Reprints an April 17, 1989 NEWSWEEK cover story, "How Kids Learn," which maintains that young children learn best in developmentally appropriate programs that promote cognitive, social, and language development; physical activities; feelings of competence and self-esteem; individual rates of growth; parent involvement; and teacher…

Describes a lesson in which the life-cycle of an insect is studied. Provides information on the purchase and care of the animal and directions for student observations. Questions and activities are included. (RT)

Traditional schooling falls short of preparing students for real-world experience in failing to incorporate informal, "in-context" learning situations. Reviews the literature on experience-based education and cites several successful urban programs that involve students in the educative community through learning experience, career…

Discusses a program in which research groups consisting of faculty, undergraduate students, and graduate students worked on projects in computer graphics, automatic-code generation, or computer-aided instruction. Cites several positive outcomes for students when research is made relevant to the technical subject studied. (RT)

Investigates how Brazilian child candy sellers form and use mathematical understandings. Finds that sellers use knowledge acquired through business activity to work school problems, while only a limited part of school learning is applied to the out-of-school situations. (FMW)

Discusses effective ways to develop and promote educationally sound music programs for preschool children. Covers three types of music learning centers as versatile and inexpensive resources for creating independent learning environments: singing centers, instrument centers, and listening centers. Suggests ideas for group time, and for promoting…

Describes student-directed class model at Hampshire College, Massachusetts. Describes students' role as planning syllabus, regulating commitment, facilitating sessions, and evaluating course. Describes teacher's role as balancing intervention with non-involvement. Recommends model as way of integrating experiential learning into mainstream…

Explains a discipline that requires students to become problem solvers in agronomic and pest areas using computer-simulated models. Describes the seven programing areas. The program is written in BASIC totaling 182K bytes for use with MS-DOS 2.0 or an IBM PC requiring 256 K RAM, color monitor, and card. Lists availability. (RT)

Presents a lesson based on Decatur House, the home of Stephen Decatur, a military commander during the war with the Barbary Pirates and the War of 1812. Outlines student objectives and three learning activities. Includes four student readings, one map, three drawings, and two photographs. (CFR)

Presents instructional activities that bring "real world" content to the study of World War II by elementary students. Includes experiential activities such as interviews, guest speakers, visits to war memorials, and reading fiction and biographies. Includes an "All-American Matching Exercise" emphasizing cultural pluralism. (CFR)

Discusses the motivation, implementation, and impressions of involving college students in written and oral field guide contributions in two geography classes. Concludes that students learn more from participating, obtain written and oral communication opportunities, and acquire self-esteem by using the approach. (CFR)

The goal of the Teacher Education Program Consortium is to develop a network of preservice and inservice teacher education programs that share an experiential/constructivist learning philosophy. A survey of 84 selected teacher education programs examined program scope, structure, and financial resources; educational philosophy; and program…

Three groups of secondary school teachers received different types of training with regard to teaching at-risk students. Teachers who learned techniques of experiential cooperative gaming for use with at-risk students demonstrated an increase in self-confidence in dealing with at-risk students, while teachers who received only information…

Presents a class project facilitated by a teacher who used his background in construction to teach students to build a house, during which process many geometric and measurement concepts were introduced or reinforced. Discusses importance of student responsibility and the vital cooperation between construction experts, materials suppliers, and…

Focuses on student organization, preparation, and presentation of simple foods (beverage, brownies, sloppy-joe sandwiches) as a way to apply various mathematical concepts, with problem-solving techniques being central to almost all the activities. Includes reproducible student worksheets. (MKR)