Field trips allow students to learn from direct experience. Teachers must make what occurs before and after the trip meaningful in order to maintain what students learned on the trip. The article describes three field trips for Hawaiian students, explaining the necessary preparation and follow through to make them effective. (SM)

Presents summer science activities for elementary students which focus on sunlight and other natural and artificial light sources (e.g., fire, flashlights, and fireflies). Related activities which involve language arts, art, and math are included. A reproducible page teaches children Morse Code using a flashlight. (SM)

Presents poems and activities that help students explore poetry. Poems about poetry are a good introduction to studying literature and verse. The article explains how to discuss poetry and literature and offers appropriate activities. A handbook on introducing poetry to children and a student page on approaching poetry are included. (SM)

Provides ideas for elementary school math activities which include ways to connect math with daily life, Michael Jordan basketball math games, and warm-up activities. (SM)

This article offers quick, inexpensive activities for teaching concepts in three basic areas of the elementary science curriculum (air, sound, and light) with instructions for assembling more sophisticated laboratory tools (e.g., an electroscope and a balance scale). Hands-on science activities that use household items are described. (SM)

Responds to Sweet's (Steven) essay on radical pedagogy in the teaching of sociology. Discusses issues related to the degree to which sociology instructors are normative and radical; problems and potential of the radical ideal; and the radical dilemma of power in the classroom. (DSK)

This mathematics activity for K-3 students has students plant and measure the growth of bulbs. The activity teaches them to measure, collect, and graph data. The article presents a list of materials needed, instructions for creating a chart, and sample discussion questions. (SM)

Reports on the use of simulators to provide students with field trips of the future. This technology offers convincing, real-world, first-hand experiences in a small space within a few minutes. Simulators have found their way into museums and science centers around the nation, although they are still too expensive for most school districts. (SM)

Presents a program that uses "adolescents" from young adult fiction as a way of placing "real faces" on the "imaginary audience." Notes that the secondary methods course, "The Art and Science of Teaching," covers topics such as decision-making, planning, instructional strategies, questioning techniques, assessment, management, and discipline. (SG)

The effects of a book reading technique called interactive book reading on the language and literacy development of 4-year-olds from low-income families were evaluated. Teachers read books to children and reinforced vocabulary in the books by presenting objects that represented the words and providing opportunities to use the words. (BF)

This article arises out of a research project which looks at the promotion of creativity in pre-degree and undergraduate learners in art and design. The project considers conceptual definitions of creativity and its promotion which have been evidenced by research, and operational definitions and delivery methods used by lecturers and students in…

As a first-grade teacher in an urban school, the author was eager to bring authentic science into the classroom. She wanted students to experience various scientific processes, and wanted their parents to be involved, too. To meet this goal,she implemented a program first learned of as a graduate student in a science methods class at Texas…

Survivor Science is a week-long activity that grabs the attention of even the most learning resistant middle level student. Originally planned as an authentic assessment tool, it could also be used to introduce a multitude of units and is easily adapted to any scientific discipline that is taught.

Everything moves. Even apparently stationary objects such as houses, roads, or mountains are moving because they sit on a spinning planet orbiting the Sun. Not surprisingly, the concepts of motion and the forces that affect moving objects are an integral part of the middle school science curriculum. However, middle school students are often taught…

This article describes four hands-on activities that can be used to develop probabilistic and statistical thinking in the middle grades. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)