One of the most important educational objectives of high school is to teach critical-thinking skills, and no class does this better than strategic debate. Professor Mike Allen, lead author in a definitive study on debate and critical thinking, lauded debate's promotion of critical-thinking skills. Additionally, researcher Joe Bellon discusses the…

The scope of this article is to discuss the impact of underrepresentation of girls in separate, self-contained special education classes for preschool children in a large school district in the southeastern United States. On a regular basis, preschool girls identified with special needs are being placed in self-contained classes where there they…

The authors introduce the RALLY (Responsive Advocacy for Life and Learning in Youth) approach. RALLY is a school- and afterschool-based approach addressing academic success, youth development, and mental health for youth. Based on developmental and relational principles, RALLY's main goals are to promote students' resiliency, development, and…

This paper reports on the social factors influencing the learning of two cohorts of school students and their experience of compulsory secondary education in a city in southern England - the secondary schooling phase of a 12-year, longitudinal ethnographic study that also tracked the same children's experiences through primary schooling. We embed…

Teaching--and assessing learning--about diversity through service-learning is full of challenges, especially if the learning goals are affective. The teacher has no good way of knowing exactly where the starting point is for each student. The student may only know where the starting point was once he or she has moved beyond it and sees it in…

Educators in all disciplines are increasingly concerned about the disruptive behaviors often displayed by students in the college classroom. In order for physical education teacher education (PETE) candidates to learn effectively and become good educators, such behaviors must be addressed and modified. To do so, educators must first understand the…

Continuation schools were developed to enable students to continue earning a high school diploma while they worked, often full time, to support themselves and their families. Traditionally, continuation schools were home to poor teachers, narrowed curriculum and an unwelcoming culture. Intuitively, students attending today's continuation schools…

This article focuses on the need of meaningful experiences to children's individual differences. The degree to which one can tailor experiences to each child's unique qualities increases the likelihood that the child will grow up physically, intellectually, and emotionally healthy and thus able to meet the expectations of family and society. This…

The Quality Education Commission (QEC) was established to make recommendations about New Jersey's educational needs in the year 2000 and beyond, study the Quality Education Act, provide opportunity for public input, and advise the governor on further action to take. The lack of clear student performance goals and accurate assessment tools,…

In his book, "Inventions: Writing, Textuality, and Understanding," Gerald L. Bruns interprets the hermeneutics of Hans Georg Gadamer. Hermeneutics is the art of interpretation. One principle of hermeneutics is that understanding always proceeds from an initializing moment of confusion, strangeness, darkness, or concealment. Concealment's…

Both marginality and moving between cultures are concepts which need to be discussed in college classes. While America and the rest of the world are becoming more multicultural through marriage, immigration, sojourn, etc., little is being done to prepare students to interact effectively with other cultures. In Milton Bennett's (1986, 1993)…

This digest argues that whole language theorists and adult education theorists have much in common, much to say to one another, and much to learn from one another. The digest first defines and discusses "whole language," then defines and discusses "andragogy," (the learning of adults) and finally asks educators to recognize…

Radio theater production has been a component of secondary and post-secondary education since the late 1920s. Since the reduction in radio theater in the 1950s, such courses have been used to prepare students for other fields--television, film, etc. Radio theater production can be approached in two ways: classic production and modern production.…

The first reading assignment one educator gives his first-year composition students helps answer their questions about what college work will be like. For this reason, he gives them Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" to read, a book which shows that the late 20th century is undergoing a vast epistemological shift, moving from…

Young children have little difficulty in creating imaginary worlds inhabited by fantastic creatures. Their play often reaches into the realm of make-believe whereby they improvise situations. Playing shop, mother and father, or doctor are examples of children's ability to try out adult roles and behaviors in a safe context. At school, it seems…