Presents activities to familiarize elementary students with some basic concepts regarding human inheritance. (PR)

Describes three activities to help students understand plate tectonics. (PR)

Describes a one- to two-week project where students create a biographical scrapbook to document the life of a chosen scientist. When sources are not easily found, students are encouraged to use their imaginations to create birth certificates, news articles, letters, and interviews. (PR)

Describes types of sand and presents science activities using sand. (PR)

Presents thought experiments and science activities for helping students think about quantum mechanics and the idea of randomness. (PR)

Describes a classroom activity in which students complete a survey about the relative seriousness of 22 deviant or criminal behaviors crimes. Provides several opportunities for in-depth class discussion. Identifies limitations of the exercise and presents methods to overcome them. (CFR)

The Hands-On and Far-Out Physics project is part of the Center for Technology, Environment, and Communication (C-TEC), a project-based learning community at Piner High School in Santa Rosa (California). This article introduces the project team, discusses member activities, presents a walking-speed experiment, and describes a Mars Colony course…

Identifies and analyzes some recurrent problems with the implementation of cooperative and active learning strategies. Addresses the use of questions, management of instructor-centered activities, management of in-class group activities, and relinquishing forms of control in the classroom. (Author/ASK)

Investigates several problems with the sequences of numbers known as the Catalan numbers and the Bell numbers. Finds that the problems are appropriate for both pre- and in-service teachers, as well as students studying discrete mathematics. (Author/CCM)

Describes a "dry laboratory" using data from virtual rats to help students understand the hormonal regulation of gastrointestinal function. (Author/WRM)

Focuses on the use of e-mail games for learning. Discusses terminology; reasons for using virtual games; promoting person-to-person interaction online; how to play an e-mail game, including three examples of specific games; player reactions; design components; the functions for facilitating an e-mail game; and the game as an excuse for debriefing.…

Explores changing curricular designs and the differences between traditional and authentic learning. Identifies significant design features of authentic design, and provides examples of these features with instructional units. (AEF)

Notes the importance and use of interviewing skills. Discusses technologies used in interviewing; use of interviews in the curriculum; ways to contact potential interviewees; and planning, conducting, and ending the interview. (AEF)

Suggests ways in which adventure educators can use heritage interpretation in the wilderness setting to promote understanding of the history and significance of events, people, and objects linked to particular places. Factors to consider include creating interpretive lessons, training trip leaders to conduct them, and evaluating their effect on…

Describes how a teacher can give their students the challenge of designing and building model balloons or blimps. The project helps students learn the basics of balloon flight and what it really means to be "lighter than air." (PR)