Rich mathematical modeling activities are crucial to giving students agency and making mathematics meaningful. Proportional reasoning and transitional algebraic reasoning are the primary topics in the prealgebra curriculum, so a need exists for meaningful modeling activities using proportional reasoning in addition to geometric modeling. In…

Teaching AP Human Geography to freshmen seems like a daunting task and while there are many arguments both for and against offering the course to freshmen, for many teachers it is reality. In this article, the author offers nine tips to help high school freshmen be successful in the course and on the AP exam.

Many high school physics courses have deemphasized mathematics, which has changed the nature and role of the inquiry experiments in them. This article lays out an approach built upon an introductory unit, "Patterns in Nature," which aims to engage students in constructing their understanding of physics through contextualizing and…

This booklet is addressed to high school teachers, discussing what many researchers consider the most important year of high school, perhaps the most important year of school so far. Freshman year will set the stage for whether a student graduates and whether he or she will be ready for college. Citing years of study, the Consortium on Chicago…

This study examines the effect of teacher communication on freshman high school students towards doing their homework assignments and their level of engagement and attitudes in the classroom. It also investigates students' and parents' attitudes toward school work. The researcher randomly selected four Algebra I classes; two assigned to the…

This document presents a guide to help students, who are entering the ninth grade, and their parents prepare for the transition from middle school to high school. The booklet is organized around a series of questions that students might ask themselves as they begin to plan for their high school careers. Each question is considered and discussed to…

Discusses the social studies requirements of Sidney High School (Ohio) and the place of geography in the curriculum. Maintains the importance of geography. Outlines several world geography activities used at the school including supermarket geography that teaches students the origin of their food. (RW)

Ninth graders in a six-week reading improvement class at San Marcos High School (Texas) acted as tutors in an elementary school. The ninth graders' self-confidence, attitude, and attendance improved dramatically, but their own progress in reading did not, because of the short duration of the project. (DM)