Narrative case studies have shown that, when people are involved in an evaluation of a program they are part of, it can change how they experience the program. This study used a quasi-experiment to test this proposition empirically in the context a participatory action research curriculum called Youth as Researchers. Half of all Youth as…

Children's multiple interests intersect with their participation in informal learning practices in dynamic ways. Using a theoretical framework illustrating interest as a multifaceted construct that has different forms and a range of scope and durability, this study investigates how children's situational interests and individual interests are…

The study presented in this manuscript features data-informed UR programmatic revisions aimed at improving the student researcher and faculty mentor experience at Albion College. Previous research findings in which we studied the Student Research Partners (SRP) program at Albion College revealed that SRP was not serving as a research pipeline to…

Facility design and the planning steps within this process are part of continued discourse among school design professionals and school officials. Historically, schools often mirrored architectural designs of a time-period or as a response to economic trends. The discourse has evolved over time, and recently, there has been an increasing focus on…

Community participation is essential to overall health and well-being. However, research on the community participation experiences and preferences of autistic adults is lacking. Results from a large, mid-Atlantic statewide needs assessment survey found that a number of activities that include social interactions or are focused on meeting daily…

Whereas most articles in this special issue demonstrate careful and close-up views of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in a performing arts or humanities discipline, my approach is opposite; I look in on music teaching and learning to interrogate current conceptions of SoTL. I begin with Sloboda's cognitive explanation of music…

We examined children's task engagement during a challenging puzzle task in the presence of their primary caregivers by using a representative sample of rural children from six high-poverty counties across two states. Weighted longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to identify a task engagement factor…

Background: Childhood obesity increases health risk, and modest physical activity can impact that risk. Schools have an opportunity to help children become more active. Purpose: This study implemented a program offering extra school-day activity opportunities in a rural school district where 37% of students were obese or overweight in 2005 and…

This case study examines how The Clay Studio, a ceramic-arts studio, gallery and shop in Philadelphia, attracted younger audiences to its workshops and exhibits. In 2007, the studio became concerned that its audience was getting older and few newcomers were signing up for classes or making purchases. The studio had to engage younger professionals…

This article puts forth the reflections and questions of three artists at People's Light and Theatre (Resident Teaching Artist Sara Waxman, Resident Director Samantha Bellomo, and Producer for Arts Discovery Programs, Wendy Bable) in their ongoing dialogue on the intersection of media, young artists, and theatre-making in the Teen Summerstage…

One in three children in this country is overweight or obese. One in five children lives in food-insecure households that struggle to put food on the table. Both problems affect millions of children. Both can occur in the same child at the same time. Both are linked to poor academic performance, behavior problems, and high rates of school…

Many proponents of private school choice take for granted that schools won't participate if government asks too much of them, especially if it demands that they be publicly accountable for student achievement. Were such school refusals to be widespread, the programs themselves could not serve many kids. But is this assumption justified? A new…

This article explores the role of play in an art museum. Reflecting upon a kindergarten field trip to the Warhol Museum in which children's play was the centerpiece of the museum experience, the author examines what early childhood theorists have written about the value of play in young children's lives. She shows how the Warhol's program for…

This issue of "Bank Street Occasional Papers" explores the value of time outside of school. Educators have given relatively little scholarly attention to young people's nonschool lives. Ignored or valorized, nonschool spaces show up in educational research only as a backdrop, implying that school learning is the yardstick by which to…

In October 2010, WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) won an i3 "Validation" grant to scale up and validate the Reading Apprenticeship (RA) model in three core secondary content area classes: U.S. history, biology, and English language arts. SLI's proposal stated two goals. Goal 1: To transform academic literacy teaching and…