This article describes a soil-testing activity that enables students to learn some interesting and useful things about how soil behaves under varied conditions. It offers a great way to give them a practical pre-engineering experience and will show them how engineers think about construction and how local soils influence building design. The…

In manufacturing today, nothing is more important than giving a customer a clear and straight-forward accounting of what their money has purchased. Many potentially promising return business orders are lost because of unclear, ambiguous, or improper billing. One of the best ways of resolving cost bargaining conflicts is by providing a…

Much has been written about the use of threat assessment. Schools are encouraged to have threat assessment teams and a threat assessment process as part of a comprehensive safe schools effort. Encouraging and enabling members of the school community to report possible threats in a timely manner is an essential component of an effective threat…

Why isn't talent development included on the Individual Educational Plan of 2E students? Twice exceptional students have unique issues that respond especially well to a talent development approach especially within the context of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model. Through case studies and a review of successful projects using SEM with at risk…

This paper discusses how some of the music projects supported and developed by Community Music Wales have attracted the interest of disaffected young people. In addition, the paper describes how project participants are able to have their learning formally recognized under a national accreditation system, thus gaining access to employment or…

The seminar, organised by Jane Woodin, Gibson Ferguson, Valerie Hobbs and Lesley Walker (School of Modern Languages & Linguistics and School of English, University of Sheffield), aimed to bring together those working in intercultural communication (IC) pedagogy largely--though not exclusively--in the higher education sector. It drew…

The professional literature is filled with criticism of standardized testing, and the belief is that most teachers oppose standardized testing because it forces them to abandon creative lesson plans in exchange for test prep. However, a study of Arkansas teachers found that teachers also have positive views of testing. The teachers reported that…

Today's school librarians are taking the lead with legislative advocacy for education and their efforts are beginning to have an impact on legislation. Advocates for school library programs in the state of Washington made historic legislative in-roads in 2009 with the passage of Substitute House Bill 2261. Arguably, the most important factor in…

This article provides a brief review of generally accepted ideas about creativity, followed by examples of music teachers teaching creatively and teaching their students to be more creative. Implications for teacher education and policy recommendations for music education are discussed.

This article describes the development of the Inquiry Institute, a collaboration of scientists from a science department and science educators from a school of education. The history of the institute and the benefits to students, faculty, and the institution are presented. The institute is responsible for the creation, maintenance, and ongoing…

Various models for funding special education services have been described in the literature. This paper aims at moving the debate concerning special education funding reform beyond the descriptive level by reviewing studies that investigated the impact of various models for funding special education. Systematic searches were conducted of ERIC and…

Reading advocacy is an essential aspect of school librarians' role. Using their knowledge of students, school librarians provide reader's advisory, matching books to individuals based on their interests, aptitudes, and abilities. They know that reading skills are an integral part of academic achievement and work to accelerate this important…

When should people believe in science, especially in scientific explanations of the causes of health, ill or otherwise? One line of argumentation is that scientific evidence based in robust ecological data, supported by previously tested animal or biological models or double-blinded randomized control trials trumps intuition or just plain "common…

The ethical basis of suicide prevention is illustrated by contrasting helpline emergency rescue policies of the Samaritans and the AAS and the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. We contrast moralist, relativist, and libertarian ethical premises and question whether suicide can be rational. Samaritans respect a caller's right to…

The prevalence of chronic hepatitis B (HBV) among college-age US-born Asian and Pacific Islanders (A/PI) is not well known. Objectives: To compare the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity in US-born to A/PI-born students at a public university. Participants: Undergraduate who self-identified themselves as A/PI. Results:…