Discusses possible causes of violent behaviors in adolescents, especially psychiatric disorders, and two promising approaches to addressing this behavior: Multisystemic Treatment, involving multiple and active interventions, and a psychological paradigm for analyzing school environments. (PKP)

Describes characteristics of invitational learning: Affirmation, Contribution, Purpose, Power, and Challenge. Explains how teachers can extend learning invitations to students. (PKP)

Question/Answer session with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, D.J. and C.S. Davidson Professor of Psychology at the Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University, and author of "Becoming Adult: How Teenagers Prepare for the World of Work." Covers such topics such as student engagement, challenge, and flow experience. (PKP)

Interviews with inner-city adolescents about school-reform efforts and the qualities of a good teacher. Students identify six qualities of good teachers: Push students, maintain order, willing to help, explain until everyone understands, vary classroom activities, and try to understand students. (PKP)

Describes the use of "essential moral questions and provocative propositions" to frame the design of curriculum units. Provides example from high school U.S. History course. (PKP)

Describes place-based education, a curricular approach that encourages students to engage in solving local problems, stimulates a desire to learn, and helps students connect to their community. (PKP)

Describes what motivates skateboarders to master their sport. Elements include the need to feel competent, to belong, to feel useful, to feel potent, and to feel optimistic. Argues that that teachers can use same motivation elements to improve the learning performance of alienated students. (PKP)

Describes student-involved classroom evaluation, a technique for assessing learning that involves effective teacher feedback and student self-evaluation. (Contains 12 references.) (PKP)

Describes Chicago magnet school's use of seminar discussion and classroom dialogue to nurture students' active engagement in the learning process. Draws on experience at a public magnet school in Chicago with a student population that is largely poor and minority. (Contains 10 references.) (PKP)

Relates stories about the benefits of project-based learning. Describes engaging students through projects, motivating hard-to-reach students, and challenges for teachers. Includes list of common features of project-based learning. (PKP)

Describes how 40 middle-school students and 2 teachers design a curriculum integration program centered on student-generated learning, characterized by strong student-to-student and student-to-teacher relationships. Covers choosing the students, setting the stage, and determining what to study. Provides examples of student-developed themes. (PKP)

Describes examples of how several students achieved their own learning connections across an integrated curriculum. Describes the use of a card-sort activity to help students construct their own connections. Suggests that student-constructed connections offer better learning opportunities for some students than teacher-constructed connections.…

Interviews with students at an alternative high school for at-risk students in Estes Park, Colorado, reveal their attitudes toward learning, the instructional program, and the learning environment. Finds, for example, that students value teachers who care and hands-on learning experiences. (PKP)

Provides two examples of the use of the guided-experience approach to teach the U.S. Civil War to eighth-grade students and a life-science unit to third-graders. Describes four key competencies teachers must master to successfully use this approach: Develop community, use materials creatively, question effectively, and master the subject. (PKP)

Describes the educational benefits of a school museum. Topics include developing a focus, learning to convey the message, using authentic resources, and telling complex stories. Briefly describes how to start a school museum project, including relevant websites. (PKP)