The availability of user-friendly tools for designing learning environments resulted in an innovative shift of design focus. This shift has been noticed from a user-centred, although passive and reactive, design approach to a participatory, at responsibility and self-directedness directed, design approach. This latter innovative and promising…

Fifty teachers from the St. Louis, Missouri area have been involved in a project to bring the development strategies used by the Reggio Emilia preschools in Italy to the United States. Their experiences suggest that teachers need to adopt professional development plans that identify goals, select methods of support to achieve these goals, plan for…

This guide for teaching science is Book Two in Project Life Lab's (Santa Cruz, California) three-part curriculum for a garden-based science and nutrition program for grades 2-6. The curriculum is designed for use as an integrated program, but the books can be used independently. It is suggested that the use of student journals can greatly enhance…

A handbook for Peace Corps volunteers gives ideas and suggestions for improving second language learning. Chapter one answers some of the most common questions about learning foreign languages, including the best age and means for language learning, avoiding mistakes, dealing with the inability to understand a message, the time needed to master…

Written for teachers who lead their 6th grade students on a 3-day field experience program at the Rogers Environmental Education Center in Sherburne, New York, this manual provides objectives, materials, and procedures for activities which help students learn about the natural environment--pond life, trees, ecology of the forest floor, stream…

Previous research has shown a relationship between formal reasoning ability and science process skill attainment. It has been hypothesized that an increased emphasis on teaching process skills might enhance the formal thinking abilities of students. A variety of strategies have been proposed to better accomplish this task, most notable, the…

WebQuests are a powerful teaching and learning device that have developed rapidly in recent years, especially in the Humanities. In Australia, the use of WebQuests in Science has become popular. The multimedia product of students' investigations can be shared with a variety of audiences. In this article, I will explain what I understand to be a…

A card game, "Mercado," or Market Rummy, designed to teach basic market skills to rural Ecuadorians is described. Two to five people can play the game, which is presently used in night community meetings and in the educational program in coastal cooperatives. The game consists of two decks of cards: one represents money, the other…

Designed for instruction of emotionally handicapped children and youth, this resource guide presents science activities and concepts relative to rural and urban outdoor education. Included are 25 different articles, varying from broadly generalized to highly specific concept/activity suggestions which include film and book bibliographies and…

The broad area selected by the Calgary Project was the development of a curriculum on urban aesthetics. During their work in 1970-71, they concluded that the best way to develop visual awareness was through the conceptual development of the visual components or the images and elements of design in terms of human values of urban areas. The modular…

"Open education" is used here to designate a general approach to teaching and learning which presumes the child's right and competence to make important decisions; views the teacher more as a facilitator of learning than a transmitter of knowledge; encompasses ideas such as vertical or "family" grouping; and offers flexibility of time,…

The Sampler provides ideas and lists resources for an interdisciplinary study of environment in terms of a person's immediate surroundings, distant sites, and facilities. Although it was developed for use by parents, teachers, youth group leaders, students, and interested individuals in the state of Illinois, many of the activities would be…

Describes the changes and trends in elementary school science in Great Britain. Discusses the justification for the development of programs at the elementary school level and some of the essentials of good practice. Indicates some of the myths about elementary science and provides guidelines for progressing from elementary to secondary science.…

Describes aptitude treatment interaction study that used the cognitive styles field dependence and independence matched with computerized algorithmic and discovery treatments to determine mathematics achievement on a criterion-referenced test. Posttest mathematics scores and student responses to the computer are analyzed, and mastery learning is…

Discusses clear visualization as a key to learning and understanding. Presents some examples (using metaphor and simile) of the way language can express clear visualization and objectivity. (JK)