This article showcases STEM as an interdisciplinary field in which the disciplines strengthen and support each other (not as separate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines). The authors focus on an open-ended, complex problem--water quality--as the primary teaching and learning task. The participants, middle school female…

Dialogue with stakeholders has been recognized as an effective educational strategy for addressing complex topics such as climate change. We report here on the Carbon, Energy, and Climate fishbowl discussion series developed by Michigan State University Extension to assist the state's agricultural community in understanding and adapting to the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of knowledge transfer partnership (KTP)as a means for universities to generate and exchange knowledge to foster sustainable cities and societies. Design/methodology/approach: This paper reports on a series of separate yet interrelated KTPs between a university and the local authority in the…

The University of Southern Maine (USM) designed and implemented an internal Research Cluster Seed Fund competition with the goals of building USM faculty expertise to address industry and community needs, deepening the impact of research through an interdisciplinary approach to solving problems, and leveraging external funding to sustain…

Community-Based Research (CBR) has been recognized as a significant reform agent within graduate education. This article explores the decisions involved in implementing a CBR model into graduate education programs. It uses the doctoral program in educational leadership at the University of Hartford as an example of how CBR can be employed to…

This article presents three cases of community-engaged, or "public," scholarship across diverse disciplines (social science, natural science, and health science) in which the rigid boundaries of what has been conceived as traditional service-learning have been blurred. The innovations represented within these cases explicitly address…

There is strong evidence that all students can gain significant learning benefit when their courses include opportunities for engagement with real-world problems, beyond the walls of their higher education institution (HEI). Internationally, cross-disciplinary discussions are increasing around the value of student learning that involves community…

For six years the Food Security Research Network at Lakehead University, Canada, has been engaged in an interdisciplinary theme-based service-learning initiative focusing on food security. Informed by complexity theory, the contextual fluidity partnership model brings community partners, students, and faculty into a nexus through which new…

In "History and Imagination," elementary school social studies teachers will learn how to help their students break down the walls of their schools, more personally engage with history, and define democratic citizenship. By collaborating together in meaningful investigations into the past and reenacting history, students will become…

The purpose of this article is to share results of an exploratory qualitative research study designed to shed light on experiences of an interdisciplinary group of elementary school staff and graduate students in a school-based services project. A researcher conducted 20 interviews with staff and graduate students who represented the fields of…

This article provides a description of the birth of The Odyssey Initiative. As teachers, this group of three, all educators, knew that there was outrage about the state of education in America. Griping about our nation's schools has almost become a pastime, and with very good reason. However, they found the solutions being offered to save our…

The Vermont Department of Education defines a Career Academy as a small learning community that serves a full range of students; that entails a college preparatory curriculum developed in the context of a career cluster; that integrates academic and technical instruction with work-based learning; that involves partnerships with employers, the…

Take Pride in America (TPIA) is a national campaign and partnership between public and private organizations and individuals who are committed to: (1) increasing awareness of the importance of the wise use of our natural and cultural resources; (2) encouraging an attitude of stewardship and responsibility toward our public and private resources;…

Describes the five main urban studies centers in London (England). Recommends that more urban studies centers should be established with secure funding, that urban study centers should act as school and community resources, and that different agencies should join forces to provide funds for a network of urban studies centers. (TW)

This paper describes an innovative interdisciplinary course offered at the University of New Orleans (Louisiana) which involved community members as full-fledged partners with students and university faculty in service-learning-by-doing teams. Each student, with the assistance of a faculty member and a community partner, identified an opportunity…