Offering fresh alternatives to common instructional practices that fail to get results, this accessible, highly practical guide highlights ways to motivate middle school students while enhancing content-area learning. Each chapter features an enlightening case study of a teacher whose current strategies are not supported by research; describes effective instructional alternatives, illustrated with concrete examples; and lists online resources and lesson examples. Emphasis is given to supporting critical engagement with texts and drawing on technology and new literacies. The book covers specific content areas—including science, social studies, math, and literature—as well as ways to teach oral literacy and writing across the curriculum.

This book presents a framework for decision making, provides an overview of the curriculum decision-making process, and contains detailed information on a variety of science curricula and curriculum resources.

STEM Labs for Middle Grades offers activities that challenge students to apply scientific inquiry, content knowledge, and technological design to solve real-world problems. An excellent addition to your curriculum, this supplement will help cultivate students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. Mark Twain Media Publishing Company specializes in providing engaging supplemental books and decorative resources to complement middle- and upper-grade classrooms. Designed by leading educators, this product line covers a range of subjects including math, science, language arts, social studies, history, government, fine arts, and character.

Teaching Science in Elementary and Middle School offers in-depth information about the fundamental features of project-based science and strategies for implementing the approach. In project-based science classrooms students investigate, use technology, develop artifacts, collaborate, and make products to show what they have learned. Paralleling what scientists do, project-based science represents the essence of inquiry and the nature of science. Because project-based science is a method aligned with what is known about how to help all children learn science, it not only helps students learn science more thoroughly and deeply, it also helps them experience the joy of doing science. Project-based science embodies the principles in A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards. Blending principles of learning and motivation with practical teaching ideas, this text shows how project-based learning is related to ideas in the Framework and provides concrete strategies for meeting its goals. Features include long-term, interdisciplinary, student-centered lessons; scenarios; learning activities, and "Connecting to Framework for K–12 Science Education" textboxes. More concise than previous editions, the Fourth Edition offers a wealth of supplementary material on a new Companion Website, including many videos showing a teacher and class in a project environment.

Young teens undergo multiple changes that seem to set them apart from other students. But do middle schools actually meet their special needs? The authors describe some of the challenges and offer ways to tackle them, such as reassessing the organization of grades K-12; specifically assisting the students most in need; finding ways to prevent disciplinary problems; and helping parents understand how they can help their children learn at home.