The activities in this guide (for grades 2-4) transport students to the sandy shore, one of the most fascinating ecosystems on the planet. At this ecological juncture a multiplicity of life forms find ways to survive, thrive, and interact with each other. Using a wide variety of learning formats, students explore and deepen their understanding of…

The Proactive Action Model (PAM) is an approach to social studies education that involves students directly in research-type activities. Using the PAM technique, students may research a variety of social studies topics and follow a logical process of thought and inquiry towards a tangible product such as a report or presentation. This application…

With the current interest and allocation of resources accorded service learning comes a growing need to clarify the varied ideological perspectives on school and society that underline service learning activities and programs. Drawing on an evaluation of Stanford's Service Learning 2000 project and on a rhetorical analysis of policy talk on…

Sponsored by an endowment to Indiana University, the Lincoln Era Essay Contest has been held since 1982. Students in grades 6 to 12 may submit essays that address some topic dealing with Abraham Lincoln's presidency. A new topic is chosen each year. Written by middle school/junior high and high school students, this year's 19 essays concern…

"Text Sets" is a curricular strategy that highlights intertextuality, the process of searching for connections among reading texts and personal experiences. The strategy consists of gathering groups of related books and engaging small groups of students in a discussion of how the books interrelate. Three teachers assembled Text Sets for…

An anthologized classroom is one in which students are writing toward an anthology of their own essays and drawing on the anthologies of previous classes. Students choose which of their own essays to include, and the works are then photocopied, bound, and sold to the students at cost before the end of the semester. The central challenge to the…

From primary grades, students are exposed to both standardized and classroom tests. While teacher-made classroom tests may contain multiple choice, constructed response, or essay items, standardized tests, on the other hand, primarily rely on the multiple-choice format. Standardized tests are easy and inexpensive to administer and score, amenable…

This report describes a seminar at Roskilde University Center (Denmark) on project work in foreign languages, which brought together language teachers and theorists from different schools, including universities, business schools, technical schools, merchants schools, and high schools, to discuss their experiences with project work in foreign…

Intended for 4-H participants who plan and implement activities in the area of child development, this booklet provides a study guide to help young learners: (1) gain understanding of a preschool child's physical, mental, social, and emotional growth; (2) learn to care for a preschooler and promote preschoolers' feelings of security and safety;…

Describes a variety of water erosion situations which can be shown with the use of a streamtable. Individual and group experiments are suggested and photographs of some situations which may be created are provided. (CP)

Describes a project using an interdisciplinary approach to environmental education in which students studied a broad-leaved woodland area and an area in the Great Swamp National Wildlife refuge. (BR)

Project work involves content, products, and processes. Teacher educators may notice that those new to project work adopt ideas and practices related to content and products more readily than they adopt ideas and practices related to the processes embedded in good project work. To fully implement the Project Approach, teachers need to develop an…

Students designed and manufactured compact, shell-and-tube heat exchangers in a project-based learning exercise integrated with our heat transfer course. The heat exchangers were constructed from common building materials available at home improvement centers. The cost of materials for a device was less than $20. The project gave students…

The article describes a classroom project at John H. Reagan High School in Austin, Texas--the development of a slide show explaining the Home Economics Cooperative Education (HECE) Program. (MW)

A classroom/laboratory exercise has been used to introduce college students to factorial research designs, differentiate between interpretations for experimental and quasi-experimental variables, and exemplify application of laboratory research methods to test practical questions (advertising claims). The exercise involves having randomly divided…