A lot does depend on the teacher (actually, most of the push-ins have involved the gt teacher plus 2 other classroom teachers.) the latest unit involved teams of students, travelling on ships, through different periods in history. They were given a lump sum of money and charged with buying commodities, selling, trading, keeping track of their milage, which products were going to rise in value, the geography of the ports and travels, etc. Each kid had a job, or role, and it was pretty complex- dd still doesnt know how her team did, but she had a great time being the team navigator, and really got a lot out of it. (as she put it, loads better than typical boring social studies. :))
OT but fwiw Cricket, one of my friend's 4th grade teacher in the regular classroom does this project every year - and all the kids LOVE it!!! I think part of the equation in any classroom is that an interested passionate teacher who thinks creatively spurs kids on to show their own best abilities, regardless of their innate ability level.
polarbear (now going back to read the actual article!)
