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;…

This guide is intended to help parents and practitioners utilize natural settings to meet the developmental and health-related needs of infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities. The mission statement of the Connecticut Birth to Three System is summarized and the term "natural settings" is elaborated on. Federal…

These four quarterly newsletter issues address various topics of interest to teachers of young children. Each issue focuses on a theme and includes an article on that theme, along with regular columns. The Fall 1997 issue focuses on kindergartners as inquirers and on using a negotiated curriculum in the early childhood setting. The vice…

This book provides a powerful and clear picture of some of the outstanding programs designed and implemented in the United States to provide young adolescents with rich, meaningful, and powerful learning activities with community service. The book is comprised of two parts with 18 essays and an introduction. The essays reflect a range of…

This paper describes the way two university instructors encouraged students to perceive and understand the influence of their personal environment. The classes, an undergraduate course and a graduate course in education, focused on the integration of art and science disciplines as students reflected on their experience of their environment. A…

Nontraditional education credits can be earned in many ways. Some methods of assessing learning for credit are objective, such as standardized texts; others are more objective, such as a review of life experiences. Options for earning a high school diploma without spending 4 years in a classroom are as follows: General Educational Development…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of interactive learning strategies in the form of visually-based, real-time computer simulations on inductive learning by adults in physical science. The subjects were 160 upperclass undergraduate students who were enrolled in an introductory computer education class. The computer based…

An instructional activity is educational only when students understand its meaning and apply their understanding to future situations. Outdoor educators seek to improve teaching and learning through direct experience but, if such experiences are to be meaningful and applied to life situations, teachers must help students learn from carefully…

The Technological Baccalaureate (TechBac) is a new award that aims to achieve parity of status between academic and vocational qualifications in England. It is designed primarily to be awarded to people aged 18-19. The number of British students who stay in full-time education at 16 is lamentably below figures for other advanced countries. In…

This paper calls for the use of experience-based teacher education and staff development to foster strong school communities. The authors discuss an evaluation of the Experiential Curricula Project at Stanford University, an innovative course sequence for prospective teachers. They focus in particular on the program's ability to foster community…

A teacher was hired to conduct onsite training and to document the process of training first-line supervisors in a food-processing plant to improve product output and control product shortage through computers. The method of instruction was the responsibility of both the teacher and the learners, as the teacher learned plant jargon and the…

This paper describes the incorporation of a "making" activity as part of a course for education majors at Queen's Faculty of Education of the University of Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada). The course was an introductory one in which students explored the methods and merits of outdoor and experiential education. Each student was given a…