The Buck Institute for Education defines Project-Based Learning as, "a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge." (What is PBL, 2020). The idea behind this teaching technique is to…

The Bold Fold, which is presented in this article, is a 45-minute activity in which students create a protein model while learning the processes of transcription, translation, protein folding, and delivery, which are often difficult to understand and have led to common misconceptions (Wright, Fisk, and Newman 2014). This activity has been used…

When beginning music teachers enter a new classroom for the first time, they start a journey toward understanding a new context and community. Place consciousness develops as they become embedded in their community and begin to recognize how its culture and environment interact with their teaching practices. By mapping the objects, people, and…

This article presents two lessons. The first one is "Carved in Stone: The Preamble to the Constitution" by Steven S. Lapham. In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissioned artist Lenore Thomas to create some sculptures for the planned community of Greenbelt, Maryland. Part of her work consisted of bas-relief friezes on the…

The middle grades are an exciting time for adolescents to explore, learn, and collaborate with one another (National Middle School Association, 2010). By incorporating an academic social network as part of the classroom experience, collaboration and active learning take on new forms, and a transformation from passive learning to active learning…

This article investigates teachers' attitudes toward English Language Learners (ELLs) at three middle schools in Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania. These schools have been critically impacted by the presence of ELLs, whether due to large numbers, or to smaller, concentrated populations in schools that traditionally have not served ELLs. This…

Say the phrase "Charlie bit my finger," and just about every human being with Internet access visualizes the viral video clip of baby Charlie precociously biting the finger of his brother. With almost 200 million views, this video represents just one of thousands of viral videos that form a core component of modern entertainment, news,…

Students in York County, Pennsylvania, live near Amish communities, and recognize the influence of Amish culture within their own lives through food, decorative arts, furniture, and quilts. The understanding of the cultural ideas used in Amish quilts, however, is not often explored. Two regional art educators, Trisha Coggins and Sara Little, were…

This outline for a middle school career development guide includes five sections and two appendices. Section 1 outlines the philosophy and objectives of middle level education at Selinsgrove Area Middle School in Pennsylvania. Section 2 outlines objectives of career development. Section 3 lists four types of course content, including classroom…

This theme issue of the "Social Studies Journal" focuses on the worldwide conflict known in the United States as the French and Indian War (1754-1763). The volume is dedicated to examining the conflict in Pennsylvania. Western Pennsylvania became a battle-scarred landscape as the British and French, with their Native American allies,…

Designed for grades six through nine, this manual teaches students how the Pennsylvania juvenile justice system works. It explains what a juvenile can expect if accused of violating Pennsylvania law in the hope of convincing students to stay out of trouble with the law. The manual gives a brief history of juvenile justice and a description of the…

This lesson focuses on the U.S. Civil War Battle of Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) at the beginning of July 1863. The lesson is based on the National Register of Historic Places registration file, "Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District," as well as several primary and secondary sources. It could be used with units on the U.S. Civil War or…

For social studies teachers, good social studies requires good reading, writing, and mathematics skills. In addition, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) administers reading, writing, and mathematics assessments to students at specific grade levels. Through many years of working together with their classes and with the "We the…

The Watershed Learning Center (WLC) was developed by the Brandywine Valley Association (BVA) to provide outdoor environmental lessons to schools on their own properties or on sites close by. Teachers are trained to take over the lessons by observing BVA instructors and attending workshops. The program was evaluated to discover how the WLC was…

Designed for middle school through high school students, this unit contains eight lesson plans that focus on Pennsylvania state law. The state lessons correspond to lessons in the volume, "Antidote: Civic Responsibility. Drug Avoidance Lessons for Middle School & High School Students. Developed to be presented by educators, law student,…