This article explores the importance of embedding Active Exploration teaching approaches within PE lessons and how the provision of differing equipment and divergent learning opportunities can enable choice for students to then 'self-discover' solutions to movement problems. The article showcases how Active Exploration approaches to teaching PE…

In science education, there is a need to evaluate the behavior of dynamic systems. Representing and explaining processes through educational models or simulations enables students to perform activities where it is easier to understand these processes and discover the essential properties of a system. Performing modeling or simulation activities…

Two labs incorporating the Science Writing Heuristic are described that introduce scientific inquiry in a course for preservice students majoring in elementary education. One lab adapts a previously described discovery learning opportunity involving the change in composition and mass of pennies in 1982. The other involves the use of flotation…

With the exploration approach, children learn by doing--not by rote. (Editor)

This paper reviews and analyzes the term "exploration" as used with selected models associated with the instruction of children. (MT)

Describes an approach for teaching art appreciation in elementary art classes in which the teacher does not tell students what they should see in a picture but asks them what they could see. As an example, how second graders discussed and told stories about the picture "American Gothic" is described. (AM)

Describes an experiment which compared the effectiveness of explicit instruction in problem-solving methods to an indirect, guided-discovery approach upon stimulus-bound and stimulus-free thinkers in the third and fourth grades. Findings suggest that logical problem solving is best taught using explicit instructions for both types of thinkers. (AM)

Instead of teaching his fifth-graders a formula, a teacher leads them to discover an important mathematical concept on their own. Learning through discovery is probably the very essence of meaningful understanding and retention. (Author/MLF)

The use of invertebrates as classroom "pets" can develop students' skills in scientific inquiry and instill respect for science. Few materials are needed for projects involving invertebrates. Suggested activities using snails, crickets, earthworms, crayfish, and guppies are offered. (DF)

Suggestions and procedures are offered for an effective open classroom. (MM)

An ambiguity in Gagne and Briggs' model of instructional design was investigated using treatments which contrasted verbal expository and guided discovery forms of presentation. Analysis found the guided discovery method as effective as the expository method on all measures. Implications are discussed. (Author/MT)

A series of activities are described to introduce students to musical instruments. Children learn about woodwind, string, percussion, and brass instruments through observation of musicians, hands-on experiences, and recordings. Sample recordings and a bibliography are listed. (DF)

The Math Lab is a creative approach to teaching math concepts. Students are introduced to skills through several conceptual levels. Concrete level activities are followed by semiconcrete, semiabstract, and abstract levels of instruction. Examples of teaching methods for each level are offered. (DF)