This is a handbook designed for carrying out the goals and objectives of Preparation for Raising Educational Performance (PREP), a thematic, remedial program for ninth graders in New York City public schools. The lessons presented in the handbook model an approach to learning which follows the patterns of actual language development: listening,…

Black students, other minorities and white students can show significant increases in achievement in biology by using a cooperative learning model. Concentrating on cooperating with group members toward a common goal is the ingredient that makes this cooperative learning model work. This study was designed to investigate the effects of cooperative…

This paper describes the characterization of a student's framework of heat and temperature, and the development of a microcomputer-based laboratories (MBL) intervention program for grade 9 and grade ll students. The report presents the results of classroom study, including interview questions and answers and pretest/posttest, from experimental and…

The third of seven related guides, this curriculum guide for ninth grade English outlines opportunities for students to use the skills they have acquired previously, to be involved in well-planned educational experiences in critical thinking and in oral and written expression, and to develop an understanding of others. The first half of the guide…

The goal of this ninth grade elective social studies course is to acquaint students with the U.S. criminal and civil legal systems. This curriculum guide presents the course content in outline form according to the general topics of: (1) the history of U.S. law; (2) Constitutional law; and (3) civil law. Two suggested textbooks are listed, and…

This guide is intended for use in teaching a course in transportation systems. The course, which has been designed for students in grades 9 and 10, is intended to provide a basic understanding of transportation systems and the role of energy systems in transportation. The first two sections discuss the guide's development within the framework of…

Outlines a student-conducted literature course that uses several classic novels ("My Antonia,""The Pearl," etc.) as the basis for group discussion, writing, and oral performance activities--all directed toward extracting "meaning" from the books selected. (NKA)

This article describes an interdisciplinary classroom project in which ninth graders simulate a "World Council on Genetic Technology." Students in small groups take on the persona and interests of individuals from specific countries in the group effort to develop a covenant for regulating the use of biotechnology. The benefits of having gifted…

This unit focuses on a dramatic moment in the Renaissance from about 1420 when Filippo Brunelleschi single handedly created, defined, and engineered a new architecture by building the great dome of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. The dome became the symbol of Florence's grandeur during the Renaissance, and a model for great…

The goal of the East Asian Curriculum Project (EACP) of Columbia University is to support education on Asia at the secondary and elementary levels. The project has developed a variety of curriculum resources and collaborated with state and local educators in designing units about Asia for teachers. Each packet contains brief resource lists along…

This document was designed to help teachers provide ninth grade students in New York City with opportunities to learn about scientific processes as well as basic reasoning skills which underlie problem-solving processes in scientific and nonscientific disciplines. The first section of the guide, "The Environment," contains lessons which…

The Sequential Mathematics Sequence provides an integrated course of study for grades 9-11 in New York City. This document presents lesson plans for part one of the first-year course, designed for ninth grade. The curriculum interweaves algebra, geometry, logic, probability, statistics, and trigonometry, with the emphasis in the 60 lessons in this…

This curriculum guide is designed to assist teachers and supervisors in the implementation of the New York State Global Studies syllabus. The materials presented in this guide represent suggested approaches for teaching the unit on East Asia-Japan. The themes addressed are: the physical/historical setting, the dynamics of change, contemporary…

For several years, one educator has taught Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations" to eighth and ninth graders. She recently discovered a woman writer of the 18th century whose novel could be taught using the same format used to teach Dickens's novel. Fanny Burney's "Evelina" is an exceptional book, effective not only for teaching the epistolary…

Both the adolescent novel "The Giver" (Lois Lowry) and the classic work "Animal Farm" (George Orwell) deal with the idea of a controlling society. "The Giver" gives the reader an understanding of what it is like to live in a society where every move and every decision is basically made for you, but the people living…