This anthology is a compilation of 46 articles on the foundations of experiential education, previously published in the "Journal of Experiential Education." Section I covers philosophical foundations of experiential education, definitions, objectives, influences of John Dewey and Kurt Hahn, and the role of spirituality in the wilderness adventure…

The process of school-empowerment ultimately may be intellectual: an awareness and understanding by schools as unique collective learning communities that new school structures, roles, and relationships are necessary in the first place. First, preliminary results from field studies of schools undergoing restructuring are used to show that school…

This paper describes the theoretical framework that underlies the Teachers as Decision Maker Program (TADMP) at Indiana University and the development of a conceptual framework of seven teacher perspectives. The four components of the theoretical framework guiding both TADMP research and the program itself are pedagogical schemata, professional…

A study evaluated shared learning in educational programs preparing students for employment as nurses, midwives, and health visitor teachers in the United Kingdom. Data were collected from the following: descriptive survey of 17 centers preparing teachers in nursing/midwifery/health visiting (response rate, 12 centers); interviews with course…

As part of a graduate research course, nine students formed a research team to carry out all aspects of a multimethod research study, including design, data collection and analysis, interpretation, and presentation of results in a final evaluation report to a local school corporation. Benefits and challenges were noted by both the instructor and…

Glasser's Control Theory deals with self-motivation by explaining all behavior as the drive for satisfaction of five internal needs: to survive and reproduce, to belong and love, to gain power, to be free, and to have fun. The theory posits that individuals always choose to do what is most satisfying at any given time. This paper discusses the…

Teachers rely on mental planning throughout the design, implementation, and evaluation phases of instruction. This paper focuses on the elementary school teacher's use of instructional design (ID) skills in the planning and delivery of instruction, emphasizing the relative and "real" use of ID practices in both mental and written…

This chapter examines questions about the nature of experiential learning and how the experiential process can be applied in the classroom. Experiential learning may be viewed as a continuum that ranges from passive students receiving transmitted knowledge to active students deeply involved in generating knowledge from their own experiences. The…

A practicum was designed to improve the literacy instruction of first-grade students by increasing the first grade teachers' and reading specialists' understandings of current research and theory. A graduate-level 3-hour course was developed and adopted by a local state university to assist teachers in understanding and utilizing the most current…

This book describes the ASSET (Accreditation for Social Services Experience and Training) Program, a British program which addresses the need for effective education and development of social workers and a model variant of ASSET used to train engineers. The work draws on three different traditions: the principles of National Vocational…

A constructivist practitioner's masters program in professional development (PDMA) was designed and piloted at the University of Northern Iowa. The program provides an option for pursuing a master's in education structured upon the following constructivism-focused framework of components: (1) the program is designed for experienced educators, and…

This report describes the Educational Testing Service professional development/assessment system for student and beginning teachers, "Pathwise," a classroom observation instrument, as used in the California Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program (BTSA) for teacher education. Three themes were noted by "Pathwise" users…

This paper describes a study in which one specific form of follow-up, the action plan, was used to assess the effectiveness of a teachers' course with 15 German teachers of English and offers an evaluation of the plan's potential as a program evaluation instrument. The course was taught for 20, 1.5 hour sessions, in the mornings; afternoons were…

This book takes up the question of what shape high school English studies should take in the coming years. It describes an English program that blends philosophical depth with classroom practicality. Drawing examples from commonly taught texts such as "Macbeth,""To Kill a Mockingbird," and "Lord of the Flies," the…

There are more than 100 democracies in the world today. All but three of them--Great Britain, Israel, and New Zealand --have written constitutions. This digest examines the importance of constitutions and constitutionalism and the teaching of these concepts through the use of comparisons. The primary objectives of civic education for democratic…