The Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) underscore the importance of including engineering design process (EDP) within the science curriculum. The Framework and the NGSS raised engineering design to the level of scientific inquiry in an attempt to prepare a STEM-literate workforce for the 21st…

Theater arts encompass unique art forms comprising highly developed pedagogical applications apart from theater as performance. Specifically, the use of drama as a learning medium, referred to in the field as "process drama", is most emphatically applicable to the education of young children. Young children actively gain skills in…

Preservice teachers in six sections (n = 87) of a sequenced, methodological and process-integrated elementary mathematics/science methods course were able to reconcile an issue centered on a similar area of epistemology. Preservice teachers participated in a science inquiry lesson on biological classification and a mathematics problem-solving…

Response to intervention (RTI) was included in the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), specifically as part of an assessment process to determine if a child has a disability. Although IDEA's focus is on students with disabilities, 10 states have developed policies that attend to students with gifts and…

In recent years, educators have become ever more aware of the critical role that vocabulary knowledge plays in the academic lives of their students. Vocabulary knowledge is fundamental to the comprehension of text and is most effective when it relates new words to students' existing vocabulary and background knowledge. Effective vocabulary…

In this commentary, the authors bring insights from their work on science-literacy integration at the elementary level to bear on the ongoing conversation about disciplinary literacy at the middle and secondary levels. In particular, the authors discuss what they have learned about inquiry, disciplinary reading strategies, and the role of text in…

The indicators in this edition of Key Data on Teaching Languages at School in Europe cover a number of issues at the heart of contemporary thought and discussion in Europe relating to foreign language teaching. They address the degree of linguistic diversity in European schools and the need to provide appropriate support measures to pupils…

Drawing on portraiture methods, this case study is an exploration of the experiences of pre-service teachers who participated in a music-integrated literacy methods course during their first semester in an elementary teacher preparation program. The study is a response to previous researchers' findings that arts-integrated university courses hold…

This study questions the belief that little or no social studies is being taught in regular elementary education classrooms. That belief is based on time studies and a body of research that looks at curriculum and teacher interviews and concludes that the social studies time block has been decreased in elementary classrooms, therefore little or no…

With daily classroom schedules jammed with many concepts and skills to cover, integrating subjects whenever possible offers some relief. Primary classrooms can use their daily calendar time to integrate language arts and math. This teaching approach includes the use of word walls, interactive writing, journaling, and other effective teaching…

Provides a rationale for integrating language arts and science instruction. Discusses some of the ways in which science instruction interfaces with language instruction in the author's classroom. (MG)

"Alpha-Pets" are the focal point of an integrated, multidisciplinary curriculum. Each pet is featured for a week in a vocabulary-rich story and introduces related activities beginning with the featured letter, such as the four food groups during Freddie Fish's week or universe during Ulysses Unicorn's week. (MT)

Suggests ways that speaking and listening, reading and writing can be brought together in the learner's mind. (DD)

Describes a Nevada elementary school's yearly Oceans Week program with schoolwide activities and integrated curricula focusing on the ocean. Each grade emphasizes different ocean habitats, and all subject areas support the theme. Hallways are decorated to look like assigned habitat, and PTA volunteers supervise activity stations. (SM)

Proposes that an effective teacher can enhance the achievement of educational goals by integrating the daily use of the following categories into the classroom situation: health education, values, aesthetics (art), music, physical education, group projects, individual work, and conversation (socialization). (JD)