The People Learning Urban Science (PLUS) program creates partnerships and coordinates efforts involving a local zoo, university, and school district, seeking to instill within students a sense of the natural environment. Even though the majority of students live among concrete and metal structures, their eyes and ears can be trained to make…

When teachers, parents, and community members work together, children benefit (Henderson and Mapp 2002). This is especially true when the collaboration is coordinated and focused as it was for the Greenteam, a science ecology club and an event created by a network of educators, elementary students, and science professionals. The club and a…

When it comes to STEM education, the nation's K-12 public schools cannot do it all. The nature of 21st century proficiency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is too complex for any single institution. The good news is that schools do not have to do it alone. Museums, zoos, nature centers, aquariums, and planetariums are among the…

Describes field trips and related activities in which nearby institutions, local celebrities, and distinctive aspects of community life are employed to enrich the Schools Reaching Out project at the David A. Ellis School in Roxbury (MA). (DM)

Children from the 145-student Ets Chiyim School in Montgomery Village, Md., were not visiting Washington's National Zoo, a 35-minute drive away. Rather, they walked through the fluorescent-lit, merchandise-laden aisles of a local Petco, a San Diego, Calif.-based pet-store chain with 690 locations nationwide. Ets Chiyim is one of a growing number…

Activities to develop career and personal awareness are an important aspect of curriculum development as shown by one class of fourth graders. The students became aware of career opportunities and learned observation and interviewing skills through field experience by a visit to a recycling plant. (CC)

Old Sturbridge in central Massachusetts, a recreated New England Village of the period 1790-1840, is a museum of the past which includes a learning center with reproductions of artifacts used in the period, with demonstration areas, and a teacher center where resource materials for class use are available. (MF)

Describes a San Francisco, California, science museum whose design is based on the exploration of perception. The museum is arranged in sections on patterns, light color, eye logic, third dimension, sound, hearing, electricity, and the tactile gallery. Programs include teacher training, student learning experience, field trips and study projects,…

At all stages of educational growth the individual must be aided in an understanding of his strengths and weakness, his aptitudes, abilities, interests, and needs as they relate to occupational choice. The project report suggests that certain broad areas of information be made available at three levels in the elementary schools: (1) K-1-2, (2)…

Materials and suggestions are provided for inservice activities to help elementary and secondary school teachers use community resources to enhance classroom experiences. Section I contains reprints of two articles promoting teacher involvement with community resources. This section also lists objectives and the rationale for using community…

Based on the practical training experience of sixteen school districts and two universities which comprise the Wisconsin Career Education Consortium, this report presents training strategies for a variety of community-school collaboration efforts. Eleven training strategies are presented: (1) providing an in-school visitation day for business…