This story, written by middle school students and their teacher at Kingsbury School in Michigan, concerns the Ancient Roman Empire and is designed to be used to teach other middle school students. The story depicts a quest to reconstruct the Roman Empire from its beginnings as Ancient Italy, as a republic in the sixth century B.C., to the height…

Describes eight creative inquiry projects for middle-school students, complete with description, time investment, level of difficulty, and student rating. (SR)

This book introduces and guides upper elementary and middle school teachers through the process of using major classroom projects to enable integration of the curriculum through social studies. The book describes the excitement of a classroom when the students are working on Washington, D.C. and Latin America projects. Not only do the students…

Describes the author's own rough start learning about hypertext, and how she began to introduce her middle school students to hypertext. Observes processes students used working on the hypertext "Slave Narrative Project," a joint project between social studies and English departments in the author's middle school and an American teacher in Ghana.…

Describes a history unit for middle school students focusing on their own communities. Describes getting organized, introducing the unit, and possible student projects. Adds a note of caution. (SR)

Mechanically-minded middle school students who have been studying electromagnetism can construct inexpensive telegraphs resembling Samuel Morse's 1844 invention. Instructions (with diagrams), list of materials needed, and suggestions are given for a simple telegraph and for a two-way system. (DH)

Indianapolis gifted students in grades five-seven created a museum exhibit to express the views of youth while giving adults an opportunity to listen. The process involved brainstorming, selecting a topic (drug and alcohol abuse), gathering information, forming committees, building a scale model, and creating the actual exhibit. (JDD)

Deaf students in grades 6-8 issued a newspaper as a regular part of the English curriculum. The project involved making a trip to a newspaper publisher, setting aside a "newsroom" classroom area, selecting staff, brainstorming story ideas, learning to use the Newsroom computer program, writing, editing, and planning the layout. (JDD)

Sponsored by an endowment to Indiana University, the Lincoln Era Essay Contest has been held since 1982. Students in grades 6 to 12 may submit essays that address some topic dealing with Abraham Lincoln's presidency. A new topic is chosen each year. Written by middle school/junior high and high school students, this year's 19 essays concern…

Drawing on documents and interviews with school staff, this report describes Oaklea Middle School, serving grades five through eight in the Junction City (Oregon) School District. An overview of the school's startup and philosophy stresses the priority assigned to students' educational, physical, social, and emotional needs. The author next…

This article describes a class geography project which involves middle school and junior high school students in re-mapping the United States. A bibliography of print and human resources is included. (Author/RM)

Begun in 1992, the Selborne Project helps teachers, primarily in middle schools, to use the square kilometer around their school as a theme to integrate nature study into the curriculum. The inspiration for the project stemmed from the 18th-century book, "The Natural History of Selborne," in which Gilbert White detailed nature's presence…

Describes two model water education programs. The River Ecology Program teaches students basic ecological concepts related to rivers, explores the impact of human activities on rivers, and helps students develop an attitude of stewardship for rivers. The Wetlands Watch Program has students conduct studies related to local wetlands and respond…

Instructions for completing a student research project are provided. The project consists of selecting an energy-related topic, preparing notecards (which contain important information, quotations, and bibliographic information obtained from libraries and other sources), preparing an outline, writing a report (a term paper), and constructing a…

An art project that involved middle school students in picking a story, making puppet characters, and filming a television show is described. The students also made television commercials. (RM)