In the early twentieth century, a curriculum known as nature study flourished in major city school systems, streetcar suburbs, small towns, and even rural one-room schools. This object-based approach to learning about the natural world marked the first systematic attempt to introduce science into elementary education, and it came at a time when…

Much research has pointed to the importance of pretend play as a facilitator of literacy development. However, few studies have investigated the corresponding role of sociodramatic play in mathematical development. This exploratory naturalistic study examined the numerate behaviors that occurred during spontaneous pretend play in a preschool…

This "Third Annual Report Card" looks at improvements in the cradle-to-career educational pipeline, the areas where Boston has made modest progress but still has a great deal of work to do, and the places where observers have failed to see the gains that are needed to ensure that Boston is a city of opportunity for all. This report card…

A summer enrichment program integrated language arts skills with outdoor education to produce a qualitatively different program to meet the needs of gifted students. (CL)

Nine to 14-year-old writers who participated in the Young People's Institute, a summer program for gifted and talented students, worked on tasks based on the Enrichment Triad Model. Examples of the work from their anthology are presented. (CL)

The article describes College Academy, a summer school program for gifted and academically talented elementary children in Framingham, Massachusetts, designed to offer imaginative and challenging courses unavailable in a regular school setting. (DLS)

The Kid's Klub is a school-age child care summer program focused on building developmental assets. Extension staff, 4-H adult and youth leaders, and Master Gardeners presented projects to first- through fourth-graders. Parents (n=11) reported that their children continued developing empathy, sensitivity, and friendship skills. (SK)

Describes a successful program that introduced Japanese language and culture to children in Kansas. End of program survey results revealed that students, parents, and facilitators were overwhelmingly positive about the program. (Author/VWL)

Dedicated teachers and an innovation program make an Illinois summer program fun--while central air conditioning makes it environmentally comfortable. (Author)

An evaluation report is presented for a 1975 summer program for 25 6- to 12-year-old autistic children in New York City. Evaluative procedures are described, and student ratings in four skill areas (basic life skills, orientation to learning, cognitive skills, and socialization) are explained. Final results are said to indicate that all Ss…

A mother, whose physically handicapped 7-year-old daughter has prosthetic feet, describes how her child adjusted well first to a summer day camp and then to a week long camping program run by the Girl Scouts. (GW)

Describes a museum's 10-week summer education program for elementary school students. In a nineteenth-century setting, students assume the role of adults and create an American West community. Tasks include blacksmithing, weaving, farming, carpentry, and printing. (KC)

Describes a class project designed to bridge the learning gap between June and September by creating a bag full of summer learning activities. (SB)

Evaluated methods of reading instruction in a remedial summer school program. Concluded that instruction keyed to district-adopted basal readers is antithetical to purposive, contextualized instruction and should be abandoned in favor of more creative approaches. (CJM)

Describes the University of Maryland at Baltimore County's one-week foreign language exploratory program for fourth through sixth grade students, and details methods and strategies used to conduct "Spanish Day," where students learned about Spanish language and culture through songs, games, and stories. (CB)