Creating towers of balanced stones is a versatile outdoor learning activity that can be experienced in the classroom, school yard, forest, or parking lot. Students discover hidden talents, learn to work and communicate clearly with others, and reconnect with the natural world. Several variations on the exercise are given, along with principles of…

Describes how sketch journals are used at various times throughout the day and consistently throughout the year in the author's classroom. Presents a demonstration of the theme of experience and the powerful role that it can play in helping teachers improve. Notes how the author encourages students to reach deeper and to enter their own doorways…

Explores the consequences for children and teachers when a scripted literacy program eliminates time for thoughtfulness. Examines some implicit and explicit expectations of children's talk during read-aloud time by sharing a study of response conducted in a multiethnic, primary grade classroom. (SG)

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of science education courses on a group of Taiwanese inservice and preservice teachers' views toward the nature of science. There were two science education courses in the study; one was for 36 inservice teachers, while the other one was for 32 preservice teachers. Both of the courses included…

Throughout the 2003 school year, Christopher Leahey's ninth grade global history students followed the media's coverage of the escalating crisis between the United States and Iraq. In early March of that year, as the media's coverage intensified, students brought a multitude of questions and concerns into the classroom. Rather than simply answer…

Since Socrates first posed questions to his ga-clad philosophers, teachers have encouraged students to think. This author, a fifth-grade teacher, explains the importance of teaching children to think for themselves rather than merely coaxing them to come up with the instructor's answer. Some of the methods he uses in his classroom include building…

Elementary students can learn how to take an interpretive approach to learning history so that they can construct knowledge about collective past experience in ways that provide a meaningful context for understanding present experience. Like historians, children communicate their interpretations to others by telling or writing stories in which…

This article details an exploration of exponential decay and growth relationships using M&M's and dice. Students collect data for mathematical models and use graphing calculators to make sense of the general form of the exponential functions. (Contains 10 figures and 2 tables.)

The work of the Commission on Gender, Race, and Class in Teacher Education Programs is grounded in the belief that it is impossible to make sense of the field of English education without using gender, race, and class as central categories of description and analysis. Rather, gender, race, and class are basic to the study and understanding of the…

An interdisciplinary activity in which students can see how a famous author, Leo Tolstoy, metaphorically applied the integration steps from calculus to illustrate his ideas about how history should be studied is described. The activity provides a startling and energizing conclusion to a unit on applications of integration and provokes students'…

This article describes a project in which certain key concepts in probability were explored using graphics calculators with year 10 students. The lessons were conducted in the regular classroom where students were provided with a Casio CFX 9850 GB PLUS graphics calculator with which they were familiar from year 9. The participants in the…

In this article, the author describes an interdisciplinary and interactive lesson --"Meet the Artist"--that not only is a great way to introduce elementary school students to art history, but also encompasses writing, research, computer skills and the creation of art.

Carla Panciera, is a farmer's daughter who grew up on a hundred acres of corn, pasture with a herd of dairy cows. As a child she learned that cows have 4 stomachs, the average gestation period of a calf, how to back the manure spreader into the shed, and the art of clipping, and bathing cows on show day. Her father eventually sold the farm and…

In this article, the author features creative ways to fit a lot of movement and fun inside the classroom when there is bad weather. He suggests that, to be creative in the classroom, one can create crawling tunnels for children by moving chairs away from tables and draping sheets or towels over their tops and sides. Or one can weave an obstacle…

The warm days of spring announce an end to the dark days of winter, more time out of doors, and escape from the confines of heavy clothing. For many directors of early childhood centers, a school year does not end with the onset of summer. However, even if it is a year-round program with no official conclusion, warmer days are bound to bring a…