Learning activities that expose students to the concepts of economics are presented, using concrete examples involving the daily activities of zoos and their visitors. The activities call for students to identify zoo expenses, evaluate decisions about zoo spending, and consider the financial and moral costs of treating animals humanely. (JDD)

A Lesson Plan Evaluation Form was developed to provide systematic quantitative data about classroom functioning in an elementary-level gifted program. Plans (n=137) from 15 teachers were analyzed, and useful information about program functioning was obtained in a cost-effective manner. Data obtained were consistent with data from more traditional…

Presents a class activity in which student describe and classify music as an introduction to writing classification essays. (SR)

Offers a model lesson that uses television commercials to foster in students a more sophisticated awareness of audience. (SR)

Presents activities involving multiple embedded figures beginning with the problem of counting the number of squares on a checkerboard. Offers several extensions and assessment suggestions. Includes student worksheets. (MKR)

Describes a high school art teacher's efforts to involve the school staff in cross-curricular instruction. After discussing how the teacher initiated the project, the article examines her research, and how she created and implemented a cross-curricular lesson plan. The appendix provides a sample lesson plan. (SM)

Presents ideas to help elementary school educators teach their students about magnetic force fields by observing how iron filings line up around magnets. The article lists materials needed and offers a student page with suggested student activities. (SM)

Describes a study that examined preservice teacher success in acquiring and applying principles of learning and instructional design. Tests that measured attainment of the essentials of learning objectives and attainment of competency-based instruction (CBI) objectives are described, and lesson planning performance is examined. (24 references)…

This paper deals with the auditory-verbal therapy process as implemented with two children (ages three and seven) with hearing impairments, enrolled in the Auditory-Verbal Therapy Programme of North York (Ontario) General Hospital. The paper contains audiological information, long-term objectives, and a detailed lesson plan for each child. (JDD)

Novice teachers find lesson planning difficult because of the lack of experientially-derived lesson schemata. Teachers should look to the expressive arts for principles and structures for lesson design (lesson schemata, scripts, and images; lessons as performance events; and lessons as aesthetic experience). Good lessons share features with good…

Provides a rationale for learning-with-text experiences for primary-grade children; lists 10 general approaches to foster primary-grade content area reading; and offers a sample lesson incorporating these approaches that promotes comprehension of text and content matter. Suggests that trade books, textbooks, realistic fiction, and other print…

Argues that misconceptions about culture, and the vastness of the topic make teaching global cultures difficult. Presents a general model for visually organizing concepts associated with culture that can be used in the classroom. Includes a lesson plan on how cultural perspectives can affect the definition and use of resources. (DSK)

Discusses aspects of professional education for individuals working in caring roles, particularly with reference to dementia. Describes three experiential learning exercises together with the opportunities they provide for moral development. Makes suggestions about the moral demands of care work and draws inferences for the practice of moral…

Presents a lesson plan for teaching about immigration through the use of primary documents. Includes background information on the history of immigration and the process of naturalization, teaching suggestions, discussion questions for students, and copies of primary documents. (DSK)

In learner-centered classrooms, teachers and students together construct, evaluate, and revise the ways they will go about meeting curriculum goals. This type of planning differs drastically from the Tyler Rationale, a technocratic planning framework that has guided the production model of schooling for nearly 50 years. Suggestions are offered for…