This case study describes the process of designing and implementing a museum school program about race and suggests a number of recommendations for creating meaningful interactions with visitors about complex topics. Education staff at the San Diego Museum of Man set out to teach students about race as a social construct, sharing science that…

A strong value system and work ethic have always been a part of the schools in the community in northeast Kansas, but it was not until 2012 that the school staff began to initiate an organized comprehensive plan and approach to teaching character education and making it a viable part of the school culture at Nemaha Central Elementary and Middle…

Inquiry is an essential component of science. Furthermore, what students learn and how they engage in inquiry supported by technology is important to understand in order to promote science education reform. This paper presents an overview of work in curriculum and technology development and professional development. Collaboration with the Detroit…

Practicality is the "Achilles heel" of alternative assessment in middle school science. This 5-year study of an "early adopter" school explores factors that enable alternate assessment to thrive in spite of practical problems. Interviews with five seventh-grade life science teachers and five eighth-grade physical science teachers who initiated and…

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation developed and sponsored the Middle Grades Initiative (MGI), which began in 1989, in five urban school systems: (1) Baltimore (Maryland); (2) Louisville (Kentucky); (3) Milwaukee (Wisconsin); (4) Oakland (California); and (5) San Diego (California). The purpose of MGI was to change the ways schools educate young,…

Through its efforts in 12 middle schools in 5 cities, The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation's Program for Disadvantaged Youth is trying to challenge the assumption that certain children are uneducable. The first steps in this program were detailed in "Gaining Ground," which described the thoughts and hopes of educators in 1989 through 1991…