Staff at a Baton Rouge (Louisiana) elementary school devised an innovative program to introduce disadvantaged children to opportunities outside their ghetto neighborhood. The Discovery Expeditions plan attempted to address dropout prevention by increasing student awareness of resources and vocational opportunities in Baton Rouge and other areas,…

Describes the primary science project of the Science Education Programme for Africa. Program uses the total environment, inquiry, and direct experience for learning purposes. Ideological bases of the project are discussed. Advantages and disadvantages are stated plus implications for curriculum, teacher training, and resource allocations. (BC)

This theme issue covering elementary and prevocational programs examines agriculture education in elementary and middle schools, motivational activities for exploratory agriculture, utilizing the Food for America program, benefits of the Food for America program, elementary agriculture education curriculum, and vocational agriculture for seventh…

Play allows children to make creative discoveries. This is a result of the fact that creation comes from tinkering and the absence of fear of failure, rather than from minds trained to follow what is already known. Suggestions for building a curriculum based on serious play are offered. (LB)

This unit uses a learning center approach to helping elementary students learn about Israel. Following a rationale for implementing an interdisciplinary approach to global education, the unit discusses methodology and management of the program, which consists of seven independent learning centers and one library research center through which…

Preservice teacher education candidates need to learn a more flexible approach in teaching behavioral objectives. Modified behavioral objectives can be achieved through a creative teaching sequence. The creative teaching sequence, a set of lessons which promotes the development of students' problem solving abilities, attempts to unify the concepts…

One of the most successful motivators in elementary physical education today is the concept of "themed learning centers." Such themes might involve the popular topics of superheroes or television stars. Included in this presentation are lists of basic components and purposes for themed learning centers, and a sample learning center. (JN)

Addresses two issues confronting teachers who use theme immersion in their classrooms: integration of content through theme, and inquiry-based curriculum. Discusses the challenge and justification for each issue. Notes that inquiry teaching means constantly searching for better ways to support children' s own inquiry processes. (BAC)

The Comprehensive Instructional Management System (CIMS)-Science program is designed to support teachers in teaching the "New York State Elementary Science Syllabus." The curriculum emphasizes a hands-on inquiry approach to learning and includes an assessment component comprised of written tests and performance-based tests, designed to…

Examines changes in elementary science teachers' education, noting the fragmented status of school science. Few elementary teachers have strong academic backgrounds in science or fundamental knowledge of elementary science program content. Understanding preservice teachers' alternative conceptions and misconceptions about the nature of science is…

This book introduces third through sixth grade teachers to problem-based learning (PBL), a system for classroom instruction and curriculum development. It combines the PBL system with practice in locating, evaluating, and thinking about information from the Internet. It provides 8 PBL units for use in the classroom, offering instructions for…

Challenged is the traditional model for the transmission of mathematics in the elementary school classroom. An inquiry approach to learning mathematics is proposed and supported with results of a year long research project that exposed second graders to mathematical learning experiences using this approach. (MDH)

Reviews the history and development of the "Our Working World" elementary textbook series, an example of the New Social Studies reform movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Describes the Organic Curriculum, which integrated the fundamental ideas of five social science disciplines. Maintains that implementing the K-6 program all at once was an…

This handbook describes the seventeen most popular and effective items made in the Philadelphia Teacher Parent Center. The handbook recounts not only "how-to-do-it" strategies for use in a teacher center but also tips on how to store, present, explain, and use items. Research done on the teacher center involved two separate survey forms which…