Describes a game called UPSIDE DOWN that is designed for use in higher education courses or in corporate training to sensitize participants to cultural issues when interacting with groups with different backgrounds. Both intragroup and intergroup interactions are described, suggestions for debriefing are given, and a complete set of rules is…

Ideas for the development of creative exploration in mathematics are offered, including games to play in class (e.g., card games and tangrams), competitions (sample problems), clubs and math evenings (math relays and treasure hunts), projects (possible topics in patchwork quilting, art, and music), and math camps. (DB)

Offers elementary math-centered recycling activities and ideas on transforming throwaways into valuable classroom resources. The math activities teach estimating, counting, measuring, weighing, graphing, patterning, thinking, comparing, proportion, and dimensions. The recycling ideas present ways to use pieces of trash to create educational games.…

Discusses five classroom teaching methods: (1) creating audio-visual picture book presentations; (2) using written retellings of fables to teach dialogue; (3) writing letters; (4) planning a year-end "read-in"; and (5) turning story maps into game boards. (RS)

Reviews three books: (1) "Jeux Populaires Traditionnels pour les Enfants d'aujourd'hui" (Traditional Popular Games for Today's Children) (Jacqueline Theriault and Denise Garon); "Early Childhood Education" (B. Persky and L. Golubchick, editors); and "Playing to Learn: The Young Child, Teacher and the Classroom" (Weininger and Daniel). (AC)

A spelling study expert offers the following strategies for teaching elementary students to spell: making word-sorting games that categorize words by shared characteristics; playing letter-sequencing games; examining how root words and affixes combine to form new words; making spelling meaningful; and linking spelling study with editing and…

Describes various electronic technologies available for classroom use, including videocassette news reports, educational computer games based on knowledge of geographical and historical trivia, and other software programs developed expressly for schools. Nintendo Company is being watched for optical disk developments, and "virtual…

Offers brief annotations of 68 children's picture books which all deal, in one way or another, with games and playing. (SR)

Play for Peace brings children of conflicting cultures together through cooperative play. Partner organizations and volunteers in areas such as the Balkans and urban Chicago support the training of teenage facilitators, who learn through experience how to facilitate cooperative, noncompetitive games for children aged 6-10. (SV)

Presents a game to capture student interest in probability by giving them an opportunity to explore the idea of various outcomes and the likelihood of the occurrence of one of those outcomes to explain the benefits of using a large sample rather than a small one. (ASK)

Presents strategies for relating the Big6 information problem-solving process to sports to gain students' attention, sustain it, and make instruction relevant to their interests. Lectures by coaches, computer-based sports games, sports information sources, the use of technology in sports, and judging sports events are discussed. (LRW)

Describes how successful teamwork, group decision making and valuable real-world experience resulted from an experiment between two universities to introduce a media buying simulation game into their media planning courses. Relates how students in teams took roles of either media buyers at advertising agencies or media sales representatives at…

Presents a dice game that students can use as a basis for exploring mathematical probabilities and making decisions while they also exercise skills in multiplication, pattern identification, proportional thinking, and communication. (ASK)

Chess is an interactive, authentic, three-dimensional activity that naturally supports and encourages marginalized students in successful transitions. Chess can also help educators gain a wider understanding of what it means to be, and who is perceived to be, intelligent. Discusses eight specific ways in which chess can be beneficial in an…

Notes that recess in elementary education is filled with struggles and crises; presents suggestions for playground education and guidance. Suggests that teachers can implement children's prosocial playground behavior by presenting a repertoire of acceptable games to play and tools for game organization, providing support on the playground, keeping…