Projects are in-depth studies of a topic undertaken by a class, a group, or an individual child. Projects are intended to strengthen children's dispositions to be interested, absorbed, and involved in in-depth observation, investigation, and representation of worthwhile phenomena in their own environments. This Catalog on the Project Approach, the…

Presents activities to create designs with different arrangements of square tiles, which gives students an opportunity to make conjectures about perimeter and to make convincing arguments to justify those conjectures. Includes worksheets. (MKR)

Provides a rationale for a learning environment in science classrooms that integrates science, mathematics, and technology while solving authentic problems. Describes activities that can be used in such an environment and presents data regarding students' attitudes toward the described activities. (MDH)

Compares models of the classroom dynamics for a traditional laboratory setting and a problem-solving-centered environment, both at the eighth grade science level. Descriptive data indicate no differences in the models, whereas path analyses suggest that, in the problem-solving model, student behaviors significantly correlate to lesson structure,…

Teaching cases have been utilized in professional training and can offer dramatic accounts of problems teachers may confront in the classroom. This case study examines a fact-based story of a third-grade teacher's confrontation with the mother of an African-American child who disagrees with the innovative approach utilized in her child's…

Originally developed as part of a project for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on language learning and the young child is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes an overview of the project; a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a…

Educational research has thus far failed to greatly improve education because it is based on a model of reality that emphasizes unilateral control in both research and practice. Efforts to gain unilateral control presume that researchers or practitioners know what is significant from the outset, that they are essentially outside the situation they…

The New York City social studies curriculum revision program emphasizes the teaching of basic concepts rather than the accumulation of data, providing students with necessary values and skills to cope with today's social problems. To accomplish this, the curriculum uses techniques of inquiry and discovery that aim at conceptualization and that…

This booklet offers practical suggestions for implementing and planning social studies programs in the open classroom. Emphasis is on helping students become active and involved learners in an environment in which the concept of education is viewed as a social experience. An introductory chapter cautions the teacher to carefully consider the goals…

This report describes 3 years of research on identifying, categorizing, and comparing teachers' ideas about teaching. The study used two different groups of 32 Wisconsin elementary school teachers selected according to a stratified random sampling procedure. The first group of teachers participated in a taped 2-hour interview on their ideas about…

The classroom interactions and activities described in this document are intended to provide experiences that will increase the probability of the occurrence of each of the response constituents of motivation to achieve in learning in school. These materials have been organized into five units; each unit emphasizes one of the five constituents:…

Within the realm of outdoor education, there are as many definitions of what it is or what it isn't as there are books. One definition is that outdoor education is teaching outside the classroom. It combines with and blends as part of the total curriculum. This handbook is designed as a manual to help train and support staff related to outdoor…

This book explores alternative strategies in teaching and learning, offering an expose of how to interpret curriculum, prepare lessons, construct lesson plans, present lessons effectively, develop teacher-student relationships, and appraise lessons constructively before and after presentation. The book highlights the importance of pedagogical…

This collection of papers examines key failures in modern U.S. education and shows how parents, policymakers, and teachers can make changes that will raise the level of student performance. The papers were presented at a 1997 conference designed to examine how elementary and secondary school students learn and are taught in the classroom. The…

Maintains that student-centered curriculum embodies the progressive and constructivist principles of active, participatory learning. Advocates emphasizing the importance of context as part of a constructivist approach. Includes instructional examples of connecting contextual information about artworks to constructivist activities. (MJP)