model performing arts program (The Arts from the Inside Out) for gifted and talented elementary students at the Robert Blair Pollock Elementary School in Philadelphia (PA), provides children with first-hand backstage experience with opera, music, dance, drama, filmmaking, and architecture. (CL)

This article examines social studies in the primary grades and shows how community resources can facilitate social learning. A three-stage model is examined which addresses the issues of citizenship and community involvement in the primary grades. It provides for teacher/school, parent/community, and learner involvement in all stages of…

Examines a cross-section of craft knowledge and research-based literature of science learning beyond the classroom. Describes informal science education programs, and discusses implications for science teaching, focusing on the importance of informal science learning for children and in-service and preservice teachers. Proposes a model for…

Developed by a graduate seminar class, this guide is intended to help teachers use museums to integrate the arts into the elementary social studies curriculum. Although many of the resources included pertain specifically to Pennsylvania, the guide can serve as a model for educators in other states. Many different resources are provided. There is…

The major reason for using the outdoor history museum as a field laboratory is to provide for small in depth studies of "real life" problems relevant for today's students. An authentic New England village of 1790-1840 provides the background for the sequential development of various concepts in the social studies learning unit. Concepts are…

The report describes Creative Resources Enriching Student Talents (C.R.E.S.T.), a Title IVC project designed to encourage individual creative growth in gifted/talented children by stimulating them to solve problems within the areas of academics and the creative arts; the program is used in elementary schools in Lebanon, a rural Connecticut…