Hungry for lively and engaging ways to augment word study? Looking for ways to empower your students and give voice to their ideas? "In Word Study That Sticks," teacher and literacy consultant Pamela Koutrakos provides a step-by-step approach that makes word learning jubilant and fun -- and encourages students to take ownership of word…

Provides some brief suggestions for teaching students about color, including an activity for use during outdoor field trips or in local parks. Questions for provoking student explorations of color mixing and the functions of color in nature are provided, which use the scientific method as a model for structuring student observations. (PB)

The author presents ideas for allowing LD students to discover ways to improve their problem-solving skills. Activities touch upon the influence of the environment, the need for patience and planning, factors in sequencing and organization, and the importance of thoroughness and revision. (CL)

Discusses competencies necessary for structuring teaching-learning environments (data, stimuli, and strategies) in objective-referenced or criterion-referenced instruction. Teaching competencies (behaviors) listed are pointed toward music instruction, but are applicable for all subject areas. (Author/AH)

A theoretical model depicting the mental process of inquiry is presented and discussed. It is mainly composed of givens, operations, transitional outcomes and terminal outcomes. The different mental paths followed as well as the various alternative outcomes are also discussed and a number of implications deduced. (Author)

This article discusses how to make sure the gifts of a gifted child are developed to attain the most satisfying outcome for self and society. It provides general principles and gives concrete examples of some experiences parents might consider at various ages. Facilitating self-directed learning and ownership is emphasized. (Contains references.)…

Describes a business-school partnership involving gifted students in the design and cultivation of a medicinal garden. Students studied the uses of native plants for medicine, food, shelter, clothing, and landscaping, and developed portfolios and presentations through their work on the community garden site and an outdoor classroom. (PB)

The article proposes helping visually handicapped clients make optimal use of remaining vision for travel in unmodified environments. Structured discovery learning exercises covering pattern recognition, depth perception, central acuity, and central field vision with peripheral field loss are offered. (Author/DB)

Eleanor Duckworth's teaching techniques, based on Jean Piaget's learning theories and the Elementary Science Study, are applied to teaching deaf students. The method calls for painstaking explorations that enable pupils to be confident they really know something and are not just parroting facts. (JDD)

Discusses the importance the outdoor environment in early childhood development programs. Suggests development of special places for direct interaction with the natural world. Concludes with a redefinition of playgrounds by transforming outdoor areas of preschool programs into special learning places. (BAC)

Addresses the role of children's museums, recounting both positive experiences of meaningful interactions and negative encounters in which such interactions were discouraged or were too cursory. Suggestions for scaffolding children's discovery and problem-solving learning with children's museum activities are offered. (DB)

Describes children's software programs that allow for a great deal of choice and control by children. Programs were selected on the basis of their design, child orientation, and ability to amuse. (RJC)

Although logotherapy has been generally seen as a therapeutic technique, its usefulness in other areas cannot be underestimated. This paper examines museum education from a theoretical "logos" perspective and from a practical application of effective museum utilization for students. While museums will never replace schools in the formal…

Teachers can use unit blocks as tools for directed learning activities, or blocks can be reserved for children's discovery learning experiences. To use unit blocks for discovery learning, children need adequate, protected space and sufficient, uninterrupted time. Given opportunities for free play with unit blocks, children progress through seven…

Reveals how teachers can direct their students to experience history as a process through active questioning, searching for meaningful answers, and especially by tapping readily available and vivid resources in the immediate community. (NEC)