Including youth in the evaluation process can enhance the quality of the inquiry and be empowering for the participants, but it is not without challenges. In this article, several principles for youth-involved research and evaluation are outlined. These come from those who are pioneering this approach and from current research on the dilemmas of…

This book presents a fresh view of action research as a methodology uniquely suited to researching the processes of innovation and change. Drawing on twenty-five years' experience of leading or facilitating action research projects, Bridget Somekh argues that action research can be a powerful systematic intervention, which goes beyond describing,…

Asserts that, although research can be a powerful resource in guiding and fueling grass-roots social change, the community-based research enterprise often is contentious. Recommends collaborative research studies in which the researchers and practitioners work together from the project's inception. (CFR)

Discusses the utopian philosophy and related educational practices of the early 19th-century communitarian settlement in New Harmony, Indiana. The settlement failed after several years, due in no small part to the falling out between its two main supporters, Robert Owen and William Maclure. (MJP)

Discusses the development and implementation of a simulation game for a sixth-grade class that used the structure of Thornton Wilder's play, "Our Town," to examine the geographical issues involved in community planning. The land development issue discussed was based on a real-life local concern. (MJP)

Examines a community psychology course that stresses community empowerment, the myth of neutrality and objectivity in community psychology, and democratic accountability to the community. The course includes a brief history of race, class, and gender oppression in South Africa and concludes with a unit on converting social theory into practice.…

In fiscal year (FY) 1985 the Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) was engaged in 24 major activities that responded to the rural problems of the region and supported the community development efforts of 29 land-grant universities in 13 southern states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The work of the SRDC Business Management Network…

In this paper, two major schools of thought regarding disaster and disaster assistance are identified and examined in order to bring to light their underlying assumptions about assistance and development in the Third World. The first section discusses the context of the problem, citing figures and presenting charts to illustrate the scope and…

Describes a long-term, Arizona field project that allows students to collect and analyze regional economic data and to apply theoretical techniques and applications. Discusses the history and evolution of the project that generally involves a series of economic base surveys and reports on small rural communities. (MJP)

Examines six elementary social studies textbook series for the absence or presence of multicultural perspectives. Identifies Houghton Mifflin and Macmillan as opposite ends of the spectrum. Houghton Mifflin displayed a global-humanistic perspective while Macmillan favored a nationalistic, exclusionary approach. Includes examples from both. (MJP)

Observes the changes in public education that occurred along the Wisconsin frontier. As the territory progressed, education changed from a winter-term only enterprise lead by male farmer/teachers to a full term lead by professionally trained women teachers. Identifies professionalization as the greatest influence on the feminization of teaching.…

Recounts a little known episode of World War II: the imprisonment of 28,000 anti-Nazi Jewish refugees in Great Britain. Explores how the refugees created a rich cultural and educational life out of these circumstances. They ran internment camp education programs, put on theatrical shows, and published a camp newspaper. (MJP)

Identifies major problems and concerns to be addressed at the upcoming Habitat II conference in Istanbul, Turkey. Details a number of recent significant developments, all of them related to emerging patterns of economic productivity, demographic concentration, and environmental pollution. Proposes a dual-definition of "habitat" as both…

Profiles the English Midlands city of Leicester, an industrial center with a growing immigrant and minority population. Discusses the city government's response to problems concerning jobs, housing, and a racist backlash. The outlook is optimistic as the minority citizens assume new roles in the social and economic community. (MJP)

The 48 papers in this proceedings focus on aspects of non-formal adult education including international comparative adult education. The papers are: "Lifelong Learning in Perspective" (Knox); "Women in their Thirties: The In-Between Generation" (Caffarella, Freeman); "Development in Women: An Analysis of the…