"Introducing Engineering to K-8 Students" will provide you with the tools you need to incorporate engineering design into your classroom. Rather than prescribing a specific curriculum to follow, this book will help you engage your students with hands-on, open-ended engineering design problems that can be easily integrated into your…

This lesson plan describes the application of a photo essay technique for landscape interpretation in an interdisciplinary instructor-led international field course. This lesson is, in practice, a field-based exercise or learning activity that asks students to engage in three foundational approaches to place-based landscape reading:…

Educating future scientists and citizens is more effective if students are guided to correctly apply what they learned in school to their daily lives. This experience-based work is focused on the study of a well-known commercial product: cat litter. This material offers different starting points for a critical examination. Questions related to…

The undergraduate Bioengineering Program at Lehigh University was established as part of the university's Bioscience and Biotechnology Initiative with support from the National Science Foundation through a grant from its Division of Engineering Education and Centers (EEC). The objective here is to describe the program development and…

Describes a step-by-step process for elementary class brainstorming to develop interdisciplinary learning projects and activities: (1) initial listing of everything concerning the topic; (2) organizing the ideas by discipline, responsibility, and logical sequence; (3) experientializing the topics; and (4) identifying skills to be incorporated in…

Present research into the psychophysical process affecting illness and health is providing an awareness that a person cannot be treated piecemeal. Described is an experiential course in holistic health that was favorably received by students and had a significant impact on them. (RM)

Challenges the identification of literacy with intelligence and abstract reasoning ability. Suggests nonverbal projects as a way of broadening the definition of intelligence in the English classroom. A bibliography is included. (DF)

Discusses the early use of straw in Africa and Europe as a building material. Provides background information and a basic framework for the straw bale project, and recommends supervision for young students. Lists objectives for building a straw bale bench and provides the building instructions which consist of three sessions. Includes four…

Outdoor learning activities often cause problems in class control. Organizing children into game-playing activities that emphasize ecological and biological themes helps reinforce learning with play. Several activities are described. (DF)

Discusses creating an outdoor classroom as a means to enhance the curriculum with outdoor, hands-on learning. It is based on a project at Olympic Heights Elementary School in Calgary. Includes a list of pointers on how an outdoor classroom can integrate language arts, math, science, social studies, health, physical education, art and music. (AIM)

Presents ideas to help elementary teachers encourage their students to discover the excitement of doing descriptive, historical, or experimental research by seeking new information, testing hypotheses, gathering data, drawing conclusions, and using appropriate vocabulary. The article includes questions for children to investigate and words used by…

Describes an activity in which the story of "Frosty the Snowman" is reviewed and students are challenged to come up with ways to save Frosty. In cooperative groups, students brainstorm, share ideas, and write a prelaboratory report. After the approval of plans by the teacher students construct the snowmen and begin the three-day experiment. (DDR)

Describes gardening activities teachers can use to promote cognitive and social growth in their students. A garden may serve as a natural laboratory where students may develop a caring ethic and observe the connection between production and consumption. Provides suggestions for adapting the gardening activity to any grade level. (LS)

This activity packet, designed for elementary grades 2-4, provides educators with a series on hands-on interdisciplinary classroom and outdoor education activities that focus on aquatic life at Lake James State Park, North Carolina. The packet was designed to meet established curriculum objectives of the North Carolina Department of Public…

Describes an interactive method for teaching a course in the psychology of aging based on a multidisciplinary approach. Argues that it allows incorporation of a wide range of age-related topics, and provides students with practical applications. Allows students to identify and challenge perceptions of age and understand aging from multiple…