Describes the successful encouragement of student research provided by the Office of Student Research Opportunities (OSRO) at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The OSRO advises students, identifies faculty who want to mentor students, sponsors the Distinction in Research program, organizes an annual research day, helps fund summer and full-time…

William Heard Kilpatrick, who pioneered project-based learning in the early 1900s, advocated basing schools on child-chosen projects engendering "purposeful activity." When children are allowed to choose what to explore, they become intrinsically motivated to work hard and strive for the highest quality. A fifth-grade teacher describes…

Describes (in the form of an opera libretto in five acts) the experience of creating an opera in a first-grade bilingual classroom. Shows that literacy is not reading and writing, opera is not inaccessible, and art is not a frill. Finds that children made flexible use of sign systems and achieved some degree of bilingualism. (SR)

A college instructor discusses his experiences in leading a student field study and planning project centered on the traditional rural African Market. Students benefitted from their work, but the instructor was unable to convince his colleagues about the project's validity. (Author/WB)

Discusses how teachers can support students in primary grades by establishing an environment that is conducive to inquiry and by helping children develop basic research skills. Highlights procedures for teaching students how to write informational reports, and describes how the procedures were applied in a third-grade and a first-grade class. (KB)

Describes how use of panorama theater to teach middle school social studies can aid in teaching the academic skills of defining a problem, locating and collecting data, organizing and designing tasks, drawing inferences, creating and building interpretations, revising and editing, and interpreting data. Presents a classroom example of a panorama…

When two upstate New York teachers analyzed the problems attending student presentations, it became clear that only students with Quadrant 2 (analytical) learning styles were comfortable listening to an oral report. After their gifted fifth and seventh graders created a 4MAT wheel, their new insights helped generate possible solutions to common…

Discusses the increase of Internet access for K-12 education and the difference between knowledge and information. Provides an example of a student research project using the Internet and describes a 13-step process for knowledge-making. Suggests interpretation and application of information sources on the Internet is crucial. (AEF)

Details a garden project as an example of how Reggio Emilia-inspired, long-term projects can enhance young children's representational thinking. Includes samples of children's conversations and drawings. Discusses the teacher's role in locating information and documenting the progress. Notes that well-planned, continual, active, concrete…

Describes the C.A.R.E. program, a student-led program that pairs high school students with elementary school students with moderate special needs for eight weeks of art and recreation. High school students benefit from learning about others with special needs, and elementary school students benefit from quality time with a mentor. (SLD)

Documents the process of exploring the Reggio Emilia approach in Head Start classrooms in Iowa. Describes areas of exploration, including revising the classroom environments and daily schedules, using more documentation, instituting child-initiated projects, and collaborating on a deeper level with colleagues. Includes excerpts from children's…

Describes the experiences of an elementary school resource room teacher in Staten Island (New York) in using community service learning (CSL) with special education and reading resource students. Students planned and carried out a cupcake sale to benefit UNICEF. Parent participation was an important part of the process. (SLD)

A case study is presented of the use of educational multimedia. In the spring of 1992, a high school student produced an interactive multimedia project for the California State History Fair. This project, which dealt with Columbus, was developed on the Macintosh platform. Other software and hardware used are described. The artist (developer) began…

Explores why community services learning (CSL) is the right thing to do for professional renewal, enrichment, and meaning. Examples are given from Gig Harbor High School (Washington). The role of CSL in changing school cultures is also examined. Service learning is a path to better ways to educate. (SLD)

Describes community service learning (CSL) programs at Pottenger School, Springfield (Massachusetts). The kindergarten through grade-12 school, a literature-based whole-language school, integrates CSL into the curriculum through writing about student experiences. CSL projects have included feeding the homeless, corresponding with a soldier, and…