Each designer contributing to this special issue was asked to prepare an introductory lesson on the physics of motion aimed at eighth to eleventh graders. This article presents a brief description of how a detailed physics content was researched, edited, and refined by subject-matter experts, and then ultimately presented to the instructional…

Summarizes a discussion by the authors of this special issue that took place after the five instructional designers created lesson plans for the same design task. Highlights include the specified content's convergent effect on the designs; design philosophies; things that surprised the designers; and their favorable responses. (AEF)

Describes a writing project, based on the reader's guide, that helps students get an overview of the literature on a psychology topic. Highlights the five components of the reader's guide (content outline, theorists and contributors, central concepts, hot topics, and major resources). Addresses the role of the assignment and student reactions.…

Provides a rationale for why high school social studies students should create children's picture books. Describes the procedure for creating picture books: (1) choosing a topic; (2) collecting information; and (3) writing and illustrating. Provides an example children's picture book. (CMK)

Describes instructional use of brief first-person accounts of mental disorders. Explores the benefits of using first-person, autobiographical accounts as required reading in a course on abnormal psychology. Finds that first-person accounts were more helpful in increasing student appreciation of the experience of having a disorder and empathy for…

Describes a three-part class assignment for a high school literary magazine course (and applicable to other student publications) in which students each select two poems for publication in an imaginary poetry journal and describe their reasons; collectively discuss responses and how they might be worked into an editorial policy; and end up with an…

Focuses on the use of assessment rubrics with musical composition. Provides guidelines for musical composition assignments and describes the construction and use of rubrics. Includes four example assessment rubrics. (CMK)

Considers the use of multiple forms of assessment in the social studies classroom. Focuses on writing assessments, such as response notebooks and the I-Search essay, utilizing a rubric, the change in student projects that accompanies the incorporation of multiple assessments, and changes in tests and quizzes. Provides three recommendations for…

Discusses the four assessment strategies used in the high school course "Social Advocacy: History, Theory, and Practice." The assessment measures class participation, journal writing, volunteer experience, and written assignments. Explains that the course focuses on social problems and self-discovery. Provides a course description. (CMK)

Describes a personal analogy exercise used to experience metaphors and understand the ability to think metaphorically. States that students engage in an "I am" writing exercise where they select a portrait and write answers to such questions as "how are you like the portrait?" (CMK)

Describes a dual-writing assignment used in two introductory sociology classes in which students write a book review and explore their own career choices through an occupational profile. Discusses the integration of work and career related concepts into the lectures and students' evaluation of the assignment. (CMK)

A study evaluated the effects of instruction in a comprehensive, independent assignment completion strategy on homework completion rates and the quality of products completed in response to assignments given in general education classrooms. Eight of nine students mastered use of the strategy and their homework completion rates and products…

Presents methods for implementing a home-learning activity program that meets the needs of parents and teachers, and most important, children. Addresses issues of implementation, specific activities and strategies, areas of concern, and applications for classroom teachers. Stresses alternatives to worksheets and the importance of family…

Focuses on disciplinarity and underlying pedagogical goals in technical writing classrooms by describing a search engine assignment sequence which promotes literate practices in three short reports: (1) a preview/instruction report; (2) an analysis/evaluation report; and (3) a narrative review of a research activity. Concludes with implications…

Describes a unit wherein students reading "The Odyssey" produced visual representations of important story elements, considered differences in Homer's use of language and their own, enacted scenes from "The Odyssey," and wrote goal-setting and interpretive essays. (NH)