Relates an interview with Jonothan Neelands, author of "Making Sense of Drama,""Learning in Imagined Contexts," and "Structuring Drama Work." Describes the different roles drama and theater can play in the lives of the student and the school, including that of using drama to explore language arts, science, or history. Discusses Neelands' theories…

Describes the collaboration between a seventh-grade English class of unmotivated readers and a group of reading methods students at a nearby university. Discusses how both classes read Carolyn Meyer's "Rio Grande Stories," wrote to each other as pen pals, made a quilt together, visited the university class, and enjoyed a visit from Meyer. (SR)

Surveyed parents of middle school students to assess types of in-home parental support for students' mathematics learning. Found that students with the most supportive parents demonstrated higher mathematics achievement and more positive mathematics attitudes than students with the least supportive parents. "Motivator,""Resource Provider," and…

Malaysian at-risk students trained in information-technology skills were appointed to lead cooperative-learning groups engaged in computer-search activities. Activities were structured to incorporate individual accountability, positive interdependence and interaction, collaborative skills, and group processing. Motivation, self-confidence,…

Describes introducing and constructing portfolios in a second-grade classroom. Discusses preparation, diagnosis, the collection and sorting process, goal setting, reflection, and student sharing. Shows how diagnostic reflective-learning portfolios help children become aware of their own learning strategies, construct and reflect on goals, and…

Proposes the use of simulations to develop oral-language skills in the English-as-a-Foreign-Language classroom. Simulations allow students to interact in meaningful and realistic contexts and generate their own discourse. (Author/VWL)

Explores how teacher teams influence middle-school teachers' work characteristics and other work-related variables. Participating teachers whose jobs had a work-group emphasis (interdisciplinary teaming) reported significantly higher skill variety, knowledge of students, satisfaction, professional commitment, motivation, and team helpfulness and…

Two studies examined middle school students' achievement values by using peer-nomination procedures. Nominations of peers whom participants admired, respected, and wanted to be like were summed to create a values index. The usefulness of peer-nomination procedures as a methodology for studying values and implications for understanding the plight…

Describes the use of Zebu, a software tool accessed via a standard Web browser that is designed for constructing online collaborative-learning projects, with seventh-grade students. Discusses learning outcomes, student motivation, peer assessment and feedback, and class projects in poetry, social studies, and science. (LRW)

Describes positive experiences in teaching about floating and sinking with second-grade students. (WRM)

Describes "Off the Beaten Path", a program that takes at-risk students out of the traditional classroom and puts them into a camping atmosphere in order to increase academic achievement, improve self-esteem, and promote better social skills. (WRM)

Based on work by Howard Gardner and James Comer, this article discusses the importance of creating and maintaining community-based relationships as part of community-based education. Students go beyond basic core academics and develop values and the freedom to uncover and resolve community problems or concerns. (MLH)

Six Canadian Anglophone high school students were studied for 10 months after they chose to enroll in a French immersion pilot program in Alberta. Although students varied in achievement level, all students and parents referred to "feelings of success" as a factor in remaining in the immersion program. Limitations of the program are…

Describes a form of assessment called the inverted test within the context of a ceramics class where students work in groups to create test questions and then test the teacher. Addresses the students' reactions to the inverted test, the positive outcomes that resulted, and applying the inverted test in other classes. (CMK)

Offers a solution to overcoming students' lack of motivation for self-portrait assignments and complaints about their final product. Explains that a digital camera, computer, and a flatbed scanner provide students with the means to create self-portraits in their exact likeness by transforming a photograph of themselves using photograph enhancing…