Hands-on activities in science learning are beneficial in enhancing creative thinking in students. However, scant studies have probed the nature of creative thinking developed by hands-on activities, particularly among primary school students and further investigation is thus mandated. Therefore, this study aims to explore the creative thinking…

Teacher-educators and policy-makers recognize that ongoing training and support for high quality implementation of curricula can be a vital component of systems that ensure the value of education experiences, particularly for students at-risk of school failure (Meisels, 2007; Pew Charitable Trusts, 2007; Pianta, 2005). In particular, there is…

Explores strategies used by fifth-grade teachers who exemplified three different classroom orientations (learning-oriented, work-oriented, or work-avoidance) toward student motivation and learning. Raises questions for future research and highlights strategies that support motivation to learn. (NH)

The purpose of this paper was threefold: (1) to review the literature; (2) to determine the effects of the use of humor upon stress within the classroom; and (3) to examine the extent to which students and teachers use humor as a coping mechanism to deal with stressful school situations. It was hypothesized that humor in the classroom is effective…

This study tested the effectiveness of having fifth-grade students generate their own examples of selected concepts on energy. Hypotheses were that subjects would perform better on sections of a test related to definitions and recognition of exemplars of the concepts for which they found their own examples than on sections related to comparible…

"Second Step" is a curriculum designed to reduce impulsive and aggressive behavior in children aged 9 through 12 years, increasing their levels of social competence by teaching skills in empathy, impulse control, and anger management. This guide is part of the "Second Step" series, which includes curricula for…

Operation Waste Watch is a series of seven sequential learning units which addresses the subject of litter control and solid waste management. Each unit may be used in a variety of ways, depending on the needs and schedules of individual schools, and may be incorporated into various social studies, science, language arts, health, mathematics, and…

This curriculum guide integrates the concepts of chick embryology into mathematics, science, and language arts lesson plans for Grades 4 and 5. The four lessons comprising the unit can be utilized in sequence or as independent lessons within the classroom curriculum. Lesson 1 enables students to identify the parts of an egg. Lesson 2 examines the…

This instructional packet is one of 14 school environmental education programs developed for use in the classroom and at the Dahlem Environmental Education Center (DEEC) of the Jackson Community College (Michigan). Provided in the packet are pre-trip activities, field trip activities, and post-trip activities which focus on water in the built and…

This report presents five case studies of teaching for understanding in the arts. The first two studies are of expert elementary music teachers who engaged in weekly planning together. In the case of Anna Spaulding, a first grade lesson is presented in detail as well as a description of how this teacher conceived of music as a discipline, planned…

Provides two lesson plans, one appropriate for kindergarten and one for fifth grade, emphasizing the role of the learner. Both plans include components addressing motivation, content, closure, and application. (RH)

A Pac-Man bulletin board was designed by a teacher to help spur fifth graders' interest in fractions. (MNS)

Presents suggestions to help elementary teachers organize learning centers and activities around the themes of Peter Rabbit (Grade 1), weather (Grade 3), and bees (Grade 5). Suggestions are given for activities in centers for listening/reading, language arts, computers, math, science, cooperative learning, research, and writing. (SM)

Shares a problem-solving activity in which the aim is to find out how fifth-grade students would approach a nontraditional problem in which several conditions had to be met. Asks teachers to consider student observations in their teaching. (ASK)

Research has established that students generally possess conceptions relevant to curricular topics before they begin to study them and that these preconceptions often persist despite instruction on scientific theories which contradict them. Discrepancies between students' post instruction conceptions and the scientific theories as taught often…