Sourcing involves interrogating historical documents, asking questions about their attributes to determine their relation to the historical event or time period under study. In this article, a university researcher and a sixth-grade teacher describe a set of heuristics that the teacher developed for supporting her students' sourcing of historical…

Multiplicative thinking is accepted as a "big idea" of mathematics that underpins important mathematical concepts such as fraction understanding, proportional reasoning, and algebraic thinking. It is characterised by understandings such as the multiplicative relationship between places in the number system, basic and extended number…

The author discusses the Learning Futures programme, a partnership set up between the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Innovation Unit. The two organisations had previously worked together on the Musical Futures project that had involved radical new approaches to teaching and learning in secondary school music. (Contains 1 figure and 1 note.)

Meat thermometers can be awkward to use in terms of placement and avoidance of bones. Because of these problems, each year 30 million Thanksgiving turkeys have a built-in thermometer that pops up when the turkey is properly cooked. Turkey timers are an example of how engineering solved a common, everyday problem. The following 5E learning cycle…

This document offers a planning tool for grades 3-7 that can be used by regional comprehensive centers, other technical assistance centers, and state departments of education to plan professional development for teachers. It is based on the "National Mathematics Advisory Panel Report" which was published in 2008. The panel synthesized its final…

In sixth grade, students understand that Earth gets visible light from the Sun, but students may also believe the Earth gets heat from the Sun. This last part is incorrect because the Sun is too far from the Earth to heat it directly. So, how does the Sun heat the Earth? When light strikes an object, it can be reflected or absorbed. Absorbed light…

Kids today are growing up with televisions, movies, videos and DVDs, so it's logical to assume that this type of media could be motivating and used to great effect in the classroom. But at what point should film and other visual media be used? Are there times in the inquiry process when showing a film or incorporating other visual media is more…

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the possible influence of the use in class of Internet resources which offer mathematical exercises for the students' activity and learning processes. I present an exploratory study grounded on a teaching design set up in two French grade six classes about proportional reasoning…

In this article, we will describe the results of a study of 6th grade students learning about the mathematics of change. The students in this study worked with software environments for the computer and the graphing calculator that included a simulation of a moving elevator, linked to a graph of its velocity vs. time. We will describe how the…

Describes the use of language analysis and speech-act categories (declarations, assertives, directives, commissives, and expressives) to deal with meaningful classroom concerns, thereby enabling the teacher and students to work more effectively together. (KEH)

"Text Sets" is a curricular strategy that highlights intertextuality, the process of searching for connections among reading texts and personal experiences. The strategy consists of gathering groups of related books and engaging small groups of students in a discussion of how the books interrelate. Three teachers assembled Text Sets for…

Discussion of how visual analogies aid students' understanding of math and science focuses on new types of representations that use computers. Topics addressed include understanding and cognitive performance; the role of representations in understanding, including examples; evidence of instructional effectiveness of new representations; and…

In this essay, the author describes her experience with an experiential model of learning through teaching that gives college students the opportunity to use what they learn in the college classroom to develop curricula and then teach those curricula in an elementary school. Her specific experience was with a science course for non-science majors,…

Designed to be used by practicing teachers, students who are learning to become teachers, and faculty members who instruct such students, this manual describes an instructional manipulation for teaching children with mild disabilities that increases opportunities for learning through the addition of extra information. The technique described uses…

The Indiana Weather Project (IWP) investigated how the joint application of situated learning and constructivist theory might support elementary school students' understanding of weather systems. Results indicated significant cognitive gains during the multimedia weather unit. (SD)