Environmental education for all students is becoming more urgent as societies strive to deal with challenges such as climate change and loss of biodiversity. Teachers have an important role to play in defining the environmental knowledge, beliefs, and actions of the next generation. Understanding the anthropogenic inputs responsible for alteration…

Objectives: Previous research that revealed a high prevalence of low health literacy among immigrants and refugees tended to over emphasise functional health literacy as a risk factor for low health status and poor disease management. Despite a significant knowledge gap, little has been investigated regarding critical health literacy (CHL) in…

Community change approaches have increasingly involved participatory practices in which community members directly impacted by an issue participate in implementing change efforts. However, community participation as a practice and approach does not always include youth participation. Within the field of youth organizing, young people are…

Purpose: This study aims to present Dramatic Problem Solving Facilitation Model (DPSFM) and Interactive Management (IM) as innovative alternative dispute resolution approaches that incorporate communication technologies in recording and analyzing data. DPSFM utilizes performance-based actions with facilitation methods to help participants design…

At the 2006 National Association of Gifted Children Conference, a panel presentation addressed the importance of providing gifted children with opportunities to take positive social action through service-learning; this article is a result of that discussion. The Future Problem Solving Program (among others) has a community problem-solving…

Intended to help Future Farmers of America (FFA) members develop skills in improving their communities under the Building Our American Community Program, this publication provides guidance on how FFA chapter members can be active citizens and use democratic processes. Section I, Identifying and Analyzing Communities, consists of four chapters.…

This article examines some of the reasons why community workers get involved with neighborhood information centers, and shows how unrealistic expectations of these workers can limit and disguise the achievements of these centers. (SK)

This case study of one city's efforts to cope with homelessness centers around a conceptual model of consensus as a continuous process the nature of which is determined by the methods used to achieve consensus; the importance of maintaining consensus to the participants; the baseline consensus as interaction begins; and the political and public…

The Consortium for Area Planning and Development was established in 1967 to implement the basic purposes of Title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965. The Consortium's first seminar was held in May 1968 and was attended by 25 project leaders, local and state government officials, technical consultants, and representatives of various institutions…

Compiled in this final report is a review of a Title I Education Project related to community environmental education. As originally proposed, the program sought to bring together in a series of symposia community leaders in the areas of education, agriculture, industry, business and government from 17 counties in southeastern Nebraska. To…

The Center for Citizenship Education offers schools a plan for educating for action in the community. Such a program involves a nonpartisan, interdisciplinary approach to defining group values, learning about social change, and developing problem-solving skills. (SK)

Community development practitioners in rural areas need to develop strategies for coping with rural dependence on core organizations such as multinational corporations and national governments. Rural communities should discuss issues, join forces with other communities, interact with core actors, and find ways to be more self-reliant. (SK)

This handbook is a practical guide that can be used by an individual, group, or group leader in planning an active role in community development. Major topics covered are organizing the group; purpose and structure of your organization; how to identify the problem; planning an active program to solve a community problem; planning a large meeting…

Action Research begins by identifying goals as perceived in the community; input is sought in neighborhood hearings or by running a series in the local newspaper and inviting response. Once a research group is organized, Action Research continues as a five-stage flexible study plan for practitioner improvement involving turning goals into…