Maintains that the study of local wetlands provides an excellent means of integrating environmental studies, global studies, and other curricula into geography instruction. Seven tables list ways that studying wetlands illustrate the six essential elements of the National Geography Standards. Includes a list of 17 learning activities. (MJP)

Explores several instructional strategies and approaches for teaching charts, tables, graphs, and diagrams to social studies students. Discusses the various qualities of these visual aids and identifies specific strategies for each. Includes activities designed to teach students how to construct these representations. (MJP)

Describes an art project that constructed a realistic model of a frozen prehistoric cadaver including its clothing and tool kit. Originally conceived as a way to introduce students to art materials, ancient history, and different cultures, the project grew to include a traveling exhibit and instructional puppet shows. (MJP)

Encapsulates learning activities that correspond to (but are not bound by) a tour of the Liberty Bell site. The activities can supplement either a lesson plan or unit of study. Instructional materials include background reading, handouts, maps, photographs, and a chronology of events. (MJP)

Describes student projects and simulations designed to enrich social studies instruction. Students collected primary and secondary sources for a media kit on Russian economic development. Another group constructed a time line for a Canadian historical figure. Includes tips for designing and facilitating successful projects. (MJP)

Praises the Laura Ingalls Wilder books for their realistic portrayal of 19th-century prairie life. Recommends using the books as source material for a variety of social studies classes. Provides a list of suggested activities collected under broad topics including housing, unusual weather phenomena, medical care, and clothing. (MP)

Presents several strategies used by teachers committed to providing varied teaching and learning approaches in the middle school; strategies include learning inventories; question posing by young adolescents; projects; and interactive and reflective learning by students. Also discusses the need for professional development for teachers who are…

Contrasts spontaneous and reflective knowledge integration instruction delivered using a computer learning environment to enhance understanding of displaced volume. Distinguishes the impact of instruction on students who believed scientific phenomena are governed by principles (cohesive beliefs) versus students who believed that science is a…

Suggests activities for library media specialists or teachers that use food to encourage students to interact with literature. Includes researching recipes or food items that appear in the book, incorporating Internet searching skills if desired; planning meals, either real or imaginary; edible art projects, including fortune cookies; and creating…

Maintains that creative writing should be no less a part of the elementary social-studies writing program than other expository forms. Discusses using the poetic form, the cinquain, to teach about Mexican vaqueras and vaqueros in an elementary unit on the American Southwest. Includes illustrations and instructional materials. (MJP)

Describes a course that linked first-grade students using emergent writing skills with university early-childhood majors studying the process of emergent literacy, and, in so doing provided an authentic and meaningful learning context for both groups. Suggests that the pen-pal project demonstrates the value of interactive writing exchanges.…

While library patronage has seen some research it has never been explored in terms of human activity pattern analysis. This article traces the patronage of three campus libraries at a regional university in Australia in the context of other teaching and learning, such as the use of computer laboratories and assignment deadlines: it suggests not…

The pedagogic value of using archival holdings for the teaching of history has long been appreciated. Using primary sources in the teaching of history transcends the rote learning of facts and figures. It encourages critical thinking skills, introducing students to issues of context, selection and bias, to the nature of collective memory and to…

Inconsistent performance by gifted students has been a source of frustration for both parents and educators for decades. Several studies on gifted under achievement point to a connection between student learning styles and classroom performance.This study examined the learning styles of gifted middle school students, student perceptions of the…

Schools strive to educate fully every child who walks through their doors. Yet many schools find themselves burdened with large numbers of struggling learners who have not yet acquired the necessary foundation skills that are required in order for them to be able to master the curriculum successfully. Here, the author discusses the Universal…