By integrating community service projects and the academic curriculum, students can help their communities and put their learning into practice. Elementary school and secondary school programs in New York City, Orange (Florida), Los Angeles (California), and St. Louis (Missouri) illustrate the rewards of service projects. (SLD)

Advocates conducting oral history projects as part of elementary school social studies programs. Outlines key steps for incorporating oral history projects including determine a focus; identify local residents to interview; practice interviewing techniques; exchange information; and create booklets. Lists research resources. Stresses the…

Gifted sixth grade students created kits to help their parents survive being the parents of gifted children. The kits contained items that served as vehicles for communicating parenting suggestions, compliments, needs for independence, appeals for love and guidance, unique student characteristics, and humor. (JDD)

This interview brings out Susan Winebrenner's views on key concepts in her book on teaching gifted students in regular classrooms; the importance of appreciating diversity, utilizing flexible grouping, and allowing for varying learning styles; the administrator's role; the role of independent projects; and the special needs of gifted students. (DB)

Reports on a collaborative learning project in which college-level counseling students designed and presented workshops on therapeutic intervention. Finds workshops stimulated more personal involvement with the topic and individual written papers ensured that all shared the workload. Concludes that workshops prepare students for collaborative…

Describes the Independent Study Program of Seekonk High School (Massachusetts), a program that allows students to leave school on a regular basis to volunteer within the community. Seniors choose a project and submit it for approval. Suggestions are given for implementing and sustaining such a program. (SLD)

Presents a lesson designed to enable the secondary student to formulate generalizations and to recognize the implications of global food production and consumption through the observation and analysis of thematic maps. Notes geographic skills and national standards addressed, materials needed, lesson objectives, teaching suggestions, and ideas for…

Outlines the implementation, production, and assessment of electronic posters in two undergraduate classes, one prepared with Microsoft PowerPoint and the other using hypertext mark-up language (HTML). Describes the advantages of each, along with the grading schemes and comments about implementation. Concludes that the exercises are useful for…

Discusses the integration of multimedia into the classroom and suggests group work for high school multimedia projects to encourage students to learn how to work with others and to develop leadership skills, organizational skills, and basic mentoring skills. Provides guidelines for groups. (LRW)

Describes a five-week English course in which pairs of students work collaboratively on team-building activities, library research, research-paper topic selection, outlining, paraphrasing and summarizing, and writing and editing a joint research paper. Presents the peer-evaluation techniques, which differentiate students' share of the work so that…

The current standards movement cannot succeed unless a school's culture is committed to helping all students achieve excellence. Principals must build a schoolwide culture of quality focused on learning projects. Teachers should design projects backwards, using standards and assessment rubrics based on actual student products and performances.…

Researching mathematicians is a way for students to gain an understanding of mathematical concepts applied in class. This article outlines an eight-day collaborative project in which librarians and math teachers guide eighth graders in researching and creating multimedia presentations on mathematicians. Lists selected Web resources, including one…

Describes how a seventh-grade class created and presented their own museum as a special research project for an ancient cultures unit. Discusses how the class used drama strategies to frame issues and discussions, and used "processed drama" and "mantle of the expert drama" in extended ways to frame two months of inquiry and a…

Illustrates that history can be brought to life and internalized in an authentic fashion in a variety of situations. Demonstrates the step-by-step process by which teacher and class can formulate, prepare, plan, research, rehearse, and present role-playing simulations for class, school, and community. Includes a student persona worksheet.…

Describes an eighth-grade science class in a school primarily of Chinese immigrant students of many languages and levels of education, where what matters most are learning English; developing community; and starting from the students' experiences, questions, and troubles. Argues that real learning happens as students feel accountable for asking…