Discusses ways a commercial art class at the middle school level helped students connect ideas and feelings and modes of expression within themselves, connect skills they were learning in school with what they perceived in life, and extend their ideas and expression to connect with the community. Notes how these connections motivate students to…

Discusses the need to balance student-oriented instruction with student-oriented classroom management. Explores six reasons teachers frequently give for their reluctance to implement a student-oriented classroom. (JPB)

Discusses the implementation of a standards based mathematics curriculum at the middle school level that engages students' active learning. Considers obstacles to this reform, including traditional beliefs, student initial reactions to new teaching practices, parental perceptions, transition from middle grades to high school, assessment of student…

Discusses the reform of the middle school science curriculum to engage students in their own development, represent the ethos of contemporary science, recognize social changes and cultural shifts, and assure productive learning, all focused on the welfare of young adolescents. (JPB)

Discusses ways to empower student learning in middle schools by providing learning environments that encourage student input, influence, and responsibility; respect cultural pluralism; and engineer congruence between the content and methods of instruction and students' life experiences and cognitive styles. (JPB)

Discusses ways to make middle school classrooms student-friendly by motivating students to take control of their education, understand themselves, and assess their own progress. Notes the teacher's role in this student-centered classroom. (JPB)

Discusses implications of the National Middle School Association's position paper "Developmentally Responsive Middle Level Schools" on the use of evaluation to promote learning. Considers the importance of involving students directly in every step of the teaching-learning process, including goal setting and evaluation. (JPB)

Discusses a middle school level interdisciplinary science project in which students create and display their own inventions. Considers the role of science, math, language arts, writing, social studies, and computer science in the project. Describes the process whereby students become inventors and present their work. (JPB)

Discusses six transformations in teachers' thinking to facilitate implementation of integrative curriculum. The transformations include rethinking the teacher as a curriculum theorist, reconceptualizing the roles of teachers and students, affirming student voices, conceptualizing authentic assessment, and restructuring the classroom environment.…

Discusses a training course for middle school teachers that requires the cooperative student development of an integrated, thematic teaching unit based upon an ordinary object or idea, such as food. Describes the steps to developing the units and provides examples of interesting facts teachers and students learned. (JPB)

Discusses the implementation of a student-designed integrative curriculum taught by team teachers in a middle school classroom. Considers the role of computer technology in organizing the curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Describes the process of engaging students, encouraging them to develop their curriculum, and selecting and completing…