Guided by sociocultural perspectives on the importance of place as a resource for learning, we investigated 14- and 15-year old students' understandings of their community and water quality during a school-based watershed unit. Methods included a theory-driven thematic analysis of field notes and video transcripts from four biology classrooms, a…

Advocates sending news reporting students off campus and into the community to expand their horizons, interests, courage, and possibilities. Describes the use of such experiential learning in a broadcast reporting class, where students left the cameras at home as they experienced the police or social services sector, and wrote an in-depth story…

American research universities are renowned for applying cutting-edge science to the improvement of the world's health and environmental systems. Indeed, as a society, people have come to expect this type of intellectual leadership from their great universities. Less appreciated is the robust opportunity for state and local governments to harness…

Adults should be involved in the community problem-solving process which is educational and therefore involves the adult educator as a process expert. Author then considers the extent of the educator's involvement. (MF)

Describes a college-level course in psychology in which students study community issues and problems. Outlines how students work in community program internships and participate in individual and group research projects. Includes course objectives, recommended instructional resources, and evaluation strategies. (CFR)

ISSUES, an intermediate-grade social studies program, actively involves 2,000 Kansas City students of their urban communities. Psychological and sociological perspectives on urban problems stress helping children to better understand social realities, their peers, and themselves. The students spend approximately half of their social studies time…

Service-learning is a teaching method that engages young people in community problem-solving as part of their education, both in school and out-of-school settings. Service-learning has the potential to be a powerful experiential education practices because it not only fosters effective learning, also prepares the next generation for democratic…

Suggestions for starting or improving youth participation projects are presented for staffs in a broad range of agencies--Red Cross, YMCA/YWCA, Boy and Girl Scouts, alternative community-based programs, and government agencies dealing with youth. Two central concerns are greater involvement of young people already in contact with youth-serving…

The manual is addressed to nutrition and health educators interested in trying out new participatory ways of working at the community level and describes simple techniques to train field staff to approach local communities more sensitively and involve them more fully in achieving better health. Techniques and materials are all experiential and…

A 13-day workshop was conducted in Nigeria to train 60 community development workers in the educational use of popular theater for community-based adult education. Key goals were conscientization (a gradual learning process in which people look critically at their social situation to gain deeper understanding of the root causes of their problems)…

A Spanish version of a manual on workshops for training nutrition and health field educators to approach communities more sensitively emphasizes techniques for involving community members in efforts to achieve better health and nutrition. Experiential workshop materials and techniques have been field-tested in several countries, including…

Student Action Teams (SATs) were established in 20 Victoria, Australia, secondary schools in 1999, with 11 of those schools continuing with their teams in 2000. The Student Action Teams are comprised of groups of students who identify a school or community issue, research it, make plans and proposals about it, and take action on it. Such…