This study tested the hypothesis that cooperative learning practices in heterogeneous classes would enhance students' academic motivation and achievement. Half the seventh graders entering a junior high school were randomly assigned to hetergenous classrooms in which their teachers implemented Student Team Learning (STL) techniques (Slavin, 1986).…

This report describes the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a learning activity package intended to enable middle school students to view and use the computer as a tool that has application in their everyday lives. Eighth grade students in two keyboarding classes used the computer as a word processing tool in the subject of…

This guide to designing activity-oriented classrooms for grades K-3 is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of research findings concerning the way children learn and the environments that best facilitate their learning. Chapter 2, which explains ways to set up an activity-oriented classroom, covers the administration's role…

Intended to help create an environment where poetry flourishes, this book offers elementary school teachers a formula for integrating poetry into all areas of study by exploiting their interconnections. Each chapter in the book is broken into sections dealing with basic principles and concepts. Each subsection presents and discusses poems that…

This book presents a conceptual approach to multicultural education, with practical suggestions for achieving education that is multicultural throughout every facet of its structure and process. A step-by-step method is offered for developing a multicultural curriculum, and various teaching strategies and techniques applicable to classroom…

This document, part of a series of papers which describe the assessment of student learning in areas of the curriculum from prekindergarten through grade 12, focuses on assessment in the language arts. Current practices are reviewed. Subsequent sections describe guidelines for appropriate curriculum goals and content in language arts programs. A…

This essay addresses six pedagogical issues that English language arts teachers should consider in preparing to use Holocaust literature to address "intolerance and bigotry" in their teaching. Teachers should ask themselves: (1) Does the literature unit emphasize anti-Semitism as a cause of the Holocaust?; (2) Does the unit provide all…

This report identifies and reviews 34 programs that have been used as after-school programs by schools or communities, including extended-day programs and some supplemental school programs that have potential for after-school use. Five categories of programs are reviewed: (1) language arts after-school programs; (2) study skills programs; (3)…

This Digest discusses School-to-Work (STW) programs, which are aimed at developing an integrated secondary school curriculum that facilitates students' transition from school to the workplace. It addresses school-based learning in STW programs, especially the practices that language arts teachers can use in classrooms to meet STW goals. The Digest…

Based on the assumption that project learning is an effective way of actively engaging students, this guidebook contains nine projects at basic, intermediate, and advanced levels which may be adapted for use with students in classrooms fostering multiple intelligences at any grade level. The guidebook's introduction distinguishes between different…

This 16th annual report presents information on current trends and issues informally discussed by the directors of six National Council of Teachers of English commissions. Issues discussed included the following: (1) Commission on Composition (Rick Gerhardt, director): the role of writing in literacy; computers and writing instruction;…

A practicum addressed the problems of low reading levels, deficient writing skills, and poor attitudes toward reading. The objectives were to increase reading levels, improve writing skills, and improve attitudes toward reading and in this process to improve critical thinking skills. The target group was a sixth-grade language arts class of 23…

Thirteen research and demonstration projects developed by Ohio school districts for the education of gifted students are described. The programs involve inservice teacher education; interdepartmental teamwork; collaboration with community and university resources; a continuum of services for gifted children in regular classrooms; learning options…

Adapted from Idaho's fourth grade agricultural education curriculum guide, this manual was created because there were insufficient resources available to Ohio students about the systems that provide human beings with food and fiber. Economically Ohio's largest industry, agriculture, serves as a basis for providing fourth-grade teachers with…

The Maryland School Performance Program released six sample tasks to illustrate the types of assessment tasks that would appear on the 1992 Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP). Students' responses to these tasks are open-ended; that is, students generate their own responses. A wide range of responses to each task is acceptable.…