Discusses activities that can help teachers of toddlers to design environments that stimulate and facilitate children's exploration, discovery, and understanding of color beyond the traditional boundaries of sight. Suggests that by incorporating other senses, teachers offer to the older toddlers rich multi-sensory experiences that can nurture and…

Recommends elementary school projects where children design and make their own musical instruments. Maintains that this familiarizes students with the family of instruments and how they produce sound. The built instruments can be as simple as a washtub bass or as complex as an electronic synthesizer. (MJP)

An elementary teacher who completed her preservice fieldwork with Hawaii's PETOM (Preservice Education for Teaching of Minorities) program discusses the experimental process she uses to teach students to read and to love reading. By presenting her diary, the article highlights her whole-language approach to teaching a love of reading. (SM)

Describes the winners of the Prentice Hall/National Middle School Association Teaching Team Awards (established to recognize exceptional interdisciplinary projects by middle school teaching teams). Students designed a new school, simulated a journey over the Oregon trail, conducted oral histories, and turned a local river into a learning…

Primary students at one Hawaiian elementary school learn science through direct experience, gaining firsthand knowledge from their gardens and fieldwork. The article describes a garden project involving students and parents. The project, which was originally intended to teach students about plants, actually expanded their knowledge in a variety of…

A high school teacher sought to interest her English class in literature by developing a curriculum that included popular movies. After eliciting students' reactions to the films, she helped them list the criteria for film quality. She investigated the reasons for their opinions to help them develop critical thinking skills. (SM)

Children's literature can provide a context in which young children can explore mathematical concepts in a meaningful way. This article highlights how young students in first-grade classrooms used stories about their families and pets to create and solve mathematical problems in a motivating, meaningful way. (SM)

Describes one elementary teacher's experiences participating in the Talking Mathematics Project, which provided a forum for teachers to teach, reflect on their mathematics knowledge, and think about their practice. Teachers were videotaped in their classrooms. They examined the videotapes alone and in seminars. Reflecting with others enriched the…

Presents ideas on integrating science fiction into language arts, science, social studies, and math. Suggestions include an interstellar journey, imaginative language lessons, futuristic social studies, extraterrestrial life studies, intergalactic math, and science fiction story writing. (SM)

Presents an excerpt from the journal of a second grade teacher who reflected on the daily challenges and possibilities of learning in a child-centered, meaning-based classroom free of workbooks and standardized testing; an interview with author Nancie Atwell, a language specialist and veteran teacher; and suggestions for books and journals. (SM)

Presents the first in a series of profiles on teachers who have attempted educational change, describing how a New Jersey elementary teacher eased the transition process for a burgeoning population of immigrant children. Her multicultural strategy involved in-class learning centers and immigrant parent mentors for new arrivals and their families.…

Using an environmental approach, Israeli researchers compared an experimental high school that emphasized respect, responsibility, and resourcefulness to a conventional high school. Social climate surveys of students and teachers indicated experimental classes had more perceived teacher support and less competition. The environmental instrument…

Outlines and discusses a series of activities using puppet theater to explore social community issues. Draws inspiration from the street theater of the 1960s that used puppetry and engaged the audience in lively conversations during productions. Includes instructions for building puppets and suggestions for plays and performance material. (MJP)

This K-3 social studies activity combines art and language arts with social studies skills and attitudes. Teachers use the old Japanese tradition of story cards to check students' comprehension, give them practice in oral communication, and develop their visual/spatial intelligence, all while teaching them about another culture. (SM)

Explains situated approaches to teaching, exploring the pedagogical significance of intervention projects produced by college students to interrupt business as usual in their education. The projects were context-specific actions emerging out of interactions between the course material and students' understandings of how these issues were manifest…