The burning of fossil fuels is triggering changes to the global climate that will have catastrophic environmental, economic and social consequences. The magnitude of the problem, and the deep challenges associated with confronting it, can seem overwhelming. There are, however, practical actions that academic staff and their associations can engage…

This article presents the Pilgrimage Model as a template for educators wishing to lead students on site-specific studies of engaged learning. During the 2015-2016 academic year, a group of Georgetown University students, faculty, and staff pursued the Pilgrimage Project, a year-long pedagogical experiment in interdisciplinary education and…

As solar energy becomes increasingly affordable, many schools are considering installing new solar power systems. In this article, the authors present Solarize Your School, an engineering project that gives students the opportunity to design and evaluate solar power solutions for their own schools. This STEM project requires students to learn and…

Middle school students need relevant, meaningful contexts to apply emerging mathematical ideas. In this project, through the context of an architecture investigation, seventh-grade students engaged in mathematics involving area, surface area, volume, ratios and proportional thinking, number sense, and technology integration. Students, working in…

In response to the February 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, President Donald Trump established the Federal Commission on School Safety to review safety practices and make meaningful and actionable recommendations of best practices to keep students safe. The Commission conducted field visits,…

Tuesday, 22 February was the second day of the University of Canterbury (UC) in Christchurch, New Zealand 2011 academic year and the author was preparing lectures for Accounting Theory (ACCT311) in his sixth-floor office of the Commerce building when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck. Although no university buildings collapsed, it soon became…

Madison Elementary School, a K-6 school of 335 students in Marshfield, Wisconsin, recognizes the value of student feedback and strives to learn more through monthly student meetings, whole-class sit-downs, and student exit interviews. As the principal of Madison Elementary School, the author meets with a group of students for half an hour during…

This research examines the experiences of elementary and early childhood pre-service teachers from the U.S. engaged in a month long study abroad internship program in England. Using data from participants written journals, we use a hermeneutic approach to interrogate their evolving sense of professional development and their understanding of…

The field trip is probably one of the most common out-of-classroom learning experiences students encounter. Teachers provide these experiences for a variety of reasons including motivation, exposure, and even as a reward, especially after weeks of standardized testing. Although teachers may report that a primary reason for including the field trip…

In 2004, "Learning Reconsidered" urged educators to think more holistically about student learning and development. "Learning Initiatives in the Residential Setting" provides a framework for putting this call into action at large universities and small colleges alike. Chapters trace the history of learning in residence halls, discuss academic and…

Various names, such as teacher's home, manse, teacherage, attic apartment, "Lean-to" and dominage are applied to the district--owned buildings or to rooms in the schoolhouse that provide living quarters for teachers. There various titles convey no differences in meaning. All serve the same general purpose, to describe a comfortable…

In a foreword to this document, David Mathews, president of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, describes in what ways effective communities are different from ineffective ones. Following an introduction, a section on school use suggests that most schools offer nothing to adults without children, so it should be no surprise that many adults are…

A sick school building has indoor air problems that pose health risks for everyone inside. The paper discusses what makes a school sick and what interested parties can do about it by targeting the problem together, making classroom changes, and making schoolwide changes. Resources for further information are included. (SM)

School change is inevitable. As a human institution, schools are in a constant state of transformation, and individual teachers adapt or provide the impetus for that transformation all the time. The question, then, is not whether there will be change, but what change there will be--a question complicated by the fact that change means different…

Some of the issues surrounding the indoor air quality (IAQ) problems presented by science labs are discussed. Described are possible contaminants in labs, such as chemicals and biological organisms, and ways to lessen accidents arising from these sources are suggested. Some of the factors contributing to comfort, such as temperature levels, are…