In this online version of the International Reading Association's Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, authors Umesh Thakkar, Bertram C. Bruce, Maureen Hogan, and Jo Williamson look at a cross-curriculum innovation in which students engage in reading, writing, problem solving, interacting with simulations and databases, and performing various hands-on activities.

In this online version of the International Reading Association's Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, authors Umesh Thakkar, Bertram C. Bruce, Maureen Hogan, and Jo Williamson look at a cross-curriculum innovation in which students engage in reading, writing, problem solving, interacting with simulations and databases, and performing various hands-on activities. A seemingly narrow focus on chicken eggs leads students to explore a broad array of questions in embryology, evolution, agriculture, economics, mathematics, and literature. The project provides students with the opportunity to participate in many of the new literacies. At the same time, teachers learn new skills as they use these same tools and participate with other teachers in a community of inquiry. Additionally, the project gives insights as to how curriculum innovations can be implemented and sustained, and the authors address the following curriculum considerations: What aspects of curriculum can be scaled up? How can curriculum continue beyond the initial excitement? And finally, what are the benefits and costs in creating a comprehensive learning environment? (author/bebrown)

This site, easily used by career-technical teachers and students, includes a focus on technology. Of special interest and use in the career-tech classroom is the extensive online inquiry-based lesson on chickens.

This site, easily used by career-technical teachers and students, includes a focus on technology. Of special interest and use in the career-tech classroom is the extensive online inquiry-based lesson on chickens. The complete lesson accessed under the subheading, "What is Chickscope?" involves students using computers in the classroom. The lesson can be adapted to use as part of the whole lesson, and it can be easily modified to fit into a teacher's time constraints. Agriculture and Environmental Systems, Education and Training, Engineering and Science Technologies, Health Science, and General Career Skills teachers will find this site especially helpful since students study chicken embryo development using a variety of educational resources such as inquiry-based curriculum materials, interactive modules on egg mathematics, image processing, and a remote controlled magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instrument. The project, an educational innovation of the World Wide Laboratory (WWL) was initiated by the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and remains innovative in that using a standard Web browser, researchers in any location and at any time can access the latest scientific instruments without having to travel to a remote site or invest in the hardware. Accordingly, the Web becomes a laboratory—a WWL—for long-distance, interactive imaging, and scientific experimentation, explored here through the Chickscope lesson. (author/ebm)