A first time attender at the annual conference of the "National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology" (NITOP, 2014), Castro was impressed with how throughout, discussions were vivid and innovative; talks were warm and interactive, handouts and other resources were diverse and abundant, with all materials very well adjusted to various…

Shares a sampling of the core educational principles of the late French educator Celestin Freinet, who emphasized active learning in a democratic setting in order for the democratic way of life to survive and flourish. Discusses respect for the child's integrity, bringing real life into the curriculum, motivation through meaningful work, and…

This article discusses the importance of thinking about and identifying what one wants in a school--and deciding whether or not these are realistic expectations. One might want to consider the core values that attracts one to Montessori, and observe, when visiting a school, to see how these are expressed in the school day. The author points out…

Author Lyn Lesch advocates that learning cannot be measured by empirical results like testing and grading. As the founder of Chicago's The Children's School, Lesch didn't give grades or submit students to standardized testing. Such conditions may seem blasphemous to most educators, but the results spoke for themselves. Without the high-stakes…

One of a series of articles on principles of good practice in legal education, this article focuses on the importance of encouraging active learning. Considers why active learning is important, identifies barriers to active learning, and suggests some active learning methods in legal education, including Socratic dialog, discussion, writing,…

Expeditionary learning creates a learning environment in which teachers and students together take a journey into an area with many unknowns for the purpose of promoting self-discovery. Of the 10 principles of expeditionary learning, 7 closely match the practices of Outward Bound. As Outward Bound staff designed an inservice program on…

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…

In fall 1966, Eliot Wigginton took his first teaching job in Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, a semiprivate rural Georgia high school with both local and boarding students. This book is his account of his early struggle to control and interest his students, the genesis and development of the student-produced Foxfire publications, and his views on the…

Research on how the brain works has resulted in wider-scale adoption of the principles of problem-based learning (PBL) in many areas of education, including technology education. The PBL approach is attractive to curriculum developers because it is based on interdisciplinary learning, results in multiple outcomes, is integrated and…