Undergraduate sociology students at Rust College, Mississippi, an historically black college, have been given the opportunity to connect with the lives of others in institutional settings, thus making a generational connection between the college and a local nursing home. During the 1995-96 academic year, students in three sociology courses…

"Volunteers Teaching Children" describes the Volunteer-led Investigations in Neighborhood Ecology, or VINE Programs, established by Denver Audubon Society members as an urban education project, and how that model has been adapted to draw on the human and financial resources available in other cities. VINE Programs give children…

In order to address concerns about the intellectual quality of students' work under various "active learning" formats appearing in education reform efforts, this study developed a model of authentic pedagogy and assessed its presence in 23 restructured schools. The proposed authentic pedagogy is consistent with an active learning perspective and…

Research has shown that elementary teachers are mathematics anxious, and that this anxiousness can be transmitted to their students. Therefore, many students are not afforded the opportunity to participate in a comfortable mathematics environment. Preservice elementary teachers (n=63) reported their pre- and posttest mathematics anxiety using the…

These proceedings comprise descriptions of approximately 120 workshops and presentations. Entries range from short workshop descriptions to full-length papers. Topics cover various bases, applications, and outcomes of experiential learning techniques, including community-based experiences for at-risk secondary students, using the Internet,…

This paper reports the results of a deliberate effort to help preservice science teachers improve their ability to learn from experience and take charge of their own professional development as teachers. The study was conducted by a teacher educator who simultaneously taught a physics methods course and a 12th-grade physics class and thereby…

The Defense Activity for Nontraditional Education Support (DANTES) Program is a testing service conducted by the Educational Testing Service for DANTES, an agency of the Department of Defense. DANTES' mission is to help service members obtain credit for knowledge and skills acquired through non-traditional educational experiences. Since World War…

This paper presents findings from a study that explored students' perceptions of cooperative learning strategies used in educational administration classes. Specifically, the study sought to determine whether students perceived the strategies to be more effective than traditional methods in increasing their knowledge and retention and in improving…

This book addresses the need for integrating students' formal academic experiences with their informal out-of-class life in their residence halls. Organized in three parts, Part 1 focuses on the role of residence halls in educating students. Part 2 describes a variety of initiatives for promoting student learning in college residence halls. Part 3…

Ways that both cultural differences and learning styles affect a child's ability to learn and use language are discussed and applied to the situation faced by Native American students. Cultural differences are cited as holding the answer to questions about the Native American student's lack of success on standardized tests and in the American…

Beginning in the mid-1960s, thousands of small alternative schools sprang up across the United States and Canada. These schools varied widely in programs and policies, but common factors among them were a disenchantment with conventional schooling, a desire to reform education, and (frequently) the belief that schools should be controlled by the…

This atmospheric studies teacher's guide for use with middle school students blends lessons in chemistry, physics, and the life, earth, and space sciences in an attempt to accomplish the following: to nurture students' natural curiosity and excitement about science, mathematics, and technology; to encourage career exploration in science,…

Several trends are significantly affecting the early childhood education field, with the major accomplishment of crystallizing the scope of early childhood education as birth through 8 years of age. These trends and innovations include the following: (1) restructuring early childhood education programs, by introducing formal schooling,…

Unlike units and themes in the early childhood and primary curriculum, projects are defined as children's in-depth investigations of various topics--ideally, topics worthy of the children's time and energy. As increasing numbers of teachers and school districts incorporate project work into their curriculum, questions have been raised about what…

Work-based learning (WBL) differs from work experiences gained in regular youth jobs because WBL is intentionally structured to promote learning by linking work with school. Five main purposes of WBL have been identified: enhancing students' motivation and academic achievement; increasing personal and social competence related to work in general;…