An innovative program is in operation involving high school students to educate elementary school students against smoking. Practical demonstrations, exhibition of infected tracheae and lungs, posters etc., are viewed by elementary school students. The children also perform experiments. (PS)

Parent Teacher Associations can be persuaded to support programs in schools. Article describes one such attempt which resulted in setting up bee hives and large aquaria in an elementary school. (PS)

Provides a brief synopsis of activities offered during a winter ecology course developed for middle school students and their parents. Activities included snowfield studies, building snow shelters, acid precipitation testing, animal tracking, and bird banding. Parent/child evaluation indicated course was successful. (JN)

Outlines procedures demonstrating that the aperture of a microscope objective limits resolving power and then, by using ancillary measurements made with a calibrated graticule in the microscope eyepiece, that the experimentally determined value for the maximum resolving power of a given objective is close to the value predicted by theory. (JN)

Three-phased learning cycles (exploration, invention, application) were introduced into general chemistry laboratories at Northland College (Wisconsin). Discusses each phase and its use in a learning cycle on the functional groups of organic compounds. (JN)

Discusses the process of problem solving, stressing the iterative nature of the process and the importance of communication (explaining problems to others). Provides examples of physics/physical sciences problems useful in problem-solving competitions. Also provides examples of problems to be solved in school over several weeks. Lists of materials…

Describes Nature-in-the-City (an environmental awareness program) materials and their use by students in the urban environment. The materials include an adventure guide (the teacher's manual) and set of four colorful season cards with activities for students. (JN)

Provides an OEAGLS (Oceanic Education Activities for Great Lakes Schools) activity showing how biological sampling can be taught using acquatic examples in a "dry lab." The activity, requiring use of mathematical/observational skills, simulates a plankton sample and stimulates discussions of how environmental/human factors can cause…

Highlights a student project to study heat loss in a high school. Project goals, excerpts from project recommendations (indicating that several have been implemented in the school), and project activities are described. Points out that the project was successful in terms of teaching physics in a practical nature. (Author/JN)

The construction of a homemade Kelvin water-drop electrostatic generator is suggested as an activity for teacher workshops. Materials needed before the workshop and instructions (including a diagram) for preparing the generator are provided. Suggested questions to pique workshop group's curiosity are also provided. (JN)

Discusses a field/laboratory study of the barn owl in which students collect and dissect owl pellets. Interdisciplinary lessons focus on eco-politics, reconstruction of owl prey skeletons, studies of predator-prey relationships, and construction/installation of nest boxes for owls and other birds. The unit begins and ends with an attitude…

A 1977-78 questionnaire/survey about biology field work was carried out among a random sample of secondary school biology needs in England and Wales. Results are compared to those from a 1961-62 survey. Issues addressed include opinions about field work, limiting problems, and amount of field work undertaken by teachers. (Author/JN)

Outlines advantages derived from constructing and using a Projectable Basic Electronics Kit and provides: (1) list of components; (2) diagrams of 10 finished components (resistor; capacitor; diode; switch; bulb; transistor; meter; variable capacitor; coil; connecting terminal); and (3) diode and transistor activities. (JN)

Briefly described are 25 "hands on" classroom activities which require live, freshly killed, or preserved grasshoppers. Topics of activities include predator-prey relationships, feeding habits, locomotion, dissection, anatomy, and population estimates. (DS)