Using colored construction paper, students trace around their shoes and cut out two forms. Students then pick and research an event from the time period in history under study and write a report on the representations of shoe soles. The reports are taped, in order of occurrence, around the classroom. (RM)

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…

A sixth grade teacher discusses how she enhanced student writing and thinking skills by having them collaborate on a class monster story. The article describes how they created the story. A copy of the story is included. (SM)

A teacher of sixth grade social studies classes describes how he implemented the core practices of the Foxfire approach, including student ownership, problem solving, and decision making; connections to the community; small-group teamwork; the teacher as facilitator and collaborator; and ongoing reflection and group self-evaluation. (SV)

Describes a project in which students write their own notes, postcards, and invitations from storybook characters to other book characters. (SR)

Educational psychologists and researchers attest to the importance of play in learning, but studies indicate that children are playing less, and often less effectively, justifying the need for play within the school curriculum. The area of language arts is a natural place for imaginative play. One elementary school project incorporated playing,…

Describes imaginative ways to teach "A Wizard of Earthsea," a fantasy novel by Ursula LeGuin, with teaching time limited to one hour a week for six weeks. (HOD)

Describes the theoretical premises of project-based instruction and its features. Presents a model of collaboration between teachers and university faculty designed to support teachers in attempts to enact project-based instruction. Describes the teachers in the initial collaboration, the science projects they enacted, and the methods used to…

Examines one teacher's attempts to understand and enact a nonprescriptive, nonlinear project-based approach to science instruction. Details the challenges the teacher faced in enacting two projects and some of the dilemmas she faced as some of her previous beliefs about teaching and learning came into conflict with her emerging understanding of…

Four case studies demonstrate how middle grade teachers addressed the challenges and dilemmas of enacting project-based science in their classrooms. Notes that the teachers attempted to enact several common features of project-based science, including student collaboration and ownership and the use of technology. Also notes that teachers'…

Draws conclusions regarding how five teachers learned to enact project-based science, a method grounded in constructivist theory. Describes how the teacher-researcher collaborative activities unfolded, based on a model of teacher change that focused on cycles of collaboration, enactment, and reflection and how these activities contributed to a…

A Catholic-school teacher of grades five and six reflects on her first year of teaching and describes how Foxfire training led her to introduce group decision making and planning into her classroom. Resulting class projects including a newspaper, a play, and a booklet of ghost stories are described. (SV)

A fifth grade teacher in a rural Kentucky school discusses three years of classroom experiences applying the Foxfire approach, focuses on the democratic decision-making process and the importance of student self-esteem, describes student-project problems and successes, and lists student accomplishments. (SV)

More than 50 starter ideas for social studies projects and units for the primary and intermediate grades are presented. These help develop children's skills in social studies, reading, handwriting, and language arts, and stir their interest in local history and government. Activities can be used for new projects or to enrich ongoing ones. (PP)

Prepared for content area teachers whose students evidence reading problems, this workbook is designed to aid in identifying and evaluating the skills students need within a discipline and in constructing reading exercises to improve these skills. An introduction discusses types of reading instruction, the reading process, the role of the content…