Elementary students at the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania, don't just learn knowledge and skills; they put it to work. The school's Innovation Lab for grades K-4 offers students hands-on opportunities to use design thinking to solve problems. In this article, two of the school's educators describe how 2nd graders used design…

Correctly harnessed, we can blend the best of our traditional intellectual linear culture--Socrates' wisdom of the 5th century BCE--with the current digital visual culture, creating a new learning and intellectual environment consistent with the cognitive and expressive demands of the 21st century. Four elements of the 21st-century mind could be…

In one Colorado fifth grade classroom, math period begins with Mathematician's Chair, an activity allowing students to share their problems with entire class. Using this technique, students became adept at writing math problems, solving their own and peers' problems, using math-related writing as important medium of social discourse, and making…

Teachers can help students "find" problems by brainstorming potential research ideas connected to interests they already have. Students of all ages can do descriptive, historical, experimental, correlational, and developmental research. Case, field, causal, and comparative research might be more successful with older students. Conducting real…

Demonstrates how teachers can make instruction more meaningful by linking new subject matter to students' previous experiences and by using community resources to create exciting new learning experiences. If the content is rigorous and relevant, debates, storytelling, the arts, graphic organizers, and mnemonics can dramatically enhance student…

The Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico is connecting its 14 high schools to Internet. Three UNAM institutions designed a foreign-languages instruction model based on international cultural and scientific exchanges via computer networks. Mexican students studying English are interacting with English-speaking people, solving real problems, and…

Accelerated learning involves a philosophy and systematic process for providing the best education for each child. Lessons are not really fast-track but designed to enrich students' learning experience through higher expectations, relevant course content, and stimulating instruction. Accelerated schools have three guiding principles: unity of…

For the past four years, a multiage class in Maine has been involved in a pumpkin-growing and -marketing enterprise--a project involving real work and problem solving. Begun with a seed grant, the project raises money for field trips and nonessential teaching materials. Working cooperatively forges strong bonds among children, teachers, and…

Several Maryland schools are experimenting with Roots and Wings, a collaborative project of Saint Mary's County Schools, the state education department, and Johns Hopkins University. Funded by the New American Schools Development Corporation, the pilot project's goals are to guarantee every child's successful completion of elementary school and to…

The Applications in Biology/Chemistry (ABC) curriculum is a real-world approach designed for the middle 50% of secondary students who may not learn in a predominantly abstract way. Stressing contextual and cooperative learning, ABC features 10 laboratory exercises and other hands-on, problem-solving activities involving visits to job sites and…

In an innovative urban literacy program, K-3 students create a working community, complete with a store, newspaper, post office, museum, and economic system. Using TRALE (Technology-Rich Authentic Learning Environments), teachers create meaningful instruction through authentic, problem-based learning activities using educational technology when…