An alternative school in southern Oregon that allows students to make up missing credits offers project-based thematic classes that take students outside the school. One course studied the Klamath Basin's water crisis and involved exploring the area and the perspectives of farmers, biologists, park rangers, and Native Americans. Courses culminate…

Examines why a sixth-grade teacher in a Waldorf classroom selected the particular forms of representation for the lessons in a thematic unit. States that the teacher represented the lessons in ways that would bring about experiences, feelings, and imagination (such as story telling, visual arts, and singing.) (CMK)

Discusses ways in which faculty professional development can be altered in order to accommodate a changing economy, new technology, and an increasingly diverse student body at the community college. States that a quality faculty professional development program will build a world of faculty learners prepared to lead and guide the world of student…

A month-long residential program for adolescents in Michigan teaches arts and sciences through active learning workshops in an experiential, cooperative camp environment. Appreciation for diversity, supporting the developmental needs of adolescents, and building a sense of community are prime foci of the program. These are accomplished through…

Because new information-age learning models incorporate experiential education theories and practices, integration of information technology is an opportunity to integrate experiential methods. Scenarios are presented for integrating technology into experiential curricula. Problems include cost, training, lack of quality software, and…

Graduates of Sudbury Valley School (Framingham, Massachusetts) relate their learning experiences, including the positive relationships they developed with adults, their active role in school administration, the importance of play to their learning, the values they acquired as a result of their schooling, and how their experiences prepared them for…

Explains that an organic curriculum embraces a social studies curriculum that is supported by multidisciplinary social science methods and is grounded in the students' real-world experiences. Maintains that this organic social studies methodology is a means for implementing the thematic strands of the National Council for the Social Studies…

Examines the framework for library bibliographic instruction, analyzes current information literacy initiatives, and reviews efforts of the library at Rollins College (Florida) in promoting active learning and critical thinking skills through partnerships with classroom faculty and professionals of information technology and services, including…

This article presents a model of an effective unit of study in which music played a vital role. The unit of study was created and implemented in a New York City middle school, and students examined an African American community in the borough of Brooklyn. The unit enabled students to explore the history, heritage, and culture of a local community…

A team of researchers used a collaborative assessment protocol to compare the self-reported teaching beliefs of a convenience sample of preschool teachers (N = 57) to their documentable practices (i.e., practices that could be observed, recorded, and categorized using a deductive strategy). Data were examined from survey instruments, detailed…

Involving students in inquiry-based exercises is much more difficult than simply providing activities for them to do in the classroom. While active learning suggests students are physically participating in the lesson, inquiry learning requires that they are also mentally participating in it. Academic theorists agree it is more the mental…

This study explores three teachers' perceptions and developments as a result of experiencing learning and teaching in a knowledge-building community (KBC). To understand the teachers' views, in-depth interviews were conducted. The transcripts were coded using a grounded theory approach. The findings indicate that KBC is reportedly viewed by the…

An understanding of the hormonal basis of normal growth and development, including the changes occurring at puberty, is important foundation knowledge for contemporary medical practice in most fields of medicine. A quiz, testing the important physiological concepts of growth and puberty, was designed using the format of the well-known television…

A significant body of research suggests that wide differences in concept and vocabulary knowledge exacerbate the achievement gap among students, especially in schools with large numbers of children of poverty. Educators sometimes attribute this difference to the Matthew effect: the sad reality that having a well-developed vocabulary allows a…

This paper describes how information and communication technology (ICT) is used in the modular Open University course "T209 Information and Communication Technologies: People and Interactions", first presented in 2002. In this course ICT is used to provide students with practical experience and to support an active and collaborative approach to…