This practical book outlines how you can challenge students to grapple with complex problems and engage more meaningfully with information across the content areas, rather than rely solely on rote memorization and standardized testing to measure academic success. Author John Barell shares vignettes from effective middle and high school teachers around the country, analyzes what works and what doesn’t when encouraging students to dig deeper, and offers practical strategies that you can try in your own classroom.

Teachers as Argonauts of Change -- Curricular Framework for Authentic Learning and Assessment -- Developing Abstract Reasoning -- Directing Goals Toward Achievement -- Enhancing Inquiry : The Essence of Life -- Modeling : How We All Learn -- Nurturing Imaginative Behavior -- Any Citizen Can Make a Change -- Playgrounds of the Mind -- Critical Thinking about Social Issues -- Reasoning About Nature -- Independent Study -- Rude Awakening for Professional Development -- Final Words.