Describes the activities and benefits of Positive Peer Groups (PPG), a Cleveland-based diocese program involving 40 schools. Designed for students with behavioral or academic problems, it focuses on school service projects that teach students to develop and implement valuable social skills. Describes the positive social and academic effects PPG…

Describes how one teacher taught her students to celebrate their elder relatives and other ordinary heroes by creating trading cards giving each ordinary hero's vital statistics and then sharing them with each other. (AEF)

Chronicles how the author first used creative drama in a summer reading program with first graders, and then over the years developed a much broader understanding of how drama is an important teaching tool. Describes writing "scaffolded" plays with sixth-grade students. Discusses implications for language arts teachers. Describes her annual…

Describes a project for fifth-grade in which students learn about their personal heritage and create a family history book. Identifies three relevant National Council for the Social Studies thematic strands and lists related activities. (CMK)

States that sequencing and printing software eliminates the barriers to students composing music. Describes "Master Tracks Pro," a sequencing program, and "Rhapsody," a printing program. Includes a lesson plan for setting pentatonic music to a poem. (CMK)

One university's use of peer evaluation to develop fair and reliable distribution of grades for group projects is described, and its adaptation to the specific requirements of civil engineering is examined. Results suggest the evaluation model is transferable to this discipline. In particular, use of student journals for grade allocation was found…

Addresses a collaborative celebrations project that was assigned to a group of students enrolled in a course on educational methods focused on integrating the arts and social studies. Explains that this project contributed to an understanding of the family and community aspects of celebration. Considers the project outcomes. (CMK)

Discusses activities, adaptable for elementary through high school levels, for learning about the people who work in local government and the programs local governments provide. Explains that the activities are useful starting points for project ideas that enlist the involvement of students, teachers, and local government officials. (CMK)

Describes a graduate seminar called "Sustainable Urban Design" that intended to present the historical sweep and social development of the city from antiquity to the present with an interest toward designing and building sustainable cities in the future. Considers multimedia and computer resources and student hypertext projects. (CMK)

Surveys 543 college students to identify their preferred criteria when evaluating Internet-based and library-based sources. Finds (1) students writing research reports (63% of students) ranked easy-to-find sources most highly, whether library-based or Internet-based; (2) nearly 60% of students received library training, most frequently from high…

Illustrates a model for integrating urban fieldwork into a human geography class project. Reports on a project in which students explored the interaction between Atlanta (Georgia) and its five target suburbs, and their interactions among each other. (CMK)

Explains an Internet project, used in a college history survey course, with which students posted group position papers to a discussion board. States that the project stimulated debate, discussion, critical analysis, and peer review. Provides student responses to the project and excerpts from student papers. (CMK)

When planning her social studies unit on world exploration, this teacher offered the opportunity for her fifth-grade students to create a claymation video of a New World explorer. Students learn about exploration; practice research skills; and write, revise and edit a script. Finally, they incorporate both the acquired content and skills while…

Describes an art project for high school students that combines observational skills, art history, and production. Students research historical art motifs and create a motif drawing. Explains that the students gain an appreciation for their motif and the original artist. (CMK)

Provides information on Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Honore Daumier's "Rue Transonian." Describes an art activity in which students in an advanced drawing class reproduce a famous drawing in the same medium as the original, make the composition contemporary, and include themselves in the composition. (CMK)