A simple lesson on magnetism can foster childrens' natural enthusiasm for science and set the stage for discoveries that parallel those of famous scientists. (JD)

A teacher describes an incident involving his fifth-grade class and an angry elderly woman. He points out that the event became a learning experience in standing up for one's rights, tenacity, respect for others, compassion, and responsibility for the elderly. (JD)

A teacher offers six suggestions for giving students opportunities to exercise their commonsense thinking skills. This allows the teacher to ask rather than tell, listen rather than talk, and allows the children to provide for themselves. (MT)

Learning-to-learn skills prepare students for the more complex skills of metacognition, which will eventually become a framework for all the individual thinking skills taught. Twelve learning-to-learn skills are identified, accompanied by suggested instructional strategies. The objective of these skills is to make students active rather than…

This article identifies two approaches to teaching specific thinking skills, presents a sample lesson plan, and includes as an example a "Thinking Skills Worksheet" that outlines an approach to teaching the thinking skills of comparing and contrasting. (IAH)

Suggestions are made for overcoming these common learning problems: (1) can't stick to a task; (2) trouble organizing time and space when starting or finishing a task; (3) trouble dealing with verbal information; (4) visual and visual-motor difficulties; (5) trouble understanding spoken language; and (6) trouble memorizing. (JD)

Students learn more when they are up, moving, and actively participating. The article discusses what teachers can do to incorporate movement into the classroom every day and describes several exercises from "Brain Gym." A sidebar illustrates the connections between muscular activity, the neural network, and the brain. (SM)

With some children, teachers can't work the usual way; they have to do strange things. By accepting his hatred, using military manuals as textbooks, and employing an unorthodox reward system, the author helped a difficult child learn to read at his grade level. (MT)

History has previously been learned as a long parade; making it wider, not just a single file of great men, is certainly an improvement. But whole areas of life reflect patterns of change that are apart from the major concerns of political leaders. Humanizing history makes it memorable and gives children a sense of connection. (MT)

A teacher discusses how computers can be used in the classroom to increase individualization, motivation, and creativity. (DF)

The article offers six suggestions to help educators teach for true understanding: identify concepts and multiple meanings; create appropriate definitions; pay attention to prior knowledge; provide examples; focus on central elements of the concept; and establish solid evaluation procedures. (SM)

An elementary school teacher developed renewed interest in both teaching and learning after enrolling in an American Heart Association workshop. This article discusses how a science unit on the heart was taught in a creative and interesting way to fourth-grade students. (DF)

Elementary school children need hands-on experiences to understand science concepts. Computers can be used to store and analyze data collected by students, but educators seem to agree that students need to manipulate data themselves to really comprehend their discoveries. (DF)

A variety of techniques for incorporating writing--the writing of letters, the keeping of logs, the devising of word problems--into the mathematics curriculum are discussed. The benefits from using an integrated approach are indicated. (DG)

This activity book includes across-the-curriculum activities with Olympic themes; a "cooperation relay" (four competitive team activities based on a cooperative learning model); highlights of African Americans' Olympic achievements; a poster on teamwork and activities based on the theme of keeping the Olympic torch alive; and a…