Profiles four middle school teachers maintaining early chamber music programs. The teachers advise varying degrees of musical competency before students begin the program, but all of them caution against starting too soon. They also stress the importance of purchasing early music scores and establishing rehearsal times. (MJP)

Sixth-grade students (n=53) were paired homogeneously and heterogeneously by ability to determine the effect of LOGO on the transfer of knowledge in geometry. Low-ability students benefited from heterogeneous grouping, whereas the impact on average- and high-ability students was not clear. (Contains 21 references.) (MDH)

Describes an integrated curriculum approach to world history/language arts that employs student filmmaking as its primary instructional approach. Discusses how the production process allows teachers to assess students' content knowledge, writing skills, and research skills. Includes a list of "helpful hints," a model content outline, and…

Discusses the Technology, Science, Mathematics Integration Project's technological problem-solving method, briefly describes 15 activities and the corresponding technology, science, and mathematics content involved (including 1 detailed example), and proposes a general structure of the activities and research in support of this approach. (MKR)

Maintains that children with disabilities increasingly are attending schools and classrooms they would attend if they did not have disabilities. Reports that educational research indicates little evidence that ability grouping improves academic achievement among these students. (CFR)

Describes a current affairs program involving the examination of social issues in a Canadian elementary school. Discusses significant aspects of the program, including the debate format, the use of computers, and a partnership with a local cable television company. Includes an appendix of the debating/talk-show format used. (CFR)

This article describes the Southwestern Cardiovascular Curriculum, a school-based, culturally relevant curriculum designed to prevent tobacco use and promote a good diet. Comparisons of American Indian students in participating and nonparticipating schools indicated that participants had significant increases in knowledge, better diets, increased…

Compares patterns of subject position pronominalization and zero anaphora in English in stories written by monolingual U.S. students and bilingual Mexican students at grades 6 and 12. The possibility of both sentential and discourse level transfer effects resulting from the fact that Spanish allows subject deletion is investigated as is the…

Describes a 4-week multidisciplinary unit built around intensive study of a historical period, used in grades 3-5 at Pepperell Intermediate Schools, in Opelika, Alabama. Students experience U.S. history at a five-day fair where periods on history have been recreated. Describes planning for American Heritage Week, the Village Fair, and field trips.…

Focus groups at four middle schools examined the health topic areas of most concern to young adolescents, noted interrelationships among health issues, and gathered opinions on how to improve classroom health instruction. Sex, drugs, and violence were students' main health concerns. Students had numerous suggestions for improving classroom…

This paper offers insights on how to facilitate student-student interaction in the science classroom. These insights derive from the education and the linguistics literature. Cooperative learning research offers a means of understanding what helps groups of students interact successfully. Systemic functional linguistics provides tools for…

Observed sixth-grade students and their ways of gathering information for a science report from Encarta 94, a CD-ROM encyclopedia. Developed recommendations for collaboration between the classroom teacher and the school library media specialist during the implementation of CD-ROM technology for information gathering, as well as ways to manage a…

Describes a middle school history unit focused on the African American experience. The unit is constructed around four general types of historical questions that can be applied to any history unit. These are informational, empathetic, methodological, and analytical/evaluative. Provides examples of each type of question. (MJP)

The paper describes a successful effort at collaboration among a college reading program, a neighborhood self-help agency, and a public school. The three-way partnership was formed to improve the literacy levels of 12 behaviorally disturbed children in the fifth and sixth grades. The project involves whole language reading instruction and…

Describes the first administration of the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) to fifth-grade students. Discusses the history of CLAS, types of questions employed, content coverage, methods of scoring, and reporting on tests results. Presents sample questions, student responses, and commentary on student performance. (CFR)