This article shares aspects to consider when designing and implementing content area instruction through the study of people. It begins with a description of an inquiry that investigated students' learning with the use of authentic literature and meaningful writing in social studies, and then extends to a discussion of how to apply these same…

A qualitative case study design was used to explore the use of the think-aloud reading comprehension strategy in the implementation of math journals. The goal of the study was to determine if a teacher's direct instruction in the implementation of think-alouds improved "at risk" eighth-graders' abilities to answer word problems more…

Educators and researchers are finding that students are more motivated and engaged when using mobile devices such as an iPad. Yet research describing powerful and effective iPad-mediated teaching and learning and how it supports the development of multiliteracies is limited. This article reports on a qualitative study that was designed to capture…

The purpose of this study was to understand how schools address two specific criteria of the Schools to Watch® (STW) program: Social equity and developmental responsiveness. Descriptions of replicable practices, program/school characteristics, and initiatives created by each of the STW sites in Pennsylvania were analyzed. The data also includes…

Why do girls perform so well academically yet lose ground as professional women? This diminishing number of women up the leadership hierarchy is often referred to as the "leaky pipeline," and attributed to many factors: external ones such as work environments not conducive to work/life balance, and internal ones such as women's own…

Discusses the implementation of a safe school initiative at an East Greenville, Pennsylvania middle school, following gun violence at the school in 1993. Considers the role of teachers, students, parents, and community in the initiative, changes to curriculum and student activities, special safety measures, and alternative programs for conflict…

Involvement in community service can benefit middle-school students by helping them feel valued, teaching responsibility, and improving teacher-student relations. A rural Pennsylvania middle school evaluated community-service opportunities and then employed StarServe, a resource kit encouraging students to develop their own service projects.…

A crew of seventh and eighth graders at a middle school comprise the writers, editors, and talent of Kid Time News, produced by a Taft broadcasting station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. News vignettes are aimed at children and include topics such as current events, bike safety, jobs, water safety, babysitting tips, and youth fitness. (MLH)

Providing additional academic challenges to gifted middle schoolers can be demanding, considering their involvement in multitudinous activities. A Pennsylvania school developed a three-prong approach that provides more rigorous curricular content and adopts the group instruction method favored by music departments and the one-on-one technique used…

The history of young adolescent education can be viewed as an ongoing search for the appropriate combination of school organization, curriculum, and instructional practices for young adolescents. While middle schools have now become the most common pattern for schools housing young adolescents, there have always been other broader school…