Describes a project to collect, organize, and analyze petitions to state legislatures and county courts concerning race, slavery, and free blacks in the South between 1776 and 1867. Presents a lesson plan designed to incorporate these, and similar documents, into middle-, and high-school history classes. Includes a sample document. (DSK)

Presents a variety of problems for elementary and secondary school students that focus on probability. Activities involving coins, M & M candies, and the game show "Let's Make a Deal," are described, and Web sites for the activities are listed as well as sites for lesson plans. (LRW)

Evaluated classroom assessment practices of preservice teachers who had completed coursework in educational measurement. Review of 65 student teachers' lesson plans indicated that student teachers did not follow many assessment practices recommended during their coursework. No lesson plans contained all of the criteria deemed necessary for…

Advises new substitute teachers to be prepared, tote emergency activity folders, dress professionally (but wear flamingo earrings), be early, figure out the game plan, communicate expectations to students, enforce consequences, have a gimmick to reward cooperation, relish the teachable moment, leave the room tidy, and believe in themselves. (MLH)

About half of regular secondary students make no consistent effort to learn. Intrinsic appeals are applicable to any lesson in any subject at any level. These include novelty, anticipation, security, challenge, completion (of logically connected project segments), application of learned skills, feedback, identification (via possession, belonging,…

As the Internet becomes increasingly commercialized, the K-12 world will need to follow higher education's lead and define who owns a wealth of instructional information. Some companies are actively seeking to purchase teacher-created work. Teachers generally own what they create, but district policies should be in place. (MLH)

A clay therapy program, tested and evaluated with children (mostly with emotional or behavioral disorders) across seven settings, is described. Affective goals of the program, required materials and equipment, and lesson plan topics are briefly considered. (DB)

Offers an exercise to help students understand the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing and how both practices can result in plagiarism if the original source is not cited. Explains how the exercise uses Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address." (TB)

Shows how students may play the role of the advice-giving columnist as a means to learning about the fallacies of logic. (TB)

Explains IM-PACT (Instructional Model-Purpose, Audience, Content, Technique), a framework for systematic lesson design in an information literacy context. Includes an example of IM-PACT's application to a high school-level information skills lesson plan, collaboratively designed by the teacher-librarian and English teacher. (LRW)

Integrates math and science through pressure and weight investigations using dancers' feet. Examines pressure by exploring the pressure exerted by a dancer standing on her toes, and investigates weight and measurement. Makes suggestions for assessment. (SAH)

Presents a lesson on geometry and beadwork with five phases of learning as described by Pierre van Hiele to tell the stories of different cultures and study isometry principles. (ASK)

Presents BANZAI, a new intelligent language tutor program that is designed to develop learners' grammatical and sentence production skills in Japanese as well as to instill cultural knowledge about Japan. Illustrates actual lesson plans and sample exercises provided by BANZAI. (Author/VWL)

Presents a learning activity plan for teachers or librarians that helps students comprehend the author's craft element of "point of view." Focus is on first and third person point of view. Outlines student motivation methods, the procedure, extension/application activities, and assessment. Includes an activity worksheet. (AEF)

Introduces The Traveling Scientist program which can be used as an extension to the science curriculum. Targets 1st and 2nd grade students. (YDS)