A six-week university library intern program sponsored by the Job Training Partnership Act investigated the impact of 12 economically disadvantaged high school students working at Grambling State University (Louisiana). Interns succeeded, learned skills later described on their resumes and job application letters, and gained self-esteem and job…

Describes an activity in which middle school students use the computer software entitles "Community Construction Kit," a computer program, to design buildings for historical and contemporary communities. Addresses the student benefits of both this activity and the "Community Construction Kit" in general. (CMK)

Offers performance technique tips for the recorder, some instructional strategies for generating student interest, and guidelines for the maintenance of recorders. Provides a list of publications, websites, and organizations in order to assist teachers in locating more information about how the recorder can become part of music education programs.…

Describes a pilot study that aimed at gaining insights into how language learners benefit from training in interlingual subtitling. The study showed that students' communication competence in both their first and second language improved while they simultaneously mastered transferable skills. (Author/VWL)

Suggests that exposure to recurrent topics and vocabulary in authentic texts helps students develop reading competence and confidence. Approaches narrow reading from three perspectives: one employing a corpus analysis of newspaper readings to demonstrate how narrow reading lowers the vocabulary load of texts, one learner-focused, reporting…

Discusses the use of perspective, or showing things as the human eye sees them, when creating reflections and transparencies in works of art. Provides examples of artwork using transparency, reflection, and refraction by M. C. Escher, Richard Estes, and Janet Fish to give students an opportunity to learn about these three art techniques. (CMK)

Offers an art activity that provides a balance between structure and an opportunity for students to be creative. Explains that the students begin drawing pictures of a clown through five teacher-directed steps and then the teacher leaves the children with half- finished drawings allowing them to creatively finish them on their own. (CMK)

Contends that speech ensembles can be useful in the music classroom, particularly at the middle school level, to help develop students' creative thinking, powers of expression, and skills in notation and counting. Offers five steps to guide students in creating speech ensembles that address the National Standards for Music Education. (CMK)

Discusses the difficulty children with learning disabilities have in making friends and describes a strategy for incorporating children's literature into teaching friendship skills. A practice lesson that used this strategy with five elementary children with disabilities is described and found to be effective in promoting friendship skills. (CR)

In an Israeli elementary school program to stimulate students' development of oral English skills, students write dialogs and conversation themes in areas of interest, then practice and conduct the conversations with amateur radio operators around the world. Challenges and successes are detailed. (MSE)

College teachers are encouraged to provoke students to analyze the grounds of their beliefs but to use care not to inflict personal biases and preferences. Several principles to follow in formulating provocative teaching techniques and to support students' critical thinking are outlined, with examples from philosophy instruction. Classroom…

Analyzes the generalization failures of social-skills instruction, outlines some critical differences between instruction in social- and academic-skills areas, and suggests the depth of analysis, instruction, and facilitation that will be required to achieve generalization of social skills. The modification of environments to support behavior is…

Discusses problems that educators face in attempting to emphasize high-level cognitive skills in their curriculum. Identifies four elements of informal learning that guide the creation of these skills, through a comparison of the characteristics of formal and informal learning environments. Notes benefits for development of students' conceptual…

Describes three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) models for every component in a representative mechanical system; the CAD models made it easy to generate 3-D animations that are ideal for teaching perceptual skills in multimedia computer-based technical training. Fifteen illustrations are provided. (AEF)

Six of seven adolescents who attended a summer rehabilitation program at the Vacation Camp for the Blind (VCB) reported they were performing the majority of skills two months after they completed training at VCB. Parents' responses confirmed self-reports and noted the performance of new skills or skill improvement. (Contains eight references.) (CR)