This study examines the information seeking and use behaviors of English language learners (ELLs) while performing a research task, using Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development and Kuhlthau's Information Search Process as theoretical frameworks. The research tasks implemented in this study were curriculum based units where students engaged a…

One student's project involved a contest of guessing how many peanuts were in a 100-pound bag. His teacher briefly reflects on the wide range of guesses and students' concept of large numbers. (MP)

Describes a nine-week unit that focuses on student development of science-based contraptions that work. Students are allowed to design, construct, and test a device of interest that performs a simple task, such as picking up a paper towel or turning a page in a book. (ZWH)

Prepared as an aid to teachers, the document contains two parts intended to help correlate instruction of industrial arts at the elementary level with the recommended curriculum content in the Wisconsin Guide to Local Curriculum Improvement in Industrial Education, K-12. Pertaining to field objectives 1-4 in the guide, Industry for the Elementary…

Suggests the study of local issues as an active approach to citizenship education in the elementary and secondary grades. Presents a model activity for high school civics students on investigating the impact of a new shopping mall. (SJL)

A professor of interpersonal communication at the University of Hawaii, Windward Community College included aspects of storytelling and family history in his approach to a self-concept unit. The task for the students was to create a 3- to 5-minute story based on elements found in their social or family culture. The goals of the project are to:…

The author developed a combined arts project with her first-graders in which the fine arts were treated as alternate languages for creative expression. Students first expressed themselves in verbal language by writing poems, then translated their conceptions into music, painting, dance, or pantomime. (SJL)

More than 50 starter ideas for social studies projects and units for the primary and intermediate grades are presented. These help develop children's skills in social studies, reading, handwriting, and language arts, and stir their interest in local history and government. Activities can be used for new projects or to enrich ongoing ones. (PP)

Based on two quilting minicourses conducted by the author with students from grades 7 through 10, this curriculum guide provides interdisciplinary objectives, student activities, and teaching procedures for a unit in which the rudiments of quilting are taught and practiced. Contents include (1) a list of objectives and concepts under headings of…

Presents a high school unit about the U.S. Industrial Revolution featuring the Boott Cotton Mills of Lowell, Massachusetts. Includes student objectives, step-by-step instructional procedures, and discussion questions. Provides two maps, five illustrations, one photograph, and three student readings. (ACM)

This curriculum guide for an interdisciplinary pottery unit includes concepts and objectives, student activities, and suggested resources. Introductory material indicates it was designed as a 2-day minicourse for the Mountain School seventh grade at Charles Counts' Pottery Workshop in Georgia but that material is adaptable to a regular school…

Based on a minicourse taught by the author for students in grades 7 through 10 at the Mountain School (Lookout Mountain, Georgia), this curriculum guide provides for the integration of several curriculum areas into the teaching of leathercraft. Contents include (1) concepts and objectives for the course listed under the headings of language arts,…

Describes a learning unit on women's contributions to society that was developed cooperatively by third grade teachers and a library media specialist. Students brainstormed what they knew about women's accomplishments, conducted group and individual phone interviews, and questioned a panel of women who visited the school. Sidebars include the…

This brief paper describes a school class project in which students "write" their own history books, based upon extensive research and writing activities. The guide advocates this as a way to create more interest in the subject area and allow students to become more involved in their own learning. Sections include: rationale; who could use; goals;…