The impulse to investigate the natural world is deeply rooted in our earliest childhood experiences. This notion has long guided researchers to uncover the cognitive mechanisms underlying the development of scientific reasoning in children. Until recently, however, research in cognitive development and education followed largely independent…

The definition of "English language classroom" is changing. When students have the opportunity to learn content and language at the same time, disciplinary boundaries overlap. Teachers are rethinking how they design courses, plan lessons, assess students, and collaborate with colleagues to support student learning and facilitate their…

This document introduces the Edible Schoolyard Project (ESP) in which students create a garden, watch it grow, and develop a bond with nature. Chapters include: (1) "Implications of the Edible Schoolyard Project" (Wes Jackson); (2) "A World of Possibilities" (Alice Waters); (3) "The Garden Experience" (David Hawkins);…

This guide contains 30 technology learning activities. Activities may contain all or some of the following: an introduction, objectives, materials and equipment, challenges, limitations, notes and investigations, resources and references used, and evaluation ideas. Activity titles are: (1) Occupations in Construction Technology; (2) Designing a…

This volume of 66 promising practices in mathematics and science education developed by the 10 regional educational laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement. The laboratories' collection of programs emerged from a broad-based search, nomination, and review process reaching educators…

As a part of the teacher licensure program at the graduate level at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), the M.Ed. Licensure candidate is required to complete an action research project during a 3-semester-hour course that coincides with the 9-semester-hour student teaching experience or with school employment. This course, Education…

This teaching unit on using shadows in science instruction and other class activities explains how to set up and equip a "super private sleuthing box" where students can solve mysteries such as where to find shadows and how to shrink or enlarge them. Ideas for making silhouettes and shadow plays are also given. (PP)

Education has traditionally studied the world by bringing it into the classroom. This method can result in situated learning that appears to students to have no relevance outside the classroom. Students acquire inert, decontextualized knowledge that they cannot apply to real problems. The obvious solution to this shortcoming is to reverse the…

This collection of teaching units were selected from materials developed during the Operation Pathfinder Institutes (OPI) which took place in the Pacific region between 1994 and 1999. The institutes were intended to provide upper elementary and middle school science teachers with an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the marine…

This book re-examines the dichotomy between the everyday and the disciplinary in mathematics and science education, and explores alternatives to this opposition from points of view grounded in the close examination of complex classroom events. It makes the case that students' everyday experience and knowledge in their entire manifold forms matter…

As a part of the UNESCO series, The Teaching of the Basic Sciences, this document focuses on new trends in the teaching of physics at the secondary school and university levels. The first half of the book is intended to help physics teachers deal with some of the phenomena associated with the transfer, conversion and utilization of energy. Papers…

This publication on Aerospace Programs is a special edition of "Technology Education" featuring descriptions of 15 select aerospace education programs from diverse localities spanning the full range of instructional levels. Following introductory material, the monograph contains the following largely unedited program descriptions: (1)…

The Sharing Success program, recognizes exemplary public school programs and practices in the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Each year, SERVE emphasizes a specific program area for recognition based on one of the national goals for education. This "Sharing Success" publication…