The paper provides a framework for converting academic subject matter into structured activities for students that provide intellectual excitement. The article includes an example of a workshop and worksheet which yields six principles for designing such activities. (SB)

A teacher in the English education program at Buffalo State College describes her development of Web-based literature guides for preservice teachers to use in preparation and student teaching and for secondary-level English/language arts teachers to use in their classrooms. Discusses assembling materials for the web guide; an overview of site…

This instructional design looks at momentum in physics through railroading, to assist students in developing appropriate mental models that will enable them to solve problems relevant to the process or principle being taught. A PEAnet (process, entity, activity network) relationship enables an instructional visualization (simulation) in which…

This guide is intended for using in helping students build their self-esteem, self-confidence, and communications, decision-making, and problem-solving skills. The materials, which were originally developed to build self-esteem among older adults and were redesigned to help single female heads of households aged 25 to 50, may be used within the…

Because of an expressed need for staff development for vocational education administrators, research was conducted to identify and verify the competencies needed by vocational administrators; competency-based modularized materials were developed to address those competencies; and a variety of competency-based training program strategies were…

This module is one in a series of 127 performance-based teacher education (PBTE) learning packages focusing upon specific professional competencies of vocational teachers. The competencies upon which these modules are based were identified and verified through research as being important to successful vocational teaching at both the secondary and…

This article describes a set of Spanish language materials which were designed to meet the needs of Spanish-speaking children in the intermediate grades who had never been exposed to formal instruction in language arts and reading. The materials were developed by the author in collaboration with the Bilingual Materials Development Center in Fort…

This module is one in a series of six designed to help vocational educators develop skills needed to make use of the Vocational Technical Education Consortium of States materials and to develop and manage individualized instructional programs. Recommended for use by both pre- and inservice teachers and curriculum development specialist interns,…

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of Project Kaleidoscope, a grant funded project designed to develop, field test, and disseminate training materials and methods to prepare personnel to better serve culturally, linguistically and developmentally diverse young children and their families. The project addressed the central…

This paper introduces and reports upon lessons learned during the development phase of the Lord Kelvin Middle School Science Program. For the past two years, a set of tools to help middle school students learn science in a way that uses the full power of today's technology has been under development. Lord Kelvin is a robust collection of science…

Innovation, imagination, and student creativity are key ingredients in creating quality media materials for the small school. Student-produced media materials, slides without a camera, personalized slide programs and copy work, self-made task cards, self-made overhead transparencies, graphic materials, and utilization of the mass media are some of…

Discusses activities that can help teachers of toddlers to design environments that stimulate and facilitate children's exploration, discovery, and understanding of color beyond the traditional boundaries of sight. Suggests that by incorporating other senses, teachers offer to the older toddlers rich multi-sensory experiences that can nurture and…

Presents guidelines for designing and using extensions, which are exercises that follow or extend the basic presentation of an idea, in the mathematics area of the Montessori program to give children more experience and depth as they explore key mathematical concepts. Describes extensions that address counting, sorting, and working with decimals.…

Describes a project to produce classroom materials for world and U.S. history based on primary source documents. Recommends departing from textbooks to penetrate particular historical problems through the units described. Suggests that such projects teach students the complexity of history, encourage active learning, and display a variety of…

Investigated the role that interactive multimedia might play in scaffolding teacher-led classroom activities to help children construct more appropriate external representations for particular tasks and reason more effectively about historical chronological concepts. Reports on the conceptual design and pedagogical approach to developing effective…