Students frequently struggle when scientific instruction seems divorced from personal experience, especially in the physical sub-disciplines, like climatology, where exercise books often present historical or abstracted case studies. In contrast I present a three-phase project involving student input on experimental design, data collection, and…

"Integrating Information & Communications Technologies Into the Classroom" examines topics critical to business, computer science, and information technology education, such as: school improvement and reform, standards-based technology education programs, data-driven decision making, and strategic technology education planning. This book also…

A weak negative attitude towards learning science was noticed among the students in Qatar, a matter that was reflected on their achievement in national tests. To test if the use of PBL would improve the students' attitudes towards learning science, a sample of 25 nine graders from Hamza school were motivated to plan their own investigations and to…

As the use of digital technologies in teaching and learning becomes more institutionalized in pre-service teacher preparation, it becomes increasingly necessary to incorporate content specific technology experiences to enable career and technical teachers to seamlessly integrate the diversity of digital tools available to today's learners. Using…

Projects are not new in education (for example, see Kilpatrick, 1918), but in the last 20 years, they seem to have become more popular in second language education, as projects fit with emphases on communication, tasks, cooperation among students, learner autonomy, curricular integration, alternative assessment, links between the classroom and the…

Web 2.0 software, in particular wikis, have the potential to allow students to become active contributors to the Internet and, as a result, restructure traditional learning environments. In this study, the effects of student-created wikis were evaluated through measures of student engagement, cognitive benefits, and student learning in both the…

This study investigates preservice teachers' trust levels and collaborative communication behaviors namely leadership, feedback, social interaction, enthusiasm, task and technical uncertainties, and task-oriented interactions in online learning environment. A case study design involving qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis was…

This booklet shows how teachers at Ingraham High School and Madison Middle School in Seattle (Washington) challenged their students to tackle demanding technical projects. It also shows how well the students responded to that challenge. The booklet begins with the background of the project, the framework for which would be a university-sponsored…

Developed to be easy and require minimum preparation time, yet give high-impact results, this book offers tried-and-true teacher-tested book projects for primary grades K-3. The book's topics connect curriculum areas: creative writing, science, social studies, and math. Projects outlined in the book require few materials and can be done at…

Through becoming involved in oral history, an individual develops transferrable abilities that can be applied throughout a lifetime. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of oral history with an emphasis on how oral history efforts can be incorporated into the curriculum to involve students of all ages. Guidelines for librarians…

Constructionist learning is characterized by three principles: "learning-by-making,""holistic learning," and a freedom to choose learning styles. This paper describes a project with second grade homeschooling students that tested the feasibility of using HyperCard as a medium for constructionist learning. The "worlds"…

There are a variety of computing tools available in educational institutions. With the knowledge of standard tools and how they can be used to compliment one another, students can gain impressive skills in information presentation. This paper describes a method for science students to use in preparing data for analysis and dissemination and…

Effective science teaching is a topic of concern to many science educators. Throughout its six chapters, this book provides research findings of the effectiveness of science teachers in the classroom. The heart of effective teaching is the active involvement of students in scientific research projects. Chapter one, "Aims and Unresolved Tensions,"…

This book addresses the subject of environmental education in the context of educational and social change. It focuses on the synthesis of action research and community problem solving in the context of education. The result, Action Research and Community Problem Solving (ARCPS), can be defined as a process that enables students and teachers to…

This guide for teachers of grades 3 through 8 provides a collection of self-directed projects for either individuals or small groups. Suitable for use in classroom learning centers, the guide is divided into 7 sections. Section 1, Working with Literature, offers activities for teaching reading using novels, student-made novel packets, fiction…