This study examined the effects of curriculum compacting, a curriculum modification technique for gifted and talented students, with approximately 436 elementary teachers and 783 students in 27 school districts throughout the United States. The study was designed to investigate the types and amount of curriculum content that could be eliminated…

The growing population of "English-as-second language" (ESL) students in the United States need to learn how to cope with the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in the U.S. Because of this, civic education should pervade the curriculum for ESL students. This ERIC digest treats five facets of civic education for ESL students: (1)…

In presenting the concepts and skills of curriculum development and showing how to apply them to actual course planning, an attempt is made to bridge theory and practice in curriculum development. By developing a greater awareness of the important decisions to be made and the alternative courses of action available at each decision point, teachers…

A theory of thematic curriculum emerged during the development of a thematic unit on pets, entitled "Pets and Me." The unit, intended for preschool through grade five, focuses on the human-animal bond, incorporating language arts, math, science, social studies, physical education, art, and music activities. "Pets and Me" was developed,…

This publication is a response to teachers' requests for practical assistance in implementing the history and social science framework for California's public schools. The document sets out resources that are useful in teaching U.S. history and geography for fifth grade students. Participants in a summer institute worked in grade level groups to…

This document presents a critical analysis of two of the most popular types of programs that schools have implemented to prevent violence among students: (1) mediation programs, and (2) conflict resolution curricula. While both promote interpersonal skills necessary to prevent violence, their effectiveness has not been evaluated adequately. These…

CIVITAS is a curriculum framework that sets forth a set of national goals to be achieved in a civic education curriculum, primarily for K-12 public and private schools. It is a framework that proposes to specify the knowledge and skills needed by citizens to perform their roles in U.S. democracy. There are two major sections in the framework. It…

In the past decade, research on students' ideas has drawn attention to underestimated problems of learning physics. This also particularly applies to Science/Technology/Society teaching. Proposed solutions are mainly inspired by a constructivist cognitive science perspective and are formulated as general teaching strategies that aim at a process…

Papers presented in the proceedings discuss: business communication skills; job searching; technology; effective oral communication skills; ethics; and innovative instruction in business communication classes. Papers are: "Communication Skills in Employment Ads of Major United States Newspapers" (M. Casady and F. S. Wayne); "A…

The Applied Computer Science Department at Illinois State University is in the process of implementing a reengineered curriculum that utilizes an integrated and spiral approach to subject coverage. The 1996-97 school year was the first year that upper division course prerequisites were based on the new curriculum instead of a mixture of old and…

This paper presents the argument that object oriented analysis (OOA) is rapidly becoming an important systems analysis methodology and that current systems analysis and design courses should present OOA. However, because of the embryonic nature and rapidly changing content of OOA, instructors are faced with special challenges when designing OOA…

This guide, a complement to "Project Approach: Developing the Basic Framework," was written to clarify particular structural features of good project work. The guide's introduction provides background information on the philosophy and methods of the Project Approach. The core of the book is divided into four parts. The first three parts…

This brief paper describes a project, the Curriculum Development in Teaching Science to Students with Disabilities Project, which provides training to teachers and teacher educators. Participants receive information on teacher education, methods, materials/programs, organizations, media resources, evaluation/assessment alternatives, World Wide Web…

This paper focuses on the need for continuous evaluation in community college curriculum. During the process of analyzing and updating instruction, curriculum objectives should be recognized, especially: (1) knowledge objectives, which include relevant facts, concepts, and generalizations; (2) skills objectives, such as critical and creative…

The growing movement for teaching about religion in the public schools, as distinguished from religious instruction or devotional exercises, reflects widespread concern regarding the phenomenon of religious illiteracy and the lack of knowledge or understanding of the significant role played by religion in U.S. life, past and present, and in world…