Schooled in 'Purposeful Fun'

Glasgow, Ky.

Higher test scores and national recognition have met with their share of hoopla at Barren County Middle School. But it is outside the glow of the spotlight that schooling gets really exciting, teachers here say, because on any given day, students can demonstrate with clarity and enthusiasm that they are "getting it."

As when 8th graders hurl their carefully designed boxes—creatively lined with anything from foam to marshmallows to Jell-O to cushion the raw eggs inside—off a school balcony as a test of their scientific calculations.

Or as teams of serious-minded students taste peanut butter, saturate disposable diapers, and put dozens of other everyday products to the test to learn about the scientific method,...