Describes hummingbirds and how they can serve as sources of learning and enjoyment for young children. Gives information on feeding, breeding, and behavior of hummingbirds, and on their natural predators. Outlines activities for "discovery," making feeders, watching and charting hummingbirds, and other creative learning activities. (BGC)

Advocates the Ausubelian approach to preschool education, as it combines traditional child-centered and teacher-centered preschool settings, and influences of Bruner and Piaget. Focuses on the use of the advance organizer lesson to assist students in making basic concept connections. Notes positive effects on student stimulation, interaction, and…

Emphasizes four points of entry that history provides for historical analysis: (1) doing of history as the capacity to explore origins and ideas; (2) history as a vehicle for social choices and alternative possibilities; (3) biography as a window to view social change; and (4) exploration of intersections between human aging and social structure.…

Discussed is the teaching method called the learning cycle and how it can be incorporated into science activities. Included are examples of how teachers and students can use the learning cycle to produce instructional materials. (KR)

Examines how student worksheets provided by the Museum of London could be implemented in Michigan museums. Stresses the value of field trips to museums and worksheet exercises: student participation, cooperative learning, and personal development through discovery. Describes worksheet sets. Proposes learning activities using worksheets at the…

Discusses the nature and function of mental models, explains tools for exploratory and expressive learning, and describes a research program to be conducted in the United Kingdom for 10- to 16-year-olds that is designed to explore characteristics of students' mental models. Highlights include knowledge domains; software, including simulations; and…

Presents 5 activities for the K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8 grade levels and for in the home in which students explore the concept of combinations. Each activity includes a lesson plan to investigate a combinatorics problem appropriate for that grade level. Provides reproducible worksheets. (MDH)

Contends that what is being proposed as thoughtful or authentic teaching in the social studies, particularly in geography and history, is similar to the "New Social Studies" movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Discusses the origins, development, and decline of the new social studies, using one program, Project Africa, as a model. (CFR)

The Teachers Academy for Mathematics and Science, conceived by Leon Ledermann, is a program to infuse inservice K-8 teachers with enthusiasm to teach mathematics and science. Instructional methods utilized are based on discovery learning. Describes implementation of the program in Chicago and efforts to spread the program into other urban areas.…

Investigates a complex aptitude treatment interaction (ATI) of intelligence and metacognitive skill as aptitudes with structuredness of learning environment as treatment, based on a study of undergraduates in simulation environments. Highlights include computer-assisted learning and experiential learning; ATIs and discovery learning; and learning…

Children learn in a variety of contexts and from a variety of teachers, including their peers. It can be stimulating for children to examine the learning process and identify their own learning milestones. Brief reviews of stories about family and outside lessons and an activities sampler are provided. (Author/AEF)

Discusses ways science can be included in every activity of the preschoolers' day. Describes four characteristics of young children that are important to remember when planning science activities. Provides guidelines for developing and evaluating science activities. Presents a preschool unit on insects and offers suggestions for incorporating…

This empirical investigation, implemented with a computer program, examined the influence of graphical and numerical representations on the discovery process involving iteration sequence properties and concomitant problem-solving abilities for 79 eleventh grade students and 22 secondary mathematics teachers. Results indicate that heuristics and…

Describes the use of a microcomputer-based authoring system to facilitate student-centered discovery oriented learning in an undergraduate social science course. Use of the authoring system to implement student-generated experiments, to become familiar with statistics and experimental methods, and to promote empirical thinking is discussed. (14…

Presents examples of questions and answers arising from a hands-on and exploratory approach to discrete mathematics using cuisenaire rods. Combinatorial questions about trains formed of cuisenaire rods provide the setting for discovering numerical patterns by experimentation and organizing the results using induction and successive differences.…