The use of a what if" approach in teaching in order to enliven learning is described. (DB)

Tips to keep students interested during the final weeks of school include: work outside (studying bubbles and writing poetry about nature); put on a show about one subject; play social studies Jeopardy; devote entire days to one subject area; have a teach-the-teacher day, where students and teachers trade roles; and create a video keepsake…

Offers several activities for celebrating Winnie-the-Pooh's birthday, including: reading Pooh stories and inventing a Pooh trivia game; creating a spot for thinking and reflecting; writing poems; using Pooh's expedition to the North Pole as inspiration for an imaginary class trip; dividing into groups and describing individual Pooh characters; and…

This article describes an upstate school in New York that integrates animals into their curriculum. Milbrook School has all the usual classes one might expect at a high-caliber private high school. Millbrook is a school with a zoo in its center. Or maybe it's more accurately described as a zoo surrounded by a school. Either way, it's an unusual…

We present a fun activity that can be used to introduce students to error analysis: the M&M game. Students are told to estimate the number of individual candies plus uncertainty in a bag of M&M's. The winner is the group whose estimate brackets the actual number with the smallest uncertainty. The exercise produces enthusiastic discussions and…

In this article, the author presents a paper folding activity that can be used for teaching fractions. This activity can be used to describe areas of folded polygons in terms of a standard unit of measure. A paper folding fractions worksheet and its corresponding solutions are also presented in this article. (Contains 2 figures.)

This paper is essentially a story that can be used to help students understand some of the definitions found in a standard introductory real analysis course.

Benefits to using creative movement and dance as teaching tools in the classroom include increased student understanding of content, improved classroom behavior, and the development of new forms of assessment. Integration of these activities within the instructional day will meet the needs of a variety of learners, especially kinesthetic learners,…

Survey data gathered from a group of reading specialists and classroom teachers participating in a regional IRA conference focused on vocabulary instruction were analyzed for this article. The survey inquired into their classroom and building practices relative to the teaching of vocabulary. The results indicate that the major concern is not what…

The urban inclusive high school classroom is a challenge for both students with disabilities and their teachers. Pressure is intensified when a year long course of study ends in a mandated state examination in English Language Arts, required for student graduation. This article highlights the experiences of two teachers in a New York City…

Role-playing can be an engaging and creative strategy to use in the college classroom. Using official accounts, personal narratives, and diaries to recreate a particular time period, event, or personality, the instructional strategy alternately referred to as role-playing, dramatic improvisation, or first-person characterization can be an…

In this installment of "Members Speak Out," the author discusses a game that teachers can play with their band and orchestra students. Called "Drop the Needle," it involves starting a musical recording in the middle and trying to determine what period it is from and who might have composed it. This game allows more experienced…

This chapter brings together themes from the various practices presented by the educators who contributed to this volume for purposes of reflecting on the implications of the arts for the practice and theory of adult education.

In the middle years of primary schooling, the teaching of common fractions frequently involves written activities that use abstract representations of numbers, symbols, and images. Many students, however, still need the benefit of concrete materials and sensory motor experiences to enhance their understanding of the concepts associated with common…