Trauma is just a word. It doesn't have to be a life sentence, argue education experts Kristin Souers and Pete Hall. They also explain what a "culture of safety" is in schools and how educators can create one for students living with trauma.

Drawing on their research in creating the Vibrant School Scale, Megan Tschannen-Moran and Davis Clement describe the three characteristics of vibrant schools: enlivened minds, emboldened voices, and playful learning. The authors also detail a four-step, strengths-based process called appreciative inquiry that can help school members have…

When faced with students who have learning skills, styles, and backgrounds very different from their own, teachers can promote academic rigor by engaging in reality pedagogy. This approach proposes seven strategies, or Cs: Cogenerative dialogues (in which teachers solicit feedback from a dissimilar group of students); coteaching (in which students…

An analysis of 50 years of research reveals that direct influences such as classroom management affect student learning more than indirect influences such as policies. Findings based on standardized tests and essay examinations showed student aptitude as the most influential variable, followed by classroom instruction and climate, context, program…

Discusses connections between Madeline Hunter's elements of effective teaching and current brain research. Hunter's emphasis on setting the stage for learning fits precisely with research on the brain's attentional mechanisms. Other Hunter elements, including level of concern (challenge), task analysis, procedural memory, and prior learning, are…

Most teachers can respond to differences in student learning styles. Eighteen elements of learning style, categorized as environmental, emotional, sociological, and physical are described. (Author/MLF)

When children feel threatened by environmental factors (abuse, poverty, malnourishment, family violence, or the traditional schooling system), they downshift their thinking and limit their behavior choices. To think critically, children must feel safe to take risks. They learn best when immersed in complex experiences and when allowed to process…

In seeking to nurture the human spirit while improving intellectual ability and performance, holistic learning tries to provide a broader vision of education and human development. This process is assisted by three key elements: balance, inclusion, and connection. Balance is needed among transmission, transaction, and transformational learning…

Teachers in an elementary school decide not to match students with teachers. Instead, the teachers learn a variety of styles. (Author)

Describes the Three Dimensional Project", a program which has been established in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, to utilize the community as a learning laboratory and to expand and redefine the classroom. (Author/DR)

In "The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization" (1990), Peter Senge shows how educators can achieve meaningful change and transform schools into self-renewing learning organizations. Organizations must develop five disciplines: personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems…

As state legislators, school boards, and the public at large become more receptive, home-schoolers are gaining access to more resources, including those at public schools. Researchers disagree over home schooling's effects on academic achievement and social development. Home schooling could be an important resource for studying how children learn…

Describes Chicago magnet school's use of seminar discussion and classroom dialogue to nurture students' active engagement in the learning process. Draws on experience at a public magnet school in Chicago with a student population that is largely poor and minority. (Contains 10 references.) (PKP)

The ultimate learning environment is the Internet itself. Digital media are helping educators and students shift from linear to hypermedia learning; from instruction to construction and discovery; from teacher- to learner-centered education; from absorbing to synthesizing material; and from school-time to customized lifelong learning. (MLH)