Journal writing lets teachers explore their practice, document classroom life, and reflect on experiences. Journals help develop understanding and insights which enrich professional judgment. The teacher's spirit of inquiry creates school culture. Self-view and creativity are crucial to teaching and must not be lost during educational development.…

Described is the Vale Interactive Science and Technology Adventure (VISTA) center that caters specifically to primary school students, involves concepts and skills from the National Curriculum, and researches playing children's patterns of learning. The plans for the future and early descriptions of students reactions are reported. (KR)

Discusses how to teach children about electricity via home projects involving electricity games. The concepts of circuits, conductors, and insulators are illustrated by having students build their own game boards. Instructions for making a telegraph and learning the Morse code are provided. (SM)

Field notes written by students and guides during an eight-day university credit course in canoeing and wilderness living are presented as a dialogue to illuminate the spiritual experience of self-realization and well-being that comes to many students during the trip. (SV)

Relevant information concerning bee stings is provided. Possible reactions to a bee sting and their symptoms, components of bee venom, diagnosis of hypersensitivity, and bee sting prevention and treatment are topics of discussion. The possibility of bee stings occurring during field trips and the required precautions are discussed. (KR)

A tissue culture experiment that does not require elaborate equipment and that can be used to teach sterile technique, the principles of animal cell line maintenance, and the concept of cell growth curves is described. The differences between cancerous and normal cells can be highlighted. The procedure is included. (KR)

One elementary teacher runs her classroom as a technology-based token economy. Students hold classroom jobs and use software to track money earned, manage checking accounts, and disburse classroom cash. The strategy boosts math and technology skills. A list of software programs is included. (SM)

Describes an entrepreneurial workshop experience for African-American high school students at Albany State College (Georgia). Discusses the beginnings of the program, its purpose, and activities during the workshop. Includes participants' and coordinator's comments. Suggests that the experience encourages students' desire to improve their lot in…

Wigginton's Foxfire program requires that students and teachers collaborate on important, intriguing issues and use certain experiential methods to address and assess them. Wigginton handed out copies of Georgia's 92 language arts objectives to his ninth and tenth graders and allowed them considerable flexibility in learning them. Cooperative…

Interviews with educators and students examined the value of and identified barriers to effective use of supervised agricultural experiences (SAE) in a Los Angeles high school and a semirural Colorado high school. Both programs overcame diverse challenges to develop valuable experiential learning through SAEs. Recommendations provide strategies…

Introduces a special report on elementary science curriculum reform; articles include a primer on science reform, a look at the new wave of science teaching materials, model lessons for putting theory into practice, and a profile of one pioneering teacher who successfully changed the way science is taught in her school. (SM)

Guidelines help elementary educators understand what they will be teaching in science programs, how they will assess student learning, and how they will be trained. Science programs should develop scientific literacy via hands-on, collaborative, inquiry-oriented lessons centered on processes used by real scientists in their everyday work. (SM)

The University of Maine redesigned its teacher preparation program to emphasize field experiences, occurring every semester, that gradually socialize students into the teacher role, provide a support system for preservice teachers, and lessen the transitional shock often suffered by beginning teachers. Student comments are included. (SV)

Discusses issues and problems concerning concept development among students in elementary social studies programs. Suggests good teaching uses analogies and metaphors to facilitate learning. Recommends illustrating key concepts through myths, fables, and parables. Argues that using stories that show how things work allows students to apply the…

Argues that offering part of the sociology curriculum abroad enables an instructor to take advantage of the students' marginal position in foreign countries. States that the students' marginality helps achieve three goals: engaging students' interest, dealing with their ethnocentricity, and using experiential learning. Describes the State…