Describes the Engineering Link Project for Year 11 students that might have an interest in engineering. It is a three-day course organized by teachers and conducted by engineers to give students the opportunity to test materials, design, construct, and try their own solutions to an engineering problem. (AIM)

Active learning is not a new concept, and recent research suggests that students who have opportunities to participate in the learning process are much more successful students in terms of achievement test scores and individual happiness. This paper discusses some recent research on active learning, including a description of a microsociety school…

The integration of recommendations, ideas, theories, and/or research results on the use of educational media in social studies with ideas, theories, recommendations, and research results concerning active learning in social studies is the focus of this paper. Educational media refers to software or hardware or both. Active learning refers to…

Argues that educational practices that focus only on hands-on experience within a discipline are not enough to permit students to experience a discipline in its fullest sense. Emphasis should also be placed on the cognitive goals of developing the knowledge, skills, and understanding of disciplines to permit students to communicate and reason…

Describes how a jigsaw cooperative learning structure divides lab work in a constructive, efficient way and provides a mechanism for sharing information. Pre-lab lectures are replaced with focused student discussions about the lab exercises. Students become more involved with the lab exercises, take responsibility for their own learning, and are…

Maintains that gathering and analyzing data about the nature and scope of violence is an important step in designing meaningful safe-schools projects. Presents a safe-schools survey lesson plan designed for secondary schools. Includes lesson objectives, step-by-step instructional procedures, and sample student survey questions. (CFR)

Investigates the acceptability and possible role of virtual reality (VR) in environmental education. Among the principal findings were that the sample population of environmental educators indicated an acceptance of VR as a teaching tool. VR applications that allow students to have an experience not available in the physical world were perceived…

In Los Angeles, racial demographics have changed radically in the past 30 years resulting in inevitable tensions in the school. This paper reports on a classroom simulation of ethnicity/race and class relations. Students adopted the roles of three polarized and rigid "color groupings": (1) Greens--ruling class, wealthy since birth; (2)…

Proposes a teaching strategy to teach ecological concepts and terminology through the use of games and simulations. Includes examples from physiological ecology, population ecology, and ecosystem ecology. (Author/SOE)

This paper explores the relevancy of apprenticeships for professional training. While often neglected in current educational theory, apprenticeship training is common in the arts and in the mentoring and supervision of professionals. The apprenticeship model may provide solutions for some of the problems of the current educational system such as…

Experiential or work-based learning has been touted as imperative for the development of students and their preparation for the workplace. However, work-based learning does not always occur or occur to a significant extent merely because a student is in the workplace. What matters is the nature of the student's participation in workplace…

Dynamic classroom role-playing for junior and senior high school classes in literature and acting is an essential ingredient in cultivating characterization and interpretation if a student is to learn the technical skills of performance. Although no simple classroom performance blueprint exists for predicting the degree of success a student…

Presents a secondary-level lesson plan designed to introduce students to teen courts in schools and develop decision-making skills. Includes learning objectives, step-by-step instructional procedures, a chart illustrating a teen court referral system, and three student readings. (CFR)

States that United States history teachers must understand and accept the several rationales for the course if instruction is to improve. The first of a 10-part series presenting these rationales, this article discusses the historical method and inquiry mode and gives reasons why they are beneficial. (AEM)

The educational potential of agriculture stems from the diversity and tangibility of its components. As a science based human activity, it may provide the educator with a unique combination of educational opportunities in a context which is authentic and accessible to the pupil and to the teacher. (JHZ)