Community mapping can be an important tool for educators who aim to freely allow students to share their own connections and experiences. During community mapping, students identify areas within their own localities that matter to them, and engage in various literacy events centered on those places. Often, classes will study foreign lands and…

Broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers requires that underrepresented students, including women and minorities, persist in their studies and complete undergraduate and graduate degrees. Studies have shown that engaging students in undergraduate research and improving students' science…

The recent introduction of a new course in mathematical modeling at Manhattan College has provided students with a valuable opportunity to gain practical experience utilizing tools in applying their mathematical abilities to a real-world problem. This paper describes the steps taken to create this class, from obtaining a real-world partner…

In a typical chemistry instrumentation laboratory, students learn analytical techniques through a well-developed procedure. Such an approach, however, does not engage students in a creative endeavor. To foster the intrinsic motivation of students' desire to learn, improve their confidence in self-directed learning activities and enhance their…

This article describes the Collaborative Media Center pilot at SUNY Old Westbury, a digital literacy project with the aim of narrowing the digital divide at the College by embedding digital projects across the curriculum. The article explains how the Center supported students in four linked courses to create digital projects. Assessment data and…

Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB) is a nonprofit organization that partners student chapters with communities in fundamental need of potable water, clean air, sanitation, irrigation, energy, basic structures for schools and clinics, roads and bridges, etc. While EWB projects may vary in complexity, they are all realistic, ill-structured and…

Paul Jablon's "The Synergy of Inquiry" (2014) is well-timed. The 2014 deadline set by No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2002) for universal student proficiency has come and gone, and according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, "proficiency rates last year were below 50 percent for nearly every racial and ethnic group, in…

Earthquakes "have" been in the news of late--from the disastrous 2010 Haitian temblor that killed more than 300,000 people to the March 2011 earthquake and devastating tsunami in Honshu, Japan, to the unexpected August 2011 earthquake in Mineral, Virginia, felt from Alabama to Maine and as far west as Illinois. As expected, these events…

Reading projects that integrate technology engage today's students and prepare them to be literate in the 21st century. In this article, we describe in detail successful podcasting and wiki projects conducted with NYSRA Charlotte Award nominated books. We also explore additional digital literacy projects that teachers can use in their literature…

This article centers the stories of two eighth grade students in the context of a social action literacy project. Their teacher designed curriculum that scaffolded opportunities for them to address English language arts standards while speaking out for social change. The students' responses to the project reveal their civic literacy practices, as…

Every step in a student's life is important for future success. Schools are building stronger frameworks of curricula, instruction and assessments to prepare students to move from one learning environment to another with maximum results as they journey toward adulthood. This issue of "High Schools That Work" contains examples of…

This activity discusses a two-day unit on ecology implemented during the summer of 2004 using the project-based science instructional (PBSI) approach. Through collaborative fieldwork, group discussions, presentations, and reflections, students planned, implemented, and reported their own scientific investigations on the environmental health of…

What social studies project challenges students with interdisciplinary learning, engages their various abilities and learning styles, offers them the opportunity for collaborative work-and encourages them to speak in strange voices? The answer is an eighth grade radio drama project. For most of the month of March 2004, the entire eighth grade at…

Erick Gordon, founding director of the Student Press Initiative, illustrates collaborations with teachers and students that have motivated students to invest themselves in the process and product of writing, including research, oral history, revision, and an immersion in and commitment to community.

A project titled "Using Art to Teach Social Studies" involved collaboration between a museum and a school. Gifted students in grades three-five worked as museum educators, curators, and historians to create an exhibit titled "Geneva People and Places in Art," introducing artwork's potential as a source of information about the…