Teaching conformity through coercion limits students' willingness to take risks and make decisions regarding their learning. In contrast, a Foxfire classroom environment that meets psychological needs empowers students to make choices about their learning, eliminates fear of failure, allows students to establish their own standards of achievement,…

Discusses how teachers can guide young children to become aware of residential buildings in their hometowns in order to help understand cultural diversity in the global community. Maintains that, as children explore diverse forms of shelter, they begin to recognize cultural similarities. (CFR)

Maintains that group keyboard instruction provides a positive, motivating environment for elementary music students. Asserts that keyboard instruction encourages students to try other instruments. Provides suggestions for using keyboards in lower and upper elementary classrooms. (CFR)

Methods use to reconstruct traffic accidents provide settings for real life applications for students in precalculus, mathematical analysis, or trigonometry. Described is the investigation of an accident in conjunction with the local Highway Patrol Academy integrating physics, vector, and trigonometry. Class findings were compared with those of…

An elementary school teacher describes her experiences with language minority students and presents her strategies for teaching the whole class effectively while meeting individual needs. The article offers five suggestions for adjusting teaching to reach all students at once. (SM)

Presents a study that indicates that second grade students (n=117) do select manipulatives that match the story context in measurement and partition division word problems, that they can solve division word problems, especially when matched manipulatives are used, and that division without remainders are more accessible to solution. (39…

Reviews research of writing activities that help identify student misconceptions and serve as a vehicle for knowledge construction. (29 references) (MDH)

Annotates recent publications of interest to school library media specialists in the areas of cataloging and technical services (2 titles); issues and perspectives (2 titles); management (6 titles); resources (21 titles); teaching role (3 titles); and technology (8 titles). (LRW)

Presents eight techniques for teaching undergraduate mathematics whose main aims are (1) learning how to pose problems in an easier and more attractive form; (2) fostering usage of mathematical symbolism; and (3) checking the level of comprehension of the principal ideas. Examples illustrate each technique. (Author/MDH)

Discusses recent pedagogical recommendations for cross-cultural lessons that are available in professional journals. Concludes that a large variety of learning activities recommending methodological approaches to cross-cultural education are available to teachers. Suggests that more intensive research in promising learning activities for an…

Described are activities that use a hundred chart to improve student abilities to recognize and describe number patterns, to use variables, to make and informally prove conjectures, and to communicate mathematical ideas to classmates. Included are the directions, four reproducible student sheets, the answers, and extensions. (KR)

Discussed is how the concept of equivalence can relate various segments of a mathematics program and help students develop an appreciation of the unity of mathematics. Activities and examples of equivalence at all grade levels are included. (KR)

Reports results of procedures directed at isolating and identifying students' difficulties in comprehending the concepts involved in lessons about gas exchange and respiration. Indicates that pupils (n=137) had deficient understanding of prerequisite concepts and tended to operate at the concrete operational level, whereas the highly abstract…

Describes and illustrates the Monomial Sums Approach, a graphical learning strategy, facilitated by microcomputer capabilities that allow easy manipulation and exploration of graphical representations of polynomial functions. Reduces emphasis on memorized rules in favor of qualitative understanding of functional behavior, visualization of…

This article suggests ways that professionals might utilize general public literature about learning disabilities. A rationale for use of general public literature is offered, a five-step procedure for discussing books with students is described, the use of bibliotherapy and reciprocal questioning is discussed, and questions to generate…