The school lives of students and educators have long been affected by technological changes, but the advent of digital technologies, from smartphones to social media, have amplified the effects on their daily lives. Unfortunately, school curricula rarely focus on critically examining our relationships with technologies. Daniel G. Krutka, Jacob…

This article describes a project that integrates English Language Arts (ELA) and coding into environmental science. For this project, students researched science content about human impact on the environment, communicated their findings through a traditionally formatted narrative story, and then used a coding program called Scratch to create an…

Based on research conducted in a fourth-grade classroom, the author describes one teacher's process for integrating social studies and English language arts using a writers' workshop approach. Furthermore, the fourth-grade teacher was able to provide students with an opportunity to engage in multimodal composition. After conducting research…

Digital technology offers new possibilities for children to play, express themselves, learn, and communicate. A recent development in online practice is a shift toward youth engaged in computer programming online communities. Programming is argued to be the new literacy of the millennium. In this article, I examine the use of Scratch, an online…

This study examines vodcasting as an effective instructional activity that can transform students' negative feelings about reading and book reports into more positive experiences. The study employed a qualitative research paradigm and single-case study research design to investigate the impact of using vodcasting in a middle grades language arts…

This comprehensive book offers a practical pathway for developing twenty-first-century skills while simultaneously strengthening content-area learning. "Digital Learning" contains a wealth of research-based practices to integrate the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards (NETS) for both…

In this article, the author discusses a five-month interdisciplinary bird study that she designed for her seventh-grade students that combines life science, technology, writing, art, mathematics, social studies and literature. The driving force behind this yearly unit is the BirdSleuth eBird program (formerly the Cornell University Classroom…

An action research study investigated how the multiple tasks found in WebQuests facilitate fifth-grade students' literacy skills and higher order thinking. Findings indicate that WebQuests are most successful when activities are carefully selected and systematically delivered. Implications for teaching include the necessity for adequate planning,…

Argues that the contemporary language arts curriculum encompasses eight areas: literature, language, composition, speech and drama, critical thinking, technology, media literacy, and interdisciplinary studies. Offers a rationale for "cosmos" as a new metaphor for the language arts. Discusses the content of each of the eight curricular areas, and…

The inspiration for this article was not conceived over lunch, but more specifically over the box in which the lunches were packaged. Five colleagues brainstormed ideas for teaching a unit on trees for the third grade that would fit in our boxes. The disciplines involved were art, children's literature, science, social studies, and technology.…

Amateur radio is a technology and activity that offers great potential when integrated into academic or vocational curricula. Programs with electrical, electronics, and electromechanical content can benefit from the use of amateur radio, and can also enhance language and communications skills. The biggest value of amateur radio may lie in its…

Describes an interdisciplinary project that incorporated language arts, social studies, instructional technology, and science where middle school students were involved in oral history, Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, architectural research, the science of dendrochronology, and the creation of an archival school Web site. (CMK)

Educators can identify children's strengths early on and gain insight into each student's unique abilities by using the numerous ideas and informal assessments in this exciting guide. Gifted and talented specialist Ann Maccagnano offers K-8 teachers challenging activities and engaging lessons to develop and nurture gifted learners' talents.…

Technology can be utilized as a tool for creating macrocontexts for teaching integrated science and language arts. Teachers can use several criteria for deciding what kind of technology-based resources to use; the teacher's level of confidence in science and language arts content and knowledge of technology-based resources is vital to making such…

This paper describes "Methods of Integrating Technology in the Elementary Social Studies/Language Arts Classroom," a class at Northern Arizona State University with the purpose of assisting preservice teacher candidates in developing an understanding and appreciation of the many perspectives of the social studies, language acquisition in…