In a special interview, Vice Director Zhu Muju of the Basic Education Department of the Ministry of Education in China, talks of environmental education. In this interview, the director discusses: (1) how environmental education classes are offered in elementary and middle school; (2) environmental education teaching materials should be designed…

Hands-on science typically uses physical materials to give students first-hand experience in scientific methodologies, but the recent availability of virtual laboratories raises an important question about whether what students' hands are on matters to their learning. The overall findings of two articles that employed simple comparisons of…

This article explores how students learned to measure tall objects using a clinometer and some basic calculations. Such activities provide opportunities for students and teachers to learn the usefulness of linking mathematics content and science content to real-world problem-solving situations. (Contains 7 figures.)

When the author and her teaching colleague assessed their 7th and 8th grade students' research papers, they realized that although the papers demonstrated proper structure, the students had not gained meaningful understanding of their topics. Although the teachers had carefully prepared students to write, they had not ensured that students had…

A lot of good elementary science involves studying solids, liquids, and gases, and some inquiry-based activities that are easy to set up and do. In this article, the author presents activities pertaining to simple phase change. Using water as the example, these activities introduce upper-grade students to the idea of the arrangement of molecules…

This study investigated whether students differ in reported levels of social support by different types of preorientation experiences (i.e., wilderness program, community service program, preseason athletics, or no preorientation participation) measured by the Campus-Focused Social Provisions Scale (CFSPS). Two colleges provide a sample (N =…

This article offers ways to understand how a fifth-grade resistant writer positioned himself socially and academically within classroom writing practices and how these positions influenced literacy learning. Classroom writing practices enabled the student to explore the possibilities of who he was as he determined what types of learning were…

Students' interest and involvement in social studies may be increased by motivating them to write about important topics which relate to their own life experiences. This article presents a general approach to writing instruction which may heighten students' curiosity to discover important topics in social studies as a relevant outgrowth of their…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an experiential form of learning centered around the collaborative investigation and resolution of "messy, real-world" problems. This book offers opportunities to learn about problem-based learning from the perspectives of teachers, students, parents, administrators, and curriculum developers. Chapter 1 tells…

The role of block building in children's learning was studied by a student teacher who observed a teacher's block building curriculum in a combined first and second grade class. The purpose was to clarify the linkage between thinking and doing, spoken intention and actual consequences, and planning and spontaneity in the curriculum. The cycle of…

Based on reviews of 10 examples of multimedia design, this paper presents an introductory framework for reflecting on the issues involved in the design of interactive multimedia instructional programs for discovery learning. High school students, junior and senior high school teachers, and Center for Technology in Education (CTE) staff reviewed…

Information on the values of woodworking for young children and ways to introduce and manage a carpentry center for them are provided in this guide. The following topics are included: (1) the values of woodworking on child development; (2) how the teacher can use the center to provide for the integration, discovery, and development of woodworking…

Questioning strategies, whether teacher- or student-generated, can be a major tool in developing reading comprehension. Teachers can maximize the benefits of teacher directed questioning by (1) providing clues before providing answers to questions, (2) acknowledging appropriate responses with two or three seconds of eye contact, (3) allowing…

Describes a summer course in chemistry conducted by college teachers for children aged 9 through 12. The children were provided with simple laboratory equipment and performed actual experiments and recorded the results. A few demonstrations were given, but lecturing was kept to a minimum. (MLH)

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two instructional approaches on mildly handicapped and nonhandicapped students' science achievement. Students were assigned at random to one of two conditions: (1) direct instruction; and (2) discovery teaching. The content of the lessons remained constant across conditions and focused…