For generations, schools have aimed to introduce students to a broad range of topics through curriculum that ensure that they will at least have some acquaintance with most areas of human knowledge by the time they graduate. Yet such broad knowledge can't help but be somewhat superficial--and, as Kieran Egan argues, it omits a crucial aspect of…

From Parker Palmer, best-selling author of "The Courage to Teach", and Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics at Amherst College and director of the academic program of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, comes this call to revisit the roots and reclaim the vision of higher education. "The Heart of Higher Education" proposes an approach to…

The widely cited, though highly contested, idea that "the world is flat" (Friedman, 2004) carries with it a call for education to provide a leveling effect across continents and cultures Students in Skokie or in Skopje, as the theory goes, are expected to experience a school curriculum that shares certain common elements, goals, and…

Place- and community-based education--an approach to teaching and learning that starts with the local--addresses two critical gaps in the experience of many children now growing up in the United States: contact with the natural world and contact with community. It offers a way to extend young people's attention beyond the classroom to the world as…

As the title of this book suggests, how one understands, perceives and experiences democracy may have a significant effect on how he/she actually engages in, and with, democracy. Within the educational context, this is a key concern, and forms the basis of the research presented in this volume within a critical, comparative analysis. The Global…

This book first discusses the need for teaching thinking. Each of its eight chapters is devoted to a different approach to teaching thinking in our schools. In the discussion of each, key questions are considered and summarized, concerning assumptions, goals, methods and materials, the target audience, teacher qualifications, benefits, and special…

This book examines the philosophical issues, possible variations, and implementation of voucher plans of educational choice. The voucher system proposed here (the Quality Choice Model) is based on the assumption that a voucher system can ensure the equal provision of educational resources to children regardless of residential mobility or ability…

Five case studies illustrate "good practice" in integrating handicapped secondary students. The articles focus on programs in Italy, the U.S., England, and Norway. Papers on the Scuola Di Rienzo on Rome and the Drayton School in Oxfordshire, England describe lower secondary schools. The Rome program was once a special school for…

This book presents the basic ideas, motives, and goals of the Montessori Method of early childhood education and provides information for people interested in teaching in Montessori schools. Four main sections are included: (1) a discussion of the philosophical roots of the Mntessori Method and descriptions of the practical, day-to-day, operations…

This book presents a description of the origins, difficulties, achievements, and contemporary applications of the Montessori method. (CS)

Philosophy for Children, a program incorporating teaching methods of inquiry among groups of students and designed to introduce students to philosophy through texts designed to generate discussion, has grown enormously since its inception in the late 1960s. Experimental research on the program's impact has demonstrated significant gains in…

Focusing on adult education in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), this book is part of the series on adult education in Europe. The first of three sections, The System of Adult Education in the GDR, describes (1) the historical background particularly since World War II and the development of the socialist state; (2) the social determinants…

The monograph presents a series of essays written by well known educators sharing their perceptions, problems, and projects and documenting some of the practical, philosophical, situational, and theoretical aspects of career education. The essays include: The Case for Career Education, by Kenneth B. Hoyt; Basic Constructs of the School-Based…

This book describes and reports on a new approach to higher education that is experiential and democratic. The approach uses discussion and interaction, laboratory work and field learning, community involvement and service, democratic citizenship and skills training, and student-initiated participatory learning in courses, projects, and clinical…

The major purpose of this book is to describe the basis, features, and future of the whole language movement. Topics included in the book include: (1) a description of what is known about language and language development; (2) presentation of a whole language perspective on literacy development, involving both reading and writing; (3) presentation…