The maker education movement is growing in the United States. In order for this movement to gain widespread acceptance it is critical that students' learning goals and progress towards those goals are clearly visible to all stakeholders. Given that traditional assessment methods may not be best suited for measuring some of the higher order skills…

There is a widely held belief in e-learning circles that pedagogy must come before technology. In this paper it is argued that, not only is that not true, but that it is a weak distinction as pedagogies, insofar as they represent a set of techniques and tools for learning, are as much technologies as the computers, forums, virtual classrooms and…

Two decades ago academics based at the University of Arizona brought the anthropological concept of Funds of Knowledge into the educational realm, providing a new conceptual framework to counter deficit theorizing of Latino students and their families. The growing body of literature evidences the belief and hope of academics in the potential of…

Place-based education seeks to connect learners to local environments through a variety of strategies that increase environmental awareness and connectedness to particular parts of the world. The concept of place meanings encompasses the subjective ways people construct meaning through their experiences with an array of settings. Place meanings…

Background/Context: In June 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to prohibit student assignment on the basis of race. In Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (hereafter referred to as PICS), the court deemed race-based strategies used to voluntarily desegregate school districts to be unconstitutional. Although the…

There are over two dozen schools in the United States with the word "museum" in their names. However, the philosophy and pedagogy that tie these schools together is unclear. A consistent definition, criteria for classification, and a unifying curriculum to guide museum- schools is lacking. Yet, museum-schools continue to open across the country.…

This article reviews contemporary definitions of training in adult education literature with a focus on the narrowing of what is generally considered and not considered to be training today. The article then provides a number of historical and contemporary examples of training within the radical tradition. It argues that in the radical tradition,…

In this article, an example of translation of the English term "learning outcome" into the Lithuanian system of educational terms is used to discuss semantic peculiarities of translating professional terms. Consistency of a concept signifier and content of a concept, as well as their tune with already existing systems of educational…

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…

This digest examines the definitions of outdoor, experiential, and environmental education and clarifies the boundaries and essential elements of each tradition. Early in its history, outdoor education was influenced by advocates of camping education and nature study. Today outdoor education includes outdoor experiences designed to meet objectives…

Several definitions of education are reviewed and the intentions of the educators who proposed them are viewed in historical perspective. Various educational objectives and philosophies are explored. (JN)

Open online courses (OOC) with a massive number of students have represented an important development for online education in the past years. A course on artificial intelligence, CS221, at the University of Stanford was offered in the fall of 2011 free and online which attracted 160,000 registered students. It was one of three offered as an…

Defining equity within the context of a diverse, multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural society, and one where social class strongly influences one's life chances is problematic. This chapter reexamines equity in an attempt to advance the discourse beyond the debate about strategies to close the achievement gap between White…

The history of liberal education in the United States is a reflection of U.S. History. Among the influences on its existence and development are the needs of the church and of science, the rise of specialization, changing campus life-styles, and the need to correct and build on secondary education. (MSE)

Documents produced for three separate conferences that were convened to discuss the aims and methods of English instruction in the past century demonstrate the pedagogical shift from a "formal" concept of literacy to a more functional one. An 1896 conference at Harvard University reviewed secondary school and college English instruction during the…