Summarizes ERIC documents and journal articles and highlights World Wide Web resources that discuss uses of technology in the elementary school classroom to foster student learning. (TJQ)

Highlights the importance of outdoor play as a space for active learning, discovery, and development of motor skills. Provides suggestions for creating an outdoor curriculum, including how to get started, important materials, and activity ideas. Encourages teachers and caregivers to devote plenty of time and energy to outdoor learning. (SD)

Describes a program of summer study in Nepal that exposes students to a multicultural and international perspective. Examines the content, goals, and objectives of the program. The objectives include active learning, structuring learning communities, and developing higher-order thinking skills. Provides suggestions for setting up similar programs.…

Describes a simulated archaeological dig designed for Iowa elementary and middle school students that provided students with experiential learning focusing on the basic tenets of archaeology. Includes instructions on preparing for the dig, organizing materials, excavating the simulated site, analyzing artifacts, and engendering community support.…

Describes a classroom project in which elementary students bake homemade bread to learn about the settlement period in Canadian history and the early history of the students' community. Maintains that students learn to compare the lifestyle of the past with the present. (CFR)

Examined first-year results of the Success for All (SFA) program, designed to bring every student to grade level in reading by third grade. Found that SFA benefits were most significant at the kindergarten level; teachers were highly accepting of the program; and the program's strengths included cooperative learning, regrouping, tutoring, early…

Reports on an evaluative study of a secondary level civics curriculum in the Netherlands. Finds a discrepancy between the curriculum plans of the developers and the classroom implementation of the curriculum. Recommends an implementation-oriented development strategy with emphasis on early and intensive formative evaluation. (CFR)

Asserts that sport is a pervasive aspect of society. Presents and describes four learning activities designed to help students understand the significance of sport as a social institution. Maintains that, while the activities focus on the institution of sport, they can be used in a variety of sociology courses. (CFR)

Describes a summer program for high-achieving middle school girls in math and science. It covers the organization, curriculum, instruction, and outcomes of the program and describes elements that students rated favorably (such as being outside a lot) and those which needed to be changed (such as too great an age span) for the second summer. (DB)

Reports on a two-year ethnographic study focusing on gender, science education, and the introduction of networked digital media for learning in middle schools. Describes how learners become active participants, exploring gender attitudes, when studying socio-scientific issues related to an endangered rain forest and using video, the Internet, and…

Demonstrates how conditions for active learning can be enhanced by using newer and more sophisticated educational technology. Describes a case study involving a large lecture class on world mythology. Also addresses the question of how information technology can be employed to improve student learning. (Author/VWL)

Examined the influence of faculty active-learning practices on student departure decisions in the context of Tinto's Theory of College Student Departure. Path analysis results of three surveys of 718 first-time, full-time, first-year students at a highly selective private research university found that active learning exerts statistically reliable…

A study examined the value of teaching inquiry science in elementary classrooms where students' home language was Spanish. Bilingual interns taught children in 62 El Paso (Texas) classrooms, half in Spanish and half in English. Findings indicate that language skills in both languages increased, new science concepts were understood, and there was…

Describes an integrated curriculum project for fourth graders in a Hawaiian elementary school with a highly transient population. The project, ALOHA (Active Learners on Hawaiian Adventures) was developed to motivate students in learning about Hawaii's culture and ecosystems. Cooperation between the library media specialist, technology coordinator,…

Forms part of a themed issue describing "Parent-Kid-Teacher Investigators," a program in which parents, children, and teachers gather regularly to use language and literacy for action research projects. Explains the philosophy, assumptions, and intentions behind the program, and research that supports it. Offers action examples of how each belief…