Combines independent reading and teacher-directed lessons to teach geographic concepts through picture books and children's literature in a third grade class. Outlines learning activities that emphasize the geographical perspectives of five picture books. Describes the class project in which students develop a puzzlelike map of the United States…

Presents a high school lesson plan on the Casco Bay Treaty, an agreement between Native Americans and colonial governments in the pre-Revolutionary War era. Includes student objectives, historical background, and instructional strategies. Provides two primary source documents related to the treaty. (CFR)

Examines teaching styles, technology use, and implementation of thematic units among preservice and practicing teachers. Findings indicated that teachers' instructional styles influenced the ways computer technology and thematic instruction were implemented. Suggests that successful integration of technology and thematic instruction requires…

Contends that the issue of diversity and cultural pluralism is generally defined as an educational goal. Presents a lesson using Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron." Includes student objectives, the short story, step-by-step instructional procedures, extension activities, and a list of recommended books on this topic. (CFR)

Discusses the importance of architecture in Thomas Jefferson's life. Presents a lesson plan based on Jefferson's Monticello and designed to encourage students to identify and understand elements of classical architecture in their local area. Includes a photograph of Monticello and six architectural illustrations. (CFR)

Presents a summary of research findings related to factors involved in effective economics instruction and student achievement. Finds that student academic ability and teachers training in economics are the two most important variables of students' economic knowledge. (CFR)

Contends that oral history is a way to involve students in thinking about and understanding history and the contemporary world. Includes a family history chart, recommendations for creating an oral history questionnaire, sample interview questions, and four student oral history writing models. (CFR)

Presents a high school history lesson based on the National Standards for United States History. Considers the effect of the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence on free and enslaved African Americans. (CFR)

Considers four language arts--speaking, listening, reading, and writing--as activities that enhance the development of mathematical concepts. Suggests ways language arts can be used in learning difficult concepts as missing addends, algorithms, number facts, and problem solving. (39 references) (MDH)

During a six-week methods course for preservice elementary school teachers, student pairs were asked to solve a problem and record their experiences in a dairy. Presented are the dairy entries of two students as they worked on determining the number of squares that can be formed on a five-peg geoboard. (MDH)

Presents suggestions to help elementary teachers organize learning centers and activities around the themes of Peter Rabbit (Grade 1), weather (Grade 3), and bees (Grade 5). Suggestions are given for activities in centers for listening/reading, language arts, computers, math, science, cooperative learning, research, and writing. (SM)

Describes the method of having children observe videotapes of other children's mathematics activities to gain insights into the observing children's thought processes and the observed children's activities. Discusses the applications of this method as a research tool and as a probe for classroom teachers in evaluating students. (MDH)

Presents a series of science teaching ideas with the following titles: When Demonstrations Are Misleading, Lasers and Refraction, An Improved Stair-Step Model, Correcting Your Compass, Seeing Is Not Believing, Food Coloring: From the Kitchen to the Lab, Punny Business, Portfolios in Science, Feathers or Gold: A Case for Using the Metric System,…

Presents a pull-out section that includes four brief articles and accompanying learning activities. The articles include an architectural examination of the move from medieval fort to Renaissance palace, interdisciplinary biographical writing assignments, a look at the portrayal of people with disabilities in juvenile literature, and material on…

Can "Information Age" learners effectively multi-task in the classroom? Can synchronous classroom activities be designed around conceptually related tasks, to encourage deeper processing and greater learning of classroom content? This research was undertaken to begin to address these questions. In this study, we explored the use of…