Considers the reasons for utilizing artifacts when teaching social studies to children. Describes seven artifact kits: (1) an object box; (2) resource kit; (3) primary source enhancement kit; (4) symbol kits; (5) economic process kit; (6) packs; and (7) a kit for an archaeology dig. Provides an appendix for sources of artifacts. (CMK)

Illustrates how Web-based technologies can be used to encourage and motivate students to become active participants in the introductory economics classroom and describes two Web-based active learning exercises that place students in the center of the learning process. Includes reactions by Kim Sosin and Linda M. Manning. (CMK)

Describes three active learning strategies for use in a teaching assistant (TA) training program that can enhance graduate students' teaching skills: (1) in-class activities; (2) written assignments (journals, written exercises, and teaching portfolios); and (3) modeling and observation (watching versus performing teaching behaviors). (CMK)

Once the prevailing technology standards are established and understood, principals need to observe and evaluate how teachers translate standards into instructional practice. The Engaged Learning Profile Tool helps teachers assess their created learning environment and provides a starting point for technology discussions. Guidelines and indicators…

Discusses environmental education in New Zealand and the role of technology in environmental education. Examines the role of participatory research in environmental education, suggesting that participatory research can be enhanced through the use of information technologies (IT). Describes two studies and identifies six themes to consider when…

Chronicles events in a class experimenting with a theme-study approach, examining teachers' and students' conceptions of knowledge. Examines changing relationships to knowledge; defines three approaches to knowledge students could take within classrooms. Explores possible underlying causes for changes in students' approaches to knowledge.…

Discusses the reform of the middle school science curriculum to engage students in their own development, represent the ethos of contemporary science, recognize social changes and cultural shifts, and assure productive learning, all focused on the welfare of young adolescents. (JPB)

Presents two articles which both describe a project that built instructional plans around students' development and interests instead of imposing ready-made curricula, and in which students became active, eager participants in their own learning. Offers at the end a list extracting the principles on which the instruction in these articles is…

The project approach to learning engages students' natural bent for discovery through observation, play, hands-on tasks, and real-world challenges. Project-based learning complements systematic instruction in basic skills by making discrete bits of information relevant. Teachers must design projects that provide enough latitude for student…

Presents an interview with James Loewen who wrote "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook Got Wrong" and "Lies Across America: What our Historic Sites and Monuments Get Wrong." Focuses on topics such as what led him to write these two books and why they are popular. (CMK)

Uses the World Wide Web to provide an active learning environment with rapid and accurate homework feedback which is also an effective tool to foster critical thinking skills. Allows students to submit a second chance homework following feedback to a previously wrongly answered question. (YDS)

Describes the process of active learning--consolidation and internalization of information that is personally meaningful and conceptually coherent. Discusses downshifting (a self-protective response that includes reversion to routine behaviors) and the educational practices and conditions that lead to it or reduce it. Describes 12 principles of…

Community-oriented pedagogy, or place-based schooling, uses schools as a source of community renewal, not community disintegration; allows students to construct their own understandings through interaction with the community environment; creates creative and critical thinkers who can also meet academic standards; and addresses our society's…

A series of vignettes illustrates a variety of methods for implementing community-focused teaching and learning. Finding the curriculum in the community, going public with learning experiences, making the most of field trips, and participating in ongoing community events are strategies that promote integrated curriculum, involve community, and…

Describes a unit plan for teaching "Lord of the Flies" that allows students to respond freely to the reading and to "get out of their seats" and experience the first chapter of the book. Includes guidelines for the response-based approach, for discussion groups, and for character portfolios. (NH)