Describes seven learning techniques that cognitive psychologists have identified as leading to substantially heightened learning across a variety of situations: attention; curiosity and learning; thematic lesson organization; high information flow; mnemonics; concrete representations; and Zeigarnik effect. Research on their effectiveness and their…

Watching while listening promotes understanding and makes learning Filipino a lively and engaging experience. This set of two DVDs presents 42 video dialogs to help students move beyond the beginning level in mastering Filipino structures and functions. The units cover nine thematic areas: (1) meeting people; (2) food; (3) household activities;…

These teacher developed lessons focus on the Civil War's impact on east Tennessee. The forum for develop ling the lessons includes a series of inservice lectures by experts in the areas of Civil War scholarship and interpretation, tours, and hands-on experiences at historic sites in the region. During the week-long program, teachers traveled…

The Geography Educators' Network of Indiana's 2001 Exploring and Teaching Institute led 23 educators from around the state on a six day traveling adventure. Participants explored art, literature/folklore, historical sites and archives, physical environments, architecture, economics, politics, and cultures associated with the Underground Railroad…

Making a case for the value of literature-based instruction, this book presents an overview of the extensive knowledge base supporting literature-based approaches to literacy instruction. It notes that literature-based instruction goes beyond simply changing the kinds of texts children read--also required in literature-based instruction are an…

Secondary school English teachers and university teachers present ideas in this book for turning classrooms into places where students explore the issues that are important to them. The book integrates traditional and contemporary literary works, popular music, television, movies and videos, the World Wide Web, and student creations. It argues…

This paper presents information on using a process approach to teaching thematic instruction in preservice teacher education. Section 1 offers a junior block thematic mini-unit designed to give students intensive practice in a specific content area by designing a thematic topic in the content area and by developing lessons on three or four related…

This paper presents a cross-graded, thematic, interdisciplinary unit which grew from a Native American humanities unit. The 9-week unit addresses the plurality of intelligences, allows for cognitive bypassing and challenges students in critical thinking modalities. With a focus on the five groups of Native Americans (The Eastern Woodlands, Plains,…

Frank Smith (1988) describes a "literacy club" as a classroom where no child is excluded from a wealth of reading and writing activities. One teacher, in designing a literacy club for his classroom, wanted to use a "balanced literacy" approach because using such an approach would allow him to incorporate many different…

Cognitive flexibility is indispensable for applying knowledge to new situations. The development of this ability depends on certain conditions such as the attainment of a deep comprehension of the subject matter and the exposure to different knowledge representations. This paper focuses on these conditions and describes a study designed to foster…

This teacher's guide is based on the exhibition, "Visible Traces: Rare Books and Special Collections from the National Library of China," a collaborative effort of the Queens Borough Public Library and the National Library of China; it links rare treasures from the National Library of China to curriculum standards. The following themes…

This grant's goals for high school teachers were threefold: (1) in the core courses and elective classes to collaborate and create lessons with a central theme; (2) become proficient with computer technology and utilize Internet resources as integral components of their lessons; and (3) enrich, enliven, and update the content of their classes…

This resource manual integrates literature and social studies with an emphasis on character development. Using children's literature as a catalyst for investigating representative cultures, the manual's curriculum writers crafted multicultural, integrated, thematic lessons for the K-6 classroom that can be used throughout the year. Included are…

A great companion to the original "Social Studies through Children's Literature," this teacher's handbook gives theoretical support for integrating social studies and literature disciplines and serves as an instructional guide for classroom use. The guide is divided into two parts: (1) "Children's Literature in the Social Studies…

This curriculum project, a lesson plan for a thematic literary study of war and its effects, has five goals: (1) to have students read various selections of literature on the theme of war from both the Middle East and the West; (2) to teach students to analyze the differences and similarities between wars fought in the Middle East as compared to…