When students understand content deeply, they recognize main concepts and understand the relationships among ideas. But the typical processes students use to study are generally not designed to generate conceptual understandings. Instead, they tend to become passive learners. In this article, the authors present three commonly used classroom…

Describes the effectiveness of cooperative learning on discipline problems, interdependence between students, and teacher-student interactions. Explains how to group students and introduces a laboratory activity on covalent and ionic bonds. (YDS)

Details an activity in which students use their natural inquisitiveness about their personal environment to investigate the composition of cigarette smoke. Includes techniques for measuring tar and carbon monoxide content. (DDR)