A teacher describes strategies for improving writing skills of rural at-risk high school students including writing stories for kindergarten students; developing portfolios that include descriptive, expository, and persuasive pieces; and participating in a career development unit that incorporates writing assignments. Students also learn to find…

Alberta's model junior high school environmental and outdoor education curriculum, a component in Canadian government's Active Living Environment Program, aims to help young adolescents appreciate the personal, interpersonal, and environmental consequences of their actions. Course elements include outdoor experiences and skills, personal and group…

Maintains that there are many possibilities to help students make connections between music and other disciplines. Reports on teaching methods and course content used by two music teachers. Includes a teaching example in which student identify ways in which literature and music can create a series of related events. (CFR)

Reports on an exploratory study of a metacognitive approach to teaching low achieving secondary students. Asserts that the research team hoped to examine a process whereby a dialog about learning processes would develop. Finds that all students indicated that they were able to focus on learning as a topic of conversation. (CFR)

Discusses the importance of linguistic accuracy in proficiency-orientated foreign language programs, focusing on the experiences of college students in a summer intensive Chinese program. Linguistic inaccuracy is often the result of teachers focusing on form and meaning at the same time, fossilization, overuse of communicative strategies, lack of…

Defines musical improvisation as taking place when a musician's aural and technical facilities combine to create a spontaneous form of musical expression. Discusses the use of improvisation as a means of enhancing student interest and performance. Includes a six-step approach for teaching musical improvisation. (CFR)

Examines an interlingual subtitling course for Welsh-English transfer designed to provide professional capability and developed over 10 delivery cycles. Analysis of student performance on course indicates the need for regular practice to maintain capability and the possibility of developing an individual style. (14 references) (Author/CK)

Asserts that technology and telecommunications have become integral parts of daily life. Discusses three roles that technology plays in improving the problem-solving process. Contends that students must learn to select from a variety of information sources. (CFR)

Describes the application of the problem method, or case study approach, to teach undergraduate research methods. Maintains that the approach is particularly applicable because research design is a classic ill-defined task. Reports that students find the method challenging and interesting. (CFR)

Provides concluding remarks for the theme issue on critical thinking skill development in college psychology courses. Maintains that conclusive evidence exists that critical thinking skills can be learned and are transferable. Encourages educators to make critical thinking a primary educational goal in all instruction. (CFR)

Describes a junior high school course in musical composition using Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) technology. Discusses course objectives and three composition projects. Includes a list of definitions and asserts that MIDI technology offers students and teachers a powerful method to study how music works. (CFR)

Identifies the ideas influencing the rise of autonomy and self-direction in educational milieus. Also discussed are the background of minority rights movements, shifts in educational philosophy, reactions against behaviorism, and wider access to education. Research into learning strategies has contributed directly to these changes. (73 references)…

Presents the National History Standards for United States History, grades 5 through 12. Includes an overview of 10 chronological time periods. Provides student objectives and recommended learning activities. (CFR)

Maintains that constitutional law is the cornerstone of an undergraduate public law curriculum. Asserts that there is a welcome trend toward teaching the subject over a two-semester sequence, instead of only one. Describes course content and teaching strategies used in a college constitutional law course. (CFR)

Thirteen females with Turner syndrome, 13 females with nonverbal learning disabilities, and 14 males with nonverbal learning disabilities, ages 7-14, were taught via a cognitive behavioral modification approach to verbally mediate a spatial matching task. All three groups showed significant task improvement after the training, with no significant…