Background: Teaching games for understanding (TGfU) has stimulated so much attention, research and debate since the 1980s that it is easy for its origins to become refracted and misunderstood. For example, in a recent edition of the "Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy" journal there was paper arguing a constraints-led approach (CLA)…

This paper takes a descriptive look at Community Science Workshops (CSWs). This paper discusses what CSW is, how it arose and spread, how local CSWs are structured and led, and what programs and experiences they offer to youth. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

In providing options for reading learning experiences (such as discovery spots) concentration should be on (1) opportunities for frequent teacher-student contacts, (2) grouping flexibility, (3) opportunities for group planning by teachers jointly responsible for reading program development. (MB)

The people at Inverness Research Associates spent 12 years studying Community Science Workshops (CSW) in California and in six other states. They gathered statistics on the scale, scope, and cost-efficiency of CSW services to youth. They observed youth at work in the shops--taking apart computers, repairing bikes, growing plants, and so on--and…

This study reports findings from a content analysis of the activities and tasks of a school-based problem-solving team. Analyses of observational data collected over the course of five months found that team tasks and activities fell into the following five clusters: (1) needs identification, program development, and planning; (2) intrateam…

Seeks to pin-point an assumption that underlies a great deal of current educational theory. The assumption is that knowledge is an indivisible whole, that distinctions made between different school subjects are thus arbitrary, and that one learning strategy--that of "discovery"--exists, trainable upon any enquiries and universally applicable once…

One effective way of integrating the real world of winter into classroom learning is to plan a web or non-linear approach to unit development. In a practical example involving two grade five classes, students and their teacher investigate ideas on ways and topics to study winter. (Author/RK)

Fourth-graders in Oklahoma City used the Internet to find an expert to identify a 75-pound Pleistocene-Era mammoth femur they found in a nearby river. A superintendent explains how his technologically backward district wired its schools for Internet learning and facilitated genuine instructional improvement. (MLH)

MATCH boxes (Materials and Activities for Teachers and Children) were developed by the Children's Museum in Boston. They are presently distributed by the American Science and Engineering Company. The MATCH box concept consists of a collection of multi-media activities packaged in kit form to be used by elementary school teachers and children. The…

Experiential education as a teaching strategy differs from traditional classroom learning largely because the sequence of events in the process is reversed. In experiential education the learner first carrys out an action, sees the results, and from this basis generates concepts and principles. By first understanding the basic components of the…

This paper examines implementation of two innovations in first-year science: mixed-ability grouping and guided-discovery methods. Interviews with 24 teachers indicated that they interpreted and implemented the innovations so that their conventional teaching methods were minimally changed. The paper concludes with recommendations for effective…

Prepared for use with the Research for Better Schools experience-based career education model, this handbook is designed to assist school personnel to formulate concrete and flexible responses to the challenges of developing exploration programs in collaboration with personnel from community resource sites. The handbook is divided into five…

Proposes replacing the term child-centered with child-sensitive to indicate more accurately the major role of teachers in determining the curriculum and activities offered to young children. In contrast to the laissez-faire, child-indulgent approach of many child-centered programs, a child sensitive approach would encourage teachers to capitalize…

Expeditionary learning creates a learning environment in which teachers and students together take a journey into an area with many unknowns for the purpose of promoting self-discovery. Of the 10 principles of expeditionary learning, 7 closely match the practices of Outward Bound. As Outward Bound staff designed an inservice program on…