A study of 40 schools in 12 states indicates that student achievement, behavior, and engagement improved when the local environment, including both natural and community sociocultural environments, was used as an integrating context for the curriculum. Ten steps toward planning and implementing such an approach are listed. (SV)

A seventh-grade teacher describes how her students gradually became engaged in a year-long project on Thoreau. Although initially resistant and unenthusiastic, the students became interested after two field trips involving living-history experiences, and went on to write a play involving Thoreau, his contemporary and 20th-century…

In a small rural high school in Balmorhea, Texas, business students helped to establish a school-based clinic. Students wrote grant applications, learned medical office skills, structured the business curriculum around their project, and involved other students. Cooperation with Texas Tech Medical School led to a full-service community clinic…

Describes two George Mason University (Virginia) initiatives to illustrate and analyze the strengths and challenges of alternative approaches that have been designed to better meet the changing needs of the students and communities that they serve. Discusses the environment, faculty/student interaction, intense collaboration, and technology…

Addresses the use of the World Wide Web by international relations students and scholars. Considers an instructional web project for an international relations class outlining the project's contribution to active learning and the development of students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Provides advice for educators interested in…

Reviews various studies on childs play and its relation to young childrens development in music learning processes and explores the role that cognitive and social play categories have in studying childrens play with music. Provides strategies for initiating music-play opportunities in a preschool classroom. (CMK)

Describes how one geology teacher relies on written and oral assignments both as learning tools and as a means to motivate students and assess their work. Frequent written and oral assignments dramatically improve the levels of engagement and learning. Presents some advantages of written and oral assignments and includes examples. (PVD)

Describes an active participation exercise that demonstrates the propagation of action potentials (the ability to transmit information through the neural network, dependent upon chemical interactions in the brain). Students assume the structure and function of the network by lining up around the room and communicating through hand signals and…

Applied learning projects at George Middle School (Portland, Oregon) include landscaping the school courtyard, helping scientists study pollution in the Columbia Slough, inventorying wildlife around Portland lakes, studying urban ecosystems and sharing information in Spanish with Mexican schools, and planting trees. Describes other school…

Reviews current trends away from multiple-choice testing to alternative forms of student evaluation. Discusses elements contributing to these trends: emphases on critical-thinking skills and active learning, research supporting a constructivist view of learning, efforts to develop academic standards and companion performance-based assessments, and…

Discusses principles to use in evaluating online university courses, including student-faculty contact; cooperation among students; active learning, including course projects; prompt feedback; time on task, including the need for deadlines; high expectations; and respecting diverse talents and ways of learning. (LRW)

Teachers at a rural Appalachian elementary school made the curriculum more responsive to students by incorporating storytelling, theater, and music. Students interviewed community members, told their stories in school and community, created and performed plays based on them, and provided workshops for classmates. Teacher perspectives, supporting…

Discussion of staff development in schools focuses on the role of school librarians. Topics include job-embedded staff development that emphasizes collaboration, including case studies, networking, and using technology for professional development; models of staff development; and effective approaches to staff development, including active teacher…

Presents ten guidelines, discussing each in detail, for teaching about the Holocaust in middle or high school. Includes topics such as encouraging active learning and a "minds-on" approach, inviting Holocaust survivors as guest speakers, and providing a base of historical knowledge. Contains references. (CMK)

A rural British Columbia K-12 school facing closure due to declining population implemented intentional learning, student-directed learning, and learning groups as core units for developing communities of learners. A computer-managed learning system and online scheduling enables delivery of a full range of courses despite decreases in teaching…