A new journal feature shares practical ideas in experiential education in less than 800 words. This issue presents an initiative problem, rules for rope push, exercise illustrating dependence on schedules, how to experience a handicap, maple sugaring project, assignment bridging the generation gap, simulating literary experiences, and local…

The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum in Ann Arbor, Michigan, encourages the natural curiosity of young people to explore, participate, and get involved in exhibits, demonstrations, and activities. Described are the museum's history, exhibits, programs, services, volunteers, resources, and affiliations. (JDD)

Goals of the Children's Museum of Boston are to encourage curiosity, skepticism, and realism while providing opportunities for discoveries and new insights. The museum addresses the needs of young children through adolescents by providing a multicultural environment and participatory learning centers. (JDD)

The inquiry approach of Discovery Place of Birmingham, Inc., in Birmingham, Alabama, invites children of all ages to explore the excitement of science, technology, art, and humanities. The educational resource center provides interactive exhibits, hands-on materials, teacher workshops, and family programs. (JDD)

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)

Described is a project in which third graders create their own corporation--a cupcake factory--and learn first-hand about economic principles and the decisions that businesses must make in the market economy. The cupcake factory is one example of how enterprising educators can make economics comprehensible and captivating. (RM)

How to use elementary school children as curators of a classroom museum is described. The teacher decides the concept or unit to be showcased in the museum. As curators students are responsible for many tasks including writing descriptive paragraphs for the artifacts and arranging the artifact display. (RM)

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)

The gifted education model described here provides elective "talent pool" classes--within the standard class schedule--that integrate enrichment activities with the academic curriculum in any given subject area. (MCG)

Research shows that hands-on science education is more effective than a textbook and lecture approach. This suggests that the "new curriculum" introduced in science classes in the seventies was more effective than was thought. (JM)

Pupils' natural questioning attitudes lead them to discovery in a learning center, in contrast to the lecture method, by which information is forced on students regardless of their interests. This paper describes learning experiences built around rocks. Materials placed in a rock center (rocks, stones, pebbles, magnifying glasses hammers, and…

This article describes "Math Their Way" techniques for experiential learning of math concepts by deaf children. Finding, comparing, and creating patterns are emphasized at conceptual, connecting, and symbolic levels. Graphing, counting, and measuring exercises are described, as well as ways to steer free time and exploratory learning toward math…

This ERIC digest synthesizes research findings relating active learning to student achievement, reviews the status of active learning practices in today's social studies classrooms, presents examples of active learning practices in specific areas of the social studies, and provides a list of suggestions and resources for integrating active…

Teaching by learning activities is contrasted with teaching by objectives. Four types of learning activities are identified. (JT)

Try to learn all you can about a plant in the winter. As the season changes, you can see what the dried seed pod is like in bloom. You are a convert if you notice a spectacular show of summer wildflowers and wonder what sort of winter weed will result. (Author/CM)