The stars closest to Earth are not particularly remarkable or exciting. They are average stars typical of the spiral arms of our Milky Way galaxy. In fact, until recently, most astronomy and Earth science textbooks ignored all but the largest of them to focus on distant, more exotic objects like red supergiants or black holes. The recent discovery…

This strategy is to provide health education teacher candidates with critical and creative thinking tools to explore gardening as a vehicle to integrate health education content with other subjects. According to the Competency-Based Framework for the Health Education Specialist (2010a), entry-level health educators should have skills and…

In 1978, the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families, through its Head Start program, designed and implemented the Basic Educational Skills (BES) project to foster Head Start children's readiness for school and their subsequent achievement in elementary school. The purpose of this document is to disseminate elementary-level BES materials.…

Focuses on incorporating feminist thinking into teaching to show the limitations of mainstream analyses of a theory. Uses a democratic feminist theory in discussing environmental problems, and suggests projects that involve students in political activity. Provides a course syllabus and a reading list with applications of feminist theory. (NL)

Contends that the use of commercial published curricula, particularly textbooks and teacher's guides, is widespread in U.S. church-sponsored programs of religious education. Reports on case studies of five church-school teachers on their curriculum development and lesson-planning procedures. (CFR)

In conjunction with United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's 40th anniversary, 1986 was named the International Year of Peace. During 1986, UNESCO selected the theme "peace" as an education project to be undertaken in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico,…

Key principles for designing language teaching materials are presented. They relate to the following: links with the curriculum; authenticity regarding text and task; stimulating interaction; allowing focus on formal aspects of the language; encouraging development of learning skills; and applying language skills to the wider world. (10…

Provided in this guide are workshop materials which present an overview of the kindergarten curriculum and provide designs for transparencies for use in instruction. The overview discusses: (1) areas of learning in the kindergarten, including learning of knowledge, skills, dispositions (i.e., attitudinal habits), and language; (2) intellectual…

The role of the Pacific Islanders' Educational Resource Centre (New Zealand) in developing a listening activities resource kit is described. The objectives were for cultural relevance to Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asians learning English, suitability for cultures with strong oral traditions, economy and accessibility, and simplicity of use…

This paper offers a review on effective instructional methods from educational and psychological research. Thirteen instructional principles are presented which should help teacher and educators to improve the quality of their instruction. Principles 1 to 4 concern general conditions of successful instruction. Principles 5 to 8 consist of…

Developers who use the systems approach to training begin developing a lesson by identifying the skills and knowledge to be learned and the kinds of learning experiences required. The next step is to develop instructional segments. These segments include all instructor and trainee activities required to master the skill. Learning segments include…

This book outlines an approach to putting course content on the Web. It explains how to make current course materials Web-ready and describes Web-enabled teaching tools that educators may not currently use but that they might wish to incorporate into the teaching approach. The book explains how to combine these materials and tools to create a…

This curriculum guide to world geography studies in Fort Worth schools includes the following materials: a statement of philosophy and broad goals for each content area; objectives organized around broad content goals or strands which define specific expectations for students, prekindergarten through grade 12; scope and sequence charts;…

This guide contains suggestions designed to guide educators in their efforts to produce competency-based instructional units. Discussed first are the nature of competency-based instruction and the need for materials. The next section deals with such administrative procedures as establishment of ownership of the materials, follow-through, credit…

This paper describes an inservice education program for teachers entitled "Participation and Planning: The Classroom Teacher and the Curriculum Process." Fourteen teachers with varying backgrounds attended the course. The objectives of the course were to (1) provide participants with experiences in the design, implementation, and…