This column presents ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. In this issue the authors discuss a design project they have used with upper elementary students (grades 4-6). They note ways to engage students in thinking philosophically about technology to meet engineering design outcomes in the "Next Generation Science…

The zoetrope, ancestor of the motion picture, is a spinning cylinder in which a strip of drawings take on movement. This article provides instructions for building this device and outlines an animation project for third- through seventh-graders. (SJL)

Describes a program at Stone Middle School in Melbourne, Florida. (JM)

Describes how a class of fourth graders effectively used their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills to take action (regarding the laws governing trophy hunting) and to change a piece of their world. (SR)

Described is a unique national educational program and competition involving students in grades 6-12, who participate by entering historical essays, table-top display projects, media presentations, and performances. (RM)

Talking with local merchants helps sixth-graders explore the impact of change in their community. (Editor/SJL)

Two teachers describe their junior high school's involvement in National History Day. Participation in History Day provides students with the thrill of competition and the satisfaction that comes from really getting into a topic of their choice. (RM)

Using colored construction paper, students trace around their shoes and cut out two forms. Students then pick and research an event from the time period in history under study and write a report on the representations of shoe soles. The reports are taped, in order of occurrence, around the classroom. (RM)

After discussing J.R.R. Tolkien's "Father Christmas Letters," fifth- and sixth-graders undertook a class project to answer second-graders' letters to Santa Claus. (SJL)

Describes a stock market investing project for fifth graders. (SJL)

Gifted intermediate-level students in Greenville, South Carolina, held a Future Fair in which students completed projects and developed critical and creative thinking skills as they investigated real problems. Projects such as models, inventions, photo essays, and creative writing focused on future schools, art, fashions, space travel, and other…

Explores the impact of an inquiry project conducted with sixth-grade language arts students. Looks at three aspects of the project in relation to the literature on engagement, critical literacy, and the design of language arts curriculum for adolescents. Concludes that students' intense interest in their projects demonstrates such projects provide…

Provides classroom procedures for adapting the nineteenth-century-style song slide show to middle school history instruction. Suggests student production of song slide shows as individual or group projects. Argues that the activity can capture the drama of history and stimulate student curiosity about the past. (SG)

Describes the Legends Project in Indiana in which a class collaboratively researches, writes, and illustrates a local legend and sends it via computers and modems to other classes across the state. (SR)

Describes a project in which students research and describe a career using a book report format and then produce a videotape based on the "What's My Line?" television series. (CLB)