Pittsburgh is responding to the concern about dropout prone youth by creating an initiative to prepare all youth for careers. Vocational education is at the heart of the enterprise. (JOW)

The results and prospects of the magnet school component of desegregation efforts in St. Louis are presented. Demand for magnet seats is outstripping the supply, and thus, the pace of desegregation is limited. But these schools offer an improved educational program and provide more educational choices for families. (VM)

Provides background information to two opposing viewpoints, presented in other articles in this issue, on the relative merits and problems of exam schools and magnet schools. The articles were prompted by events in the Boston public school system's elite schools. (LHW)

Ordered to desegregate, the Lowell (Massachusetts) Public Schools followed parent wishes and successfully provided a variety of magnet schools to encourage voluntary desegregation. Creation of these schools provided an opportunity for reviewing and improving the educational system as a whole. (PGD)

Basic physical concepts of importance in understanding magnetic fluids (fine ferromagnetic particles suspended in a liquid) are discussed. They include home-made magnetic fluids, stable magnetic fluids, and particle surfactants. (DH)

Shocked by static? Mixed up about magnets? Curious about currents? Teachers can get past memorizing all those electricity-related formulas, rules, and procedures so they can understand the subject at a level deep enough to teach it with confidence and comfort. Here to help is "Electricity and Magnetism," the fifth title in the award-winning NSTA…

This guide explores the connection between electricity and magnetism with middle level and high school students. The phenomenon of electromagnetism is broken down into four lesson plans that provide students and teachers with a carefully constructed yet easy way to learn about their history. All four activities prompt students to use inexpensive,…

Discusses five experimental methods used by senior high school students to provide an accurate calibration curve of magnet current against the magnetic flux density produced by an electromagnet. Compares the relative merits of the five methods, both as measurements and from an educational viewpoint. (JR)

Discusses investigations of mirages with an astronomical telescope and a way of demonstrating three of the main features of laser/maser action. Also discusses several physics demonstrations using color television. These include thin-film interference effects, single-slit diffraction, emission/absorption spectra, "rings and brushes"…

The "inside-out" curriculum development method involves the entire faculty in working with a curriculum developer housed permanently in the school. This method was used for the Magnet Center for Public Services: Government and Law established in Dallas (Texas) by the desegregation order of 1976. (Author/MLF)

At Houston's Dodson Elementary School, a magnet school with a Montesorri program, students work independently with an assortment of manipulable materials which help them teach themselves. (SK)

Among the special features of an inner city Detroit (Michigan) magnet school are a planetarium and a mass communications center. (Author/MLF)

Achievement tests and the parents of the students involved both indicate that the Phillips Extended Day Magnet School in Raleigh, North Carolina, provides an effective program for the students enrolled. The school offers programs from 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. (IRT)