Suggests that kids need to see the concrete, work-a-day manner in which poetry is and can be woven into their existence. Presents a summary of the steps that are used by the teacher and student when learning something new through the expert-apprentice relationship. Outlines how to move students through the steps. (SG)

Discusses creativity in terms of imagination and knowledge. Considers how students have a need to create. Explores how creativity helps young adults "get through the darkness." Notes ways to use writing to foster creativity. Addresses ideas such as the magic of the unknown and the place of knowledge. (SG)

Considers how to get today's schoolchild and college student to move from the words to the picture, then back again. Explores the teaching technique of having students draw what the piece of literature describes. Finds that drawing the visual image provides a much better chance of understanding a work's significance. Describes how to apply this…

Suggests that by linking the issues and conflict of classic short fiction to the problems today's students face, an imaginative teacher can still make classic short fiction relevant and compelling. Shares some ideas about how to approach teaching two classic stories that the author has used with success. Concludes that making classic short fiction…

Notes that the Public Broadcasting System's children's series "Between the Lions" has become a very useful tool in the authors' kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. Describes how their students have enjoyed actively viewing the episodes, reading books that tie into the program, and doing follow-up activities around the themes…

Explores ways in which furniture is at the heart of the flexibility needed to use new approaches to teaching and learning, and to provide for the comfort of learners of different ages and different physical needs. (EV)

Attempts to bring composition studies into a more thoroughgoing discussion of the place of visual literacy in the writing classroom. Argues that throughout the history of writing instruction in the United States the terms of debate typical in discussions of visual literacy and the teaching of writing have limited the kinds of assignments educators…

Discussion of the federal government's role in educational reform and instructional innovation focuses on how to measure the impact of technology integration. Topics include technology planning and implementation processes; terminology, including technology, pedagogy, competence, skill, and ability; and thinking strategically versus thinking…

Illustrates an innovative approach to teaching the 1932 Veterans' Bonus March on Washington DC. The teacher used instructional packets with 1930 nostalgia, the Pete Seeger album, "American Industrial Ballads," and film clips. An instructional guide is included. (GG)

This article advocates encouraging faculty to experiment with the teaching/learning environment, even if it means taking risks, as a way of improving university teaching. A list of nine suggestions is presented to provide faculty members and administrators with ways to explore the process of improving teaching in university classrooms. (IAH)

Explores new ways of stimulating critical thinking in teaching basic sociology courses and finds the use of paradoxes and dilemmas an effective teaching tool, as they reflect the dialectical nature of sociological analysis. Gives examples of paradoxes and dilemmas, and discusses basic strategies in recognizing and resolving dilemmas. (NL)

An experimental approach to French grammar instruction at the American School of Madrid, based on a restructuring of the grammar around the verb, provides a promising new perspective for language pedagogy. (MSE)

Compares the traditional textbook-based elementary science teaching method with the following innovative approaches: (1) Inquiry; (2) Science-Technology-Society (STS); and (3) Conceptual Change. Argues that the Conceptual Change approach has the greatest impact on student thinking and permits teachers to focus on important aspects. (FMW)

Applies complexity theory, a movement in contemporary physics, to instruction of a sixth-grade math class. The mathematical chaos theory, embracing random and nonlinear patterning, contradicts the reductionist, particularist, and atomistic view commonly applied to science and teaching. Fractals and self-organization are similarly powerful,…

A new technological phenomenon known as "hypermedia" or "interactive multimedia" allows the learner to be in control and to access a variety of media with a computer. Advances in information storage technology have placed libraries of documents, sounds, and video and graphic images on laser discs. (MLF)