Explorer is an interactive environment based on a constructivist epistemology of learning that integrates animated computer models with analytic capabilities for learning science. The system includes graphs, a spreadsheet, scripting, and interactive tools. Two examples involving the dynamics of colliding objects and electric circuits illustrate…

Describes the second-language and native language maintenance programs of Brunswick North Primary School (Australia), a school that offers its students opportunities to learn Turkish, Italian, Greek, or Arabic. An integrated curriculum ensures that students acquire or maintain a language other than English. (SLD)

Investigated effects of participation in developmentally appropriate affective education program. Middle school students (n=23), identified as high risk for dropping out and also as learning disabled or emotionally disturbed, were assigned to experimental and control conditions. Participants in affective education group met for 15 weeks.…

Describes an integrated schoolwide project at a California high school in which students learned real-world technology skills and workplace etiquette by working together to create a multimedia CD-ROM project, in the form of a quilt, that described local history. Student teams, scheduling changes, teacher roles, community judging, and student…

Presents ideas for promoting high-school library media centers using technology, including cable television broadcasts; pathfinders to specific information needs; a World Wide Web home page; lunchtime inservice presentations for teachers; current contents from magazines for staff; senior citizen volunteers with specialized technology skills; and…

Discusses a partnership between Northern Arizona University and a local school district that enables preservice teachers to practice innovative strategies for facilitating inclusion of students with disabilities into general classrooms. Strategies such as cooperative learning, collaborative teaming, peer tutoring, student empowerment, and creative…

Describes the West Vancouver (British Columbia) School Board's goals related to the appropriate and effective use of information technology as both a school and a community resource. Highlights include social issues, learning issues, professional and personal competencies for teacher-librarians, integration of information delivery systems, and a…

To provide information about potential legal problems that might arise from using and distributing instructional materials and designing activities for Internet-based instruction, this article analyzes court cases and decisions relating to course packets; illustrations and figures; learning activities; video, sound and graphic images; and…

An ethnographic case study of Somali children in Canadian schools examines the relationship between literacies, school, and community cultures by exploring literacy events as they unfold for Somali children in an elementary school. Field notes and interviews involving Somali and school-community members are analyzed based on the view that…

Describes a group of participants in a highly productive, nonformal learning environment that exemplifies the practices of a collaborative community. Diverse elementary students and university undergraduates participate in entertaining educational activities within an after-school computer club. The club focuses on hybrid literacy practices and…

Suggest ways that elementary school media specialists can encourage reading. Highlights include personal attention; students reading aloud; book bibliographies; a comfortable reading corner; competition; student suggestions for titles; contests and games; teacher recommendations; booktalks; displays; and author visits. (LRW)

Self-perceptions of teacher feedback, social comparison of reading competence, reading satisfaction, and general self-worth were assessed among third and sixth graders (N=247) with learning disabilities and normal achievement. Perceived teacher feedback was the best predictor of reading satisfaction and was less favorable among sixth than third…

A national survey of 502 general education teachers found that teachers perceived communication problems among teachers and parents as a serious impediment to the effective use of homework with mainstreamed students with learning disabilities. Problems included frequency and quality of communication with parents, role of the special education…

Presents curriculum guides for elementary instruction in the areas of industrial arts, social studies, mathematics, science, and reading/language arts. Each lesson plan describes library media skills objectives; curriculum objectives; grade levels; resources; instructional roles; activity and procedures for completion; evaluation; and follow-up…

Teachers received guidance and direction from elementary-education university students for using telecommunications to allow third and fourth graders to practice literacy skills in authentic contexts. As a result of the project, the university students gained insight into teaching and learning, and the elementary students enjoyed reading and…