Four teacher-originated student activities are featured. A mental health unit incorporates a panel of student "experts" who answer anonymous queries. Tax returns and rockets enhance mathematics units, and students learn to manage their own behavior with the "I Can Manage My Behavior" card. (IAH)

This paper is designed to extend a dialogue on the nature of explanations to include instructional explanations. The paper explores the distinctions between specific types of explanations, (common, disciplinary, self, and instructional) with respect to specific features (problem type, initiation, evidence, form, and audience). Given this context…

Algebra is no longer just for college-bound students. After a widespread push by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and teachers across the country, algebra is now a required part of most curricula. However, students' standardized test scores are not at the level they should be. NCTM's seventieth yearbook takes a look at the…

This book provides teachers with strategies to engage students actively in learning and focuses on the mathematics and science curricula for the middle and high school years. The strategies selected facilitate connections between the familiar and the unfamiliar. This method promotes learning that students find relevant. The 14 strategies have been…

In 1976, students in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in a multigraded classroom who had evidence low mathematics scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills were selected to work on the Hewlett-Packard mathematics program for 10 minutes each day on a classroom computer. The higher performing students (the upper 55% of the class) were selected as a…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as "The Nation's Report Card," is a congressionally mandated survey of educational achievement of American students in a variety of curriculum areas and of changes in that achievement across time. Part 1 of this report consists of the results of NAEP's 1990 national…

To facilitate cost effective bus schedules, middle school classes begin one hour later than high school classes in the Fort Worth Independent School District, Texas. This study investigated whether middle school students were adversely affected, in terms of grades and classroom performance, by having the class day extended to 4 p.m. High schools…