Discusses the controversy involving the effectiveness of elementary science curricula projects of the sixties and seventies. Reports on a synthesis of the research, student performance, implications, and improvements for the future. States that these innovative programs were more effective in raising student performance and attitudes than…

Explained is an interdisciplinary assignment in which students use scientific knowledge and apply it in a practical situation. Provided is background information and precautions regarding safety procedures. (RT)

Provides information for the development of a lesson which teaches students about sand, discusses facts about sands, sand studies, life in the sands, and sand activities. Includes diagrams showing the range in sand grain shape, formation of sand ripples, and sand samples from around the world. (RT)

Proposes changing the emphasis in physical education programs toward promoting a healthy lifestyle rather than toward sport or competition. Examines ways in which theoretical models might be used to develop practical ways of working with young people so that they are provided experiential learning in physical education courses. (KO)

As jobs change, schools must shift in response to evolving information technologies. The concept of "cognition enhancers" can teach us how to use these emerging technologies. School curricula will need to emphasize higher order thinking skills, learning while doing, collaboration, interconnected research capabilities, and…

Describes an oral history project in which ninth graders interviewed residents of an Atlanta neighborhood facing disruption by urban development and prepared transcriptions and scrapbooks for presentation to the local historical society. (SV)

Outlines a high school campaign to increase community awareness of the problems of homeless people. Describes student efforts to research the facts and circulate their findings through flyers, posters, letters, speeches, and radio spots. Offers cautionary suggestions for teachers supervising similar projects. (SV)

Challenges the assumptions behind discipline-based art education. Defends studio art as educationally sound relative to learning theory and characterizes it as the best defense against the exclusion of art from the curriculum. Recommends studio art as a means for balancing curriculum already skewed toward analytically abstract teaching…

Describes the use of drama to give meaning and understanding to a unit on Native Americans. Students worked in small groups or "tribes" to research cultural attributes, and then acted out tribal rituals and created costumes and artifacts. The group work and the active roleplaying helped students to develop a new understanding of…

Describes use of computerized case simulations in which undergraduate psychology students are asked to function as therapists. Despite reporting positive reactions from instructors and students, emphasizes that simulation should be used only as a supplement to courses and that there is a danger of students accepting statements as facts merely…

Reviewed are studies dealing with cognitive learning in the environment, investigating the advantages of field instruction for the purposes of concept and content learning. Biological and earth sciences are emphasized because instruction in these areas often focus on the environment. (CW)

Describes the development and content of a freshman seminar titled "The Psychology of Mushrooms," which teaches psychology as natural history. This approach allowed the course to proceed from concrete experience to general principals of perception, learning, social, and abnormal psychology. (Author/LS)

Three examples from Canadian schools and elsewhere illustrate the ways in which computers and computer networks can improve language skills, both first and second. Computer networks can provide opportunities for collaborative learning experiences facilitating literacy development and cultural exchange. (LMO)

Contends that introducing elementary students to history concepts is difficult because they have few reference points for comprehending change over time. Discusses the use of buttons for an inquiry-based activity designed to heighten student interest and learning. (CFR)

This discussion of naturalistic interventions with young children experiencing learning and behavioral problems notes their bases in studies of competent caregivers and focuses on intervention in the child's usual environments, provision of experiences targeting functional behaviors, and caregiver skills that facilitate learning and behavior…