Zoos have been under attack by animal rights groups for decades. Despite significant reforms to improve animal welfare in accredited zoos and aquariums across North America, and significant participation in animal conservation efforts globally, these attacks persist. If zoos are to continue long-term, they need to establish themselves as community…

There is considerable evidence suggesting that students in rural schools lag behind their city counterparts in measures of science literacy and attitude to science learning. If we are to address this situation we need to build as full a picture as we can of the key features of what is a complex and varied rural schooling context. In this article…

A national movement is underway to establish elementary school gardens, which can serve both academic and social purposes. These gardens can positively impact students' science achievement and provide the thematic and hands-on approach especially conducive to learning for students with disabilities. Garden-based learning (GBL) broadens the scope…

The departments of Geology and Education at Brooklyn College collaborated with five informal educational institutions in the development of a place-based graduate program for Earth science teachers. The team used "backward design" to develop a program of courses that are thematically structured and use a city-as-lab approach that places…

Establishing relevant applications for the science curriculum can be a challenge. However, the key that opens science for students is within a teacher's grasp: It is as simple as bringing science connections into his or her classroom through community resources and taking the students to the science that is available. The author encourages…

In this article the authors explore a language and literacy community mapping project carried out by public school teachers in southern California. They chronicle the knowledge produced by teachers about the depth and diversity of language and literacy resources present in the neighborhoods surrounding their various urban school sites. (Contains 6…

Gardens are complex and require a variety of skills. Gross- and fine-motor activities, science concepts, language and literacy development, math, and community involvement are all part of the preschool gardening project the authors describe. They list gardening books for children and suggest container gardens for urban school settings. The authors…

Space travel, even low Earth orbit, is probably several years away for most of us; however, students and teachers can research the edge of space by participating in the BalloonSat program. BalloonSat is an offshoot of the Space Grant Consortium's very successful RocketSat program. The Arkansas BalloonSat program consists of teacher-initiated…

Offers suggestions for science teaching related to the following community resources: butcher shops, bakeries, grocery stores, dairies, drugstores, music shops, health professionals, construction trades, weather forecasts, zoos, pet shops, farms and ranches, rocks and minerals, and others. (SK)

Students discover science resources in their neighborhood that help them see the relevance and long-term applications of concepts learned in the classroom. Students explore people, objects, and geographic resources beginning in the school and extending out into the community. (MDH)

In 2001, the Australian Government released a report, commissioned by the then Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, entitled "The Status and Quality of Teaching and Learning of Science in Australian Schools" (Goodrum, Hackling, & Rennie, 2001). Its recommendations included actions to address raising community…

The purpose of this document is to provide background to the text and recommended actions of the Australian School Science Education National Action Plan, 2007-2012. The first part presents a synthesis of the national and international research used to identify gaps and overlaps amongst activities related to school science education in …

Service learning projects were incorporated into the curriculum of an undergraduate course entitled "Biology of Women". The goals of the service learning projects were: 1) to provide students with the opportunity to consider issues pertaining to human biology in real-world settings; 2) to foster student engagement with the community; and…

Science teacher Don Wertz and social studies teacher Larry Taulman grew up in Johnson County and lived next to Edinburg and Camp Atterbury when it was in operation. What became known as "The Atterbury Files" began when these two teachers started gathering information for a field trip to the old army base that had been active when they were…