Describes an autobiography writing assignment. State that the resulting texts are entertaining, enlightening, and contain facts and anecdotes that reflect the personalities of the authors. (RS)

Presents ideas to help elementary educators teach their students thinking skills through word splashes (collages of words and pictures that help students think and make connections). A student page offers a word splash activity. (SM)

The ninth installment of the Science in a Box series (self-contained, hands-on activities for students grades three and up) presents activities for learning to use the sense of touch to determine how different objects conduct heat. All projects in the series are inexpensive and easy to assemble. (SM)

Provides an example of how figurative language can be directly taught to elementary students. Provides a collection of figurative sentences that teachers can use with their students. (MG)

This fourth and final article in a series about hypertext links and associated design guidelines focuses on learning support and program help links that support users' learning activities and help users understand the operational elements of the program itself. Examples are given from a HyperCard program called Desert Shield. (LRW)

Discusses methods for increasing students' appreciation of and interest in history by incorporating the human element into the narrative. Suggests that this can be accomplished by utilizing diaries, journals, oral histories, and living people. Argues that the brief coverage of events presented in texts does little to give students a feeling of the…

Describes a student project for a class on cognitive psychology in which students learn about the application of psychology principles by designing and producing television commercials. Discusses evaluation by both students and teachers. Explains that the principles used include primacy, rehearsal, repetition, and cue dependence. (DK)

To create a learning environment that fosters critical thinking, a variety of learning activities can be used: critical analyses, debate teams, dramatization, action maze, critical incident, scenario building, Socratic questioning, creative visualization, listening teams, journal writing, cartoons, and inventing. (SK)

This column describes activities for use with students having visual impairments, focusing on various types of calendars, including a sensory calendar and voice calendars produced by the Voxcom tape recorder (which uses magnetically striped cards to record and play brief messages). (DB)

Like British morning programs of recent decades, upstate New York program encourages parents and community residents to get involved in children's education. Parents and community residents--watercolor artists, auto mechanics, doll collectors, and others--are welcomed and valued in schools. Program's purpose is learning, not entertainment. Topics…

Presents a board game in which students pretend to be American Indians, settlers, or traders. Explains that students learn about people and life in Canada in the nineteenth century. Suggests that players will learn vocabulary, a sense of value, and bartering methods. Includes designs for the gameboard, commodity cards, and score cards. (DK)

Describes a group project from a course on rural, countercultural communitarians' attempts to create utopian communities. Explains that the project gives students the opportunity to integrate material from a variety of sources and to apply it to a group term paper. Suggests that the project utilizes experiential methods for learning abstract…

Describes picture book editions of single poems. Discusses appropriate classroom uses of the poem picture books. Suggests ways of involving children with poem picture books. (MG)

Looks closely at the words of Whitman's "Song of Myself" to get a closer look at the mystery of poetry. Discusses how Whitman's work can be used with students to inspire their writing. (MG)

Presents and explains model representing four dimensions of global education: temporal, spatial, issues, and inner. Presents six principal areas covered by humane curricula; the relationships between humane education, environmental education, and human rights education; and two humane education activities for the secondary and elementary/secondary…