A literature review on approaches to a final course session reveals a dearth of attention to the issue. Options for last-day activities fall into three categories: professor-centered, activity-focused, and student-driven. Using the criterion that meaningful course closure calls for last-day activities that engage students in reflection not only…

Despite the fact that teaching is increasingly referred to as a design science, teacher education programs devote relatively little time to developing expertise in the design of instruction, beyond lesson planning. Yet today's teachers not only plan lessons that incorporate existing classroom activities and instructional resources, they also…

The intent of this manuscript is to inform others about stress, parental stress, and highlight the negative consequences of stress on children by directly providing information to parents of infant and preschool children in the form of a psychoeducational workshop. Given that the early years of life have many critical periods of development and…

Explains the concept of language function and its importance in classroom instruction. Defines specific language functions--controlling, informing, forecasting/reasoning, and projecting--and suggests how children can practice these functions within the scope of a social studies lesson. Includes sample lessons and lists of activities to elicit…

Reports on two common views of learning styles, and presents a set of activities to show how curriculum can reflect each learning style. Discusses a method for accommodating all learning styles. (MM)

The paper suggests appropriate activities for teaching learning disabled fourth graders in a regular class the concepts of geographical latitude and longitude. Application of the learning principles identified in a review of the literature suggests the need to include visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile activities of benefit to the entire…

The book presents a framework that can be used to teach a survey of United States history from an integrated humanities perspective. Aimed at teachers of grade 5, it emphasizes the early national period, 1790-1830. The volume contains 22 activities presented in a standard format: a brief introduction describing the activity, list of objectives,…

This thematic unit is all about what a classic novel about race relations in the 1930s American South, "To Kill a Mockingbird," and a frequently banned contemporary teen story about a candy sale, "The Chocolate War," have in common. The unit considers what people have in common, what it means to stand apart, and what…

Three lesson plans to adapt mathematics education for middle school students, including deaf students, are presented. The first lesson, "How Do I Identify Myself," teaches students to participate in a survey, conduct a survey, weigh results, convert results to ratios, convert ratios to percentages, construct a circle graph, and write a paragraph…

One of the main goals of social studies education should be to help students to understand that as U.S. citizens they are also citizens of a global community. This compilation of discussion and lesson plans is designed to foster debate among social studies educators and to help classroom teachers educate globally aware citizens. The included…

A competency-based, introductory social science course for college students is described. Objectives of the manual are twofold--first, to present the complete set of materials which have served as the basis of a one semester social sciences course at the University of Louisville over three years, and, second, to offer suggestions regarding…