The increasing popularity of the team-based learning (TBL) approach signifies how much the student-centered learning environment contributes to the effectiveness of teaching. Given the need to establish an agreement for groups to communicate their visions for collaborative efforts within the teamwork, this activity provides a basic communicative…

How can social media help transform a student's learning experience and promote active engagement with learning content and peers? "Social Media for Active Learning" helps instructors achieve this goal. Many people use social media in their everyday lives, seeking information and informal learning opportunities via their online networks.…

Courses: Interpersonal Communication, Health Communication, Intercultural Communication. Objectives: After completing this semester-long activity students, should be able to (1) apply course concepts (i.e., stereotypes, identity, listening, language, and conflict) to diverse real-world scenarios; (2) explain the utility of intergroup contact…

The management of product development teams is a challenging task, especially when success hinges on the ability to guide technical and nontechnical personnel through an effective decision-making process. The "Tale of Two Rocks" exercise illustrates how differing motivations and beliefs about new technologies can affect the decisions…

Two articles are presented in this column. "Life in an Auto Factory: Simulating how Labor and Management Interact" by Eric B. Freedman describes a classroom simulation of management and labor relations in an auto factory. Classroom handouts are included. The next article, "Women of Action and County Names: Mary Musgrove County--Why…

A classroom visit by an international visitor is potentially a unique educational experience. Students have an opportunity to: increase awareness of their own values and of their foundation in the sociocultural patterns of their natural family, community, and nation; increase capacity for empathetic interpersonal relations; and become aware of…

Ideas for learning centers that will motivate students include: (1) a "railroad station" for reading groups; (2) a model rocket where children can use calculators; (3) a walled-in castle study center; (4) a model one-room schoolhouse; (5) a map center; and (6) a music center. Procedures for building and stocking the centers are…

A technique, useful in loosening up the stiffness of the first class meeting, is a people scavenge. Its objective is to identify people who have certain knowledge or have had particular experiences relative to class content. Scavenges make interesting "get acquainted" activities for groups meeting together for the first time. (NQA)

Shows how having students write journals about their learning experiences was an effective teaching technique in the primary grades. (RL)

Encourages the use of storytelling by students to develop communication skills and encourage shared learning experiences. Describes several classroom activities that serve as preparation for actual storytelling. (MG)

This cooking curriculum, issued by the Washington District Early Childhood Council, details specific ways in which language arts, math, science, and social studies may be taught through cooking specific recipes. Cooking activities and recipes are presented for the fall, winter, and spring months, and guidelines are provided for preparing…

Intended to support and guide teachers and administrators in providing appropriate experiences for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children in significant areas of living and learning, this curriculum guide reflects the early childhood education (ECE) philosophy of the South Carolina State Department of Education. The guide first provides an overview of…

Offers constructive suggestions to social studies teachers on specific ways to present social studies content. Contends that educators must develop strategies based upon student needs--strategies that help teachers link students to the people, places, and things that make up the social studies. (MS)

Written as a companion resource to "Early Childhood Essential Elements," a document developed by the Education Service Center, Region VI, Huntsville, Texas, this first volume of a two-volume activity guide provides activities enhancing children's cognitive, communication, and motor skills. Activities included in the guide are compiled…

Describes the experiences of a sixth grade history class in learning about archaeology by planning and executing a small local dig. Offers advice on class preparation, excavation procedures, follow-up work, and the display of artifacts. Includes eight photographs of classroom and field work activities. (AEM)