Discussion of basic instructional methods highlights four in particular: didactic, Socratic, inquiry, and discovery. Examples and descriptions of each method are given for elementary, secondary, and higher education; applications of each method are examined; and what teachers can do is considered. (eight references) (LRW)

Addresses the role of children's museums, recounting both positive experiences of meaningful interactions and negative encounters in which such interactions were discouraged or were too cursory. Suggestions for scaffolding children's discovery and problem-solving learning with children's museum activities are offered. (DB)

When researchers installed a computer in a poor neighborhood in India and left it unattended, area children without computer experience taught themselves many popular programs and used the Internet. The experiment showed that practice, experimentation, and easy access can provide a foundation for more formal computer training. (JOW)

Educational mass marketing approaches are like fast-food franchises; they offer homogeneous, standardized products that cannot satisfy every consumer's needs. A niche market looks inside the masses to address more individual, specialized choices missing from the menu. Variability, not uniformity, should guide development of public schooling. (MLH)

When taking up her headship of a one-form entry primary school in "special measures" Alison Peacock's approach was to begin to rekindle joy amongst teachers in order to nurture and enhance the natural love of life and learning in children. She refused to label children by ability, preferring to value all individuals and celebrate success. Applying…

A discovery-oriented lab experiment is developed that illustrates the chemoselective nature of reductions using sodium borohydride. Products are of sufficient purity to allow analysis by spectroscopy without further purification.

This paper describes an approach for pre-service or in-service mathematics education that teaches sophisticated mathematics using only the tools of high school mathematics. The idea is to start with a standard problem from high school mathematics and let the solution to this problem serve as a platform for asking good mathematical questions and…

Utopianism, which is a distinctive vocabulary of hope, teaches us that society, including its physical sites of social and political practice, are both imagined and made and that we can accordingly believe they can be reimagined and remade. This paper exemplifies how exercises of the utopian imagination within teacher education curricula are able…

This paper examined the connection between learners' metacognitive processes and their construction of personal meanings. Some concepts of the metacognitive processes such as strategy selection, planning, progress monitoring, and evaluation are reviewed. Noting that in spite of a lack of research literature in direct relation to the specific area…

This guide is designed to foster an understanding of the basic concepts underlying biotechnology through simple activities that are fun and creative for students in grades 3-5. It contains four units that will lead young students to an appreciation of how biotechnology is possible and some of its applications. The process of learning is intended…

Considered were the effects of learning a concept chain inductively or deductively and the effects of presenting the individual concepts of the chain by discovery or utilization, upon a transfer task which required information recall but not discovery skills. (Author/BJG)

Stresses the importance of learner involvement, and adult patience and understanding, for a child's success in learning and consequently in living. (EB)

Discusses methods for introducing young children to the study of ecology. (PB)

A multiplication algorithm based on a perfect square is described. (SD)

In a series of activities involving map coloring, students can discover various combinatorial theorems including Euler's formula. (SD)