Problem solving, both theoretical and practical, is the underlying skill developed through the physics curriculum. Service-learning has been integrated into engineering curricula, but programs proposed for that field often do not fit well into the structure of physics departments. A consultant-based approach to service-learning offers physics…

In this paper we document the importance of institutional context in both constraining and enabling the work of mathematics teachers. We build from our current and ongoing collaborative efforts with middle-grades mathematics teachers to provide an analytic approach and resulting analysis that clarifies the critical role of institutional context in…

This guide presents a model for a standards-based contemporary technology education course for the middle school. This model course guide features an exploratory curriculum thrust for a cornerstone middle level course. It provides teachers with an overview of the concept, suggestions for planning the course, and ideas for developing…

How do you get a fourth-grader excited about history? How do you even begin to persuade high school students that mathematical functions are relevant to their everyday lives? In this volume, practical questions that confront every classroom teacher are addressed using the latest exciting research on cognition, teaching, and learning. How Students…

The Austin Collaborative for Mathematics Education (ACME) was an initiative begun in August 1997 to improve mathematics education in all AISD elementary and middle school classrooms by providing teachers with long-term, high quality professional development. This report summarizes program evaluation information for school year 2001-2002.

In the early 1980s, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) revised its policies on reading instruction. A new transactional definition of reading shifted the emphasis from discrete reading skills to comprehension and set out objectives consistent with that new definition. Policymakers also revised the state?s reading-evaluation instruments,…

Within the systemic framework of comprehensive school counseling programs, this article explores middle school counselors' vital role in collaborating with other educators to promote the academic development of early adolescents. Research pertinent to contemporary middle school counseling in this developmental domain is summarized, especially as…

Many agricultural and environmental problems are interrelated and overlapping. Several agencies, including nonprofit organizations, have developed programs to educate schoolchildren about agricultural and environmental issues; however, programs that integrate both agricultural and environmental learning, especially among middle and high school…

American public schools, free and open to all, are one of the few public places where diverse groups of people can come together and make meaning of their lives. If public schools are to be the havens that people espouse them to be, they have to understand the sociocultural and historical processes that have impacted their beliefs, attitudes, and…

Successful business people in all walks of life recognize that achieving a balance between their work lives and their families is critical to their personal happiness. Although the subject is mentioned in textbooks and seminars, very little, if any, time is spent discussing how the young career person will achieve this goal. Fortunately, potential…

The teacher's guide, "Microscopic Explorations: A GEMS Festival Guide" (Brady and Willard, 1998), is the result of a partnership between Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS), a program of the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS), the public science and curriculum development center of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Microscopy…

In this article, the author relates her teaching experiences with her gifted student named Chris, as well as her understanding of behaviors of gifted and talented students like Chris. In order to understand the difficulties that gifted students encounter, she uses a case study research method in documenting her work with Chris. She emphasizes the…

Computer games are no longer just for entertainment; they have also become a useful instructional strategy for acquiring knowledge. When games are used for purposes other than strict entertainment they become serious games. The goal of serious games is to enable the player to learn a task, master a strategy or develop a skill. Serious games can be…

The federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, project strives to equalize low-income students' access to higher education by increasing their participation in rigorous coursework, providing expanded opportunities for low-income students and parents to learn about postsecondary educational opportunities…

This paper examines the images middle school students have of science and technology, the workplaces, and the relevant professions. It also describes the effect on these images caused by an instructional initiative, "Investigation into Science and Technology" (IST), designed to introduce students to science and technology in the "real life."…