Describes service learning, and how it can inject relevance and meaning into the middle school curriculum. Offers an example of service learning with an environmental focus. Discusses the extended benefits of service learning, arguing that it provides meaningful learning contexts that support instruction in the formal classroom setting, and meets…

Discusses the nature of middle school and early adolescents; national standards and economic education; and curricular practices for middle-school economics. Outlines guidelines to help make decisions about what materials and activities to use for practical economics in the middle-school curriculum. (SR)

Explains briefly identity development and health and safety concerns specific to gay and lesbian youth. Proposes a variety of strategies for meeting their intellectual and developmental needs. (SR)

Discusses the importance of aesthetic education in middle schools. Imagines a school as an aesthetic environment. Describes how several content area teachers have enhanced the learning of traditional content through aesthetic projects and activities. Notes students' enthusiastic response. Outlines a five-step approach to incorporate aesthetics…

How a carefully planned health education curriculum can help overcome seven health problems of American society.'' (Author/SP)

Describes the experience of teachers and administrators at a middle school in Georgia as they faced the challenge of developing a curriculum for a character education program. Looks at how character education has been viewed across the century. Discusses the development by parents and educators of this character education program, its…

Proposes a method for creating a student-centered middle school that involves research, reexamining of traditional organization plans, and retraining of staff. (FL)

Calls for an end to information literacy skills being treated as a poor relation in the middle school. Suggests ways that information literacy skills can be incorporated into interdisciplinary instruction, emphasizing that when subject matter and information-seeking skills are integrated and when teachers and library media specialists plan…

This study is the third in a series (EJ 068 961, EJ 130 474) of state surveys of middle schools in the upper midwest states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The total data cover the period from 1970-1977. Presents some of the composite findings regarding organizational, curricular, and instructional practices. Methods of pupil…

Reminds readers of the 1989 Carnegie report on the education of young adolescents ("Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century"), its warnings, and its recommendations. Introduces this special issue on middle-school social studies, discussing from many different viewpoints just how teachers and students might proceed…

Argues that middle-school social-studies educators should teach students skills to deal with the tremendous power of television in their lives. Discusses television viewing, television as a "good-bad" information source, and its connection to the middle-school curriculum. Discusses 11 media literacy activities that can be integrated into…