This resource booklet explains a multidisciplinary approach to environmental education for the intermediate grades. Its major aim is to make the student aware of what is happening around him as well as being aware of what he is doing to his own surroundings. A three-stage program was utilized consisting of a cooperative learning project aided by…

A program geared toward students in grades 4 through 8 is described. It integrates information about alcohol use and abuse into the existing curriculum. (KC)

An Artists-in-the-Schools program that involved a sculptor and a photographer in teaching fourth and fifth grade students about shadow and light is described. The arts program was interdisciplinary and involved the language arts of writing, reading, speaking, and developing vocabulary. (RM)

Describes a World Wildlife Fund project that focused on the development of teaching units for middle school children. Explains five thematic programs that centered on children as occupiers of space, consumers of resources, intervenors in world environments, and as decision makers. Also reviews a teacher training module. (ML)

The program description gives basic information on the one-year social studies course focusing on anthropology, designed primarily for intermediate-grade (4-6) students but applicable to secondary students. While the long range objective is for students to contemplate the nature of man and the forces that shape his humanity, some terminal…

To circumvent typical public schooling restrictions, an upstate New York middle school established a Lab School that functions outside the regular program. Lab School aims to provide practice in intellectual inquiry, delve into complex, demanding topics, create an interdisciplinary, problem-oriented curriculum, and experiment with assessment…

Outlines characteristics of effective alternative programs for at-risk middle schools students, noting organizational, instructional, and interpersonal components. Describes a successful drop-out prevention program which operates as a school-within-a-school for sixth- through eighth-grade students, emphasizing multicultural education and…

Fourth graders in the Meroby School, Mexico, Maine, produce a weekly news program that is transmitted to all classrooms via closed circuit television. The classroom teacher is in charge of day-to-day preparation, working on the writing and the necessary skills with students. Teachers and students use their creativity to come up with new…

Renne (Oregon) Intermediate School offers an innovative program of personalized instruction to students in grades 6-8. Teachers work closely with individual students, following a continuous progress curriculum which allows cross-grade-level placement in the core areas of math, reading, and language arts. Based on cooperative district planning, the…

Discusses the development and implementation of whole science teaching in a departmentalized fourth grade teaching situation. A description of a unit on weather is offered. (BB)

The Technology Enhancing Achievement in Middle School (TEAMS) instructional model is an instructional approach in which technology plays an integral part in the curriculum. This article describes why TEAMS was developed, how instructional units are organized, presents key elements of the model, and first year results. Includes a sample sixth grade…

A "maps in the news" unit can be used to help middle and junior high school students in many subject areas recognize basic map components and identify and analyze thematic maps while building writing skills. Prior to beginning the unit, the teacher introduces students to thematic maps, the parts of a map, and writing organization (topic…

The Round Meadow Environmental Laboratory School is an exemplary project designed to aid District of Columbia 6th grade children in overcoming the educational disadvantages of urban minority group isolation, both cultural and geographical, through a school-based and camp-based interracial and intercultural environmental awareness program. During…

This report describes the flexible scheduling practices of Kennedy Middle School in Aiken, South Carolina and its Interdisciplinary Middle School Program for Advisement, Counseling, and Teaming (IMPACT). The school is organized into 2 sixth-grade, 2 seventh-grade, and 2 eighth-grade teams, each of which contains 6 teachers and 90 to 150 students.…

Four elementary schools in Washington, Alaska, and British Columbia are cooperating on a project to explore issues surrounding the Pacific salmon fisheries. Place-based techniques and interactive media are used to bring together science; global concerns; the histories of Canada, the United States, and First Nations peoples; background on the…