Presents a range of exciting ideas for encouraging active learning, for illuminating new concepts, and for making science lessons fun. Topics include modeling, matter, heat, diffusion, changes of state, heat transfer, energy changes, atomic structure, waves, gravity, enzymes, and habitats. (JRH)

Notes that students with a history of failure may be hampered by feelings of incompetence and diminished expectations. States that teachers using responsive instruction become attuned to these perceptions and encourage students to regain control of the problem-solving process. Notes that to succeed, teachers must propose certain goals and…

Discusses a methods kit for interactive problem-solving exercises in engineering education as well as a methodology for intelligent evaluation of solutions. The quality of a system teaching logistics thinking can be improved using artificial intelligence. Embedding a rule-based diagnosis module that evaluates the student's knowledge actively…

Moving active learning forward calls for a focus on learners' actorship, not program activities, and requires distinguishing between active learning and active teaching. Experiential education offers an alternative to didactic approaches, not a more attractive form of it. Accepting traditional principles and procedures of…

Describes the instructional method, Client-Life Cycle GIS Project Learning, used in a course at Indiana University of Pennsylvania that enables students to learn with and about geographic information system (GIS). Discusses the course technical issues in GIS and an example project using this method. (CMK)

Presents and analyzes a detailed example of classroom dialogues such as peer instruction, and describes the format, procedures, and curricular materials required for creating the desired lecture-room environment. (Contains 94 references.) (Author/YDS)

Provides background information about Mark Boyer, the winner of the fourth Rowman and Littlefield Award for Innovative Teaching in Political Science. States that Boyer has focused on developing active learning approaches for international relations and demonstrates his leadership in the use of technology. (CMK)

Describes a congressional committee simulation used in an introductory U.S. politics course. Explains the simulation enabled students to discover how Congress operates. Discusses the outcomes of the simulation, student responses, and recommendations for using it in upper-level courses. Includes the personality descriptions for the commerce…

States that in order to gain students' attention, social studies teachers should use more active teaching strategies. Describes six hooking strategies that immediately draw students in: (1) inquiry; (2) media hook; (3) sentence synthesis; (4) what they know, what they want to know, what they learned (K-W-L); (5) roundtable; and (6) concept…

Examines whether active instruction in music enhances preschool and elementary school student performance on spatial tasks. Reports that music enhances the spatial-temporal performance of children during and up to two years following the instruction and that the effect is moderate and consistent. Includes references. (CMK)

Discusses the use of focused interactive learning (FIL), in which students participate in focused discussions with their peers to learn about psychological concepts. Evaluates the use of FIL at Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, Florida). Addresses student benefits resulting from this technique. (CMK)

At the Duquesne University (PA) school of pharmacy, five self-paced computer exercises using a molecular modeling program have been implemented to teach stereochemical concepts. The approach, designed for small-group learning, has been well received and found effective in enhancing students' understanding of the concepts. (Author/MSE)

Discusses the elements of Montessori education that distinguish it from traditional education for older children and from much current group experience for young children. Focuses on the respect for each child as a unique individual with unique interests and learning styles and on how Montessori education responds to that individuality to…

Examines the quality of teaching offered at the Hutterian kindergarten school in New Meadow Run, Pennsylvania, as an example of an outdoor school. Suggests that, based on the ideas of Rousseau, Pestallozzi, and Froebel on early play and natural development, outdoor schools can offer an alternative to current structured academic school activities…

The use of overt answer construction in computer-based programmed instruction was studied. Four college students completed an instructional program that alternated between presenting frames with blanks requiring overt responses and complete frames without blanks. All students produced more correct answers corresponding to program segments that…