This packet contains many of the elements of the earlier publications, "The Mini-Economy: Integrating Economics into the Elementary Curriculum" and "Teaching Economics in the Mini-Economy." This revised edition offers a new section on implementing the mini-economy in the middle school. The classroom mini-economy is a proven,…

This paper advocates the development of democratic practices and opportunities for decision-making at an early age. The paper cites numerous examples of how developmentally appropriate opportunities can be presented in the classroom. The paper outlines ideas for students to be more actively involved in making rules, leadership, classroom…

This document consists of two booklets, one for teachers and one for students. These booklets are part of the Elementary School Program of Junior Achievement, Inc. where students learn about their roles as individuals, workers, and consumers. The booklets are designed to provide practical information about family members and their interdependence.…

This article describes a project on chickens and eggs undertaken by 5-year-old children in a bilingual school in Mexico City. It describes the three phases of the project and includes photographs and other documentation of the children's work.

Considering the nature of education, the author holds that the fundamental function of education is to serve the customers, with relation to the internationalization of higher education in China. This paper illustrates the inevitability of development and the relative differences, by the discussion of benefit or non-benefit orientation of China's…

This book is intended for teachers who want to integrate high-quality children's literature into the language arts curriculum. The illustrated book provides a host of small-group workshops for children in kindergarten through second grade, planned around storybooks they love. Each workshop suggested in the book is geared to specific High/Scope…

Simulations and games have been used in education for decades, but most of this development has been in the areas of business and economics. Well-designed simulations and games have been shown to improve decision-making and critical thinking skills as well as teaching discipline-specific concepts. Active learning also helps students develop…

This book illustrates how problem-based learning (PBL) can enliven curriculum and lesson planning by encouraging students to play a more central role in their own learning process. It provides a framework for efficiently and effectively teaching problem-solving skills, tapping children's interests and previous knowledge, and making the curriculum…

This paper asserts that a modern elementary classroom, in which broadly based international perspectives are fostered and global understanding realized, is one in which the teacher, as a co-learner in the experience, is prepared to negotiate and exchange power with students. The paper explores how this shift in teaching philosophy toward active…

This paper is a history of the adoption and implementation of "The Web of Life", an inquiry based biology course for senior secondary students in Western Australia. It focuses on the period from 1965 to 1990, outlines the issues at the time, events, and timeline of implementation and reflects on inquiry teaching and learning. It is a…

Statistics is generally classified as a difficult course. In this regard, promoting an active learning environment is a popular instructional strategy. However, there is much evidence in the literature of a literal and simplistic interpretation of "active learning environment". This report describes an approach to facilitating introductory…

This report describes a detailed, multi-site evaluation of ConStatS, a curricular software package for helping students conceptualize introductory statistics. ConStatS employs a novel approach for forcing students into an active, experimental style of learning. This evaluation allowed an assessment of the degree to which curricular software helps…

This paper provides guidelines for creating REALs (Rich Environments for Active Learning) on the World Wide Web and demonstrates how those guidelines have been applied in a variety of Web-based learning environment contexts. The paper is organized according to the following attributes of student-centered REALs: (1) promote intentional learning by…

This publication encourages student involvement in biological research through student research with the cooperation of teachers and scientists. The contents of the book are divided into two sections. The first section introduces students to research investigations and includes: (1) "How the Investigations Are Set Up and the Rationale Behind…

This research examines the critical factors in a science/math methods course and its effect on the dispositions of preservice elementary education majors. In order to break the cyclical axiom that "teachers teach as they were taught," this study used a paired-t test design to indicate any significance. The preservice education majors indicated…