A major emphasis in technology education is learning the practices of designers-making informed decisions, trading off achievement of criteria against each other, working in a team, communicating ideas and results, and so on. How can one help students learn such ill-defined and open-ended skills? There have been a variety of suggestions made by…

A thematic and hands-on approach to learning ensures that students develop a deeper understanding and retain information longer. Bouillion and Gomez (2001) argue that real-world problems and school-community partnerships help engage students to connect with school science. When there is a disconnect between the activities of school science and…

Thirty-nine participants aged over 40 and 16 participants aged under 40, from a medical organization and a transport organization, were interviewed to obtain data regarding their conceptions of work and learning at work amid changing workplace practices. A phenomenographic approach was adopted to analyse the data. Frequency distributions of…

We make the case for an emergent notion of authenticity of science based on systems theory and neo-Piagetian thought. We propose that authentic science is an emergent property of a dynamic system of learning precipitated by the interactions among students, teachers, and scientists that occur within the contexts defined by the internal and external…

Teacher educators routinely encounter middle grades teachers who like to include more environmental literacy in their curricula. These educators of children in grades four through nine believe that it might be considered "fluff," take away from the class time needed to meet varying state mandates or standards, be difficult to implement, or all of…

In this article, the author features the "Clearwater," a full-size working replica of a 19th century Hudson River cargo sloop. The "Clearwater" has been serving New York state students as a link to both local history and the environment, helping them to learn lessons about the history of the Hudson River and the environment,…

Policymakers sometimes view arts education and experiential learning as distractions from the goal of enabling all students to master rigorous content standards. The three school programs described in this article, however, demonstrate that content standards can be integrated into engaging, motivating curriculums based on the arts and authentic…

Many school literacy practices ignore adolescents' new digitally mediated subjectivity as it has been shaped by the new media age. Youth possess often unappreciated repertories of practice which allow them to use their imagination and creativity to combine print, visual and digital modes in combinations that can be applied to new educational,…

From the assumption that matching a student's learning style with the learning method best suited for the student, it follows that developing courses that correlate learning method with learning style would be more successful for students. Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute (TVI) in New Mexico has attempted to provide students with more…

This publication presents changes and modifications for 2006-2007 to the "International Rules for Precollege Science Research: Guidelines for Science and Engineering Fairs." It is written to guide fair directors, teachers, scientists, parents, and adult volunteers as they pursue their work of encouraging students to explore and investigate their…

In this article, the authors present hands-on activities and demonstrations using readily available materials that help students learn how to prevent soil erosion. With this series of active-learning exercises, the students will be able to practice scientific inquiry while learning about soil as a valuable resource. After demonstrations on the…

James L. Oblinger, Chancellor of North Carolina State University, argues that higher education must continually evolve new methods of teaching and learning to support students' lifelong skills and impending careers. Part of ensuring students' success lies in finding alternative learning models, such as the Student-Centered Activities for Large…

This author, superintendent of Winnetka Public Schools (a K-8 district in the northern suburbs of Chicago), shares a board president's perspective that may help shed some light on one of the superintendent's most challenging jobs: successfully working with a board of education. Why is it so challenging? Certainly because in the current culture of…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explore if reflective inquiry and action learning have an influence on job and organizational effectiveness. A reflective-action learning framework will be used as a prior theory to illustrate its link to organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach: The case organization is a Singapore higher learning…

Purpose: With the increased importance of training in organizations, creating important and meaningful programs are critical to an organization and its members. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a four-phase systematic approach to designing and evaluating training programs that promotes collaboration between organizational leaders, trainers,…