Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) is a new field, but it has a long history, since children have always learned from adults and demonstrated their competence by observation of their work or by the quality of their products or services. Later, formal learning became more valuable and recognized school credentials paved the way to…

This report contains suggestions on how adults can secure college credit for past education and life experience. According to the report, there are eight categories of life experience that can be worth credit: work; homemaking; volunteer work; noncredit learning; travel; recreational activities and hobbies; reading, viewing, and listening; and…

This paper reports on the work of Ransom A. Mackie, a scholar and instructor in Massachusetts under the mentorship of G. Stanley Hall, the prominent adolescent psychologist. Mackie published a book in 1920 which, along with further writings, outlines a cooperative learning strategy. Performance-based education and authentic assessment proponents…

This idea book comes from projects undertaken by American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) chapters and state and local retired teachers associations around the United States. The projects described range from simple acts performed by one volunteer to elaborate schemes funded by corporations, from involvement in existing programs to the…

This book provides an overview of an evolving orientation to the facilitation of growth and learning that can be summarized as "challenge education." Challenge education is a complex synthesis of a variety of therapeutic, educational, recreational, rehabilitative, and enrichment strategies. Chapter 1 outlines the historical roots of challenge…

Dynamic classroom role-playing for junior and senior high school classes in literature and acting is an essential ingredient in cultivating characterization and interpretation if a student is to learn the technical skills of performance. Although no simple classroom performance blueprint exists for predicting the degree of success a student…

This guide was designed, in form and content, with adults in mind, but anyone can use it to study Vermont history as a living subject that includes, affects, and involves everyone. The guide aims to stimulate historical awareness, develop readers' interest in the past and the present, and make them aware of their interaction in the processes of…

This paper defines and explains action learning and suggests some ideas and resources for putting action learning into practice. The paper is organized in eight sections of about one page each. The sections cover the following topics: (1) what action learning is; (2) how action learning works; (3) action learning and training--key differences; (4)…

A Senate subcommittee hearing received testimony concerning a proposed amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to permit Amish youth, ages 14-18, to work under adult supervision in sawmills. Current Department of Labor regulations ban the employment of minors in sawmill operations. This poses a problem for Amish youth who finish their…

This handbook was designed to lead students step-by-step through the planning process for conducting a community project and, thereby, help them learn project-planning skills. The guide is organized in six sections. The first section, "Preliminary Thinking," includes topics such as motivation ("What's in it for me?"), sample projects, personal…

This volume brings award-winning literature to all areas of the science curriculum. The lesson plan format includes the four stages of engagement, elaboration, exploration, and connection. Each story is followed by activities that make connections between literature, science, and the arts. Chapters include: (1) "Frog Went A-Courtin',"…

This proceedings contains conference papers and abstracts of papers concerned with research into the processes and outcomes of outdoor and adventure education. Following a preface, "What Have We Been Doing?" (Anderson B. Young), the papers are: (1) "Components of the Outdoor Trip: What Really Happens?" (Alan Ewert, Jim…

This activity is designed to build creative skills based on an everyday problem. The scenario that sometimes packages are dropped and letters get bent is used. How can a special delivery be protected from such unfortunate mishaps? Students use their creative skills to determine a way to mail raw spaghetti. A way to safely package the raw spaghetti…

In this activity, students investigate the accuracy of sundials and the discrepancy that lies between "real time" and "clock time". The position of the sun is tracked over the course of a relatively short period of time as students make a shadow plot, a horizontal sundial, and a diptych sundial. This activity requires…

Executive Link is a group of farm businesses that meet for regular nonformal education and training in several chapters in eastern Australia. Each chapter consists of a number of boards, each made up of around six member farm businesses. The boards provide management advice to their members, who are free to accept or reject that advice. A study of…