An epidemic of disengagement in American high schools is faced as institutions fail to offer meaningful and relevant ways to connect curriculum with students' emerging life stories. These students do not see how schooling, as it is presently constituted, is important to their own developing identities. One solution to this problem is to organize…

Universal Design for Instruction (UDI) allows educators to provide accessible education on the basis of individual learner needs. This article describes strategies for applying principles of UDI to rehabilitation education as well as an overview of its history and philosophy. Illustrative examples as well as supportive literature germane to the…

During a fieldstudy of children's gardens in the United States in 2005, the author became aware that possibilities for providing learning experiences in children's gardens are bountiful and different styles are emerging. Anecdotally this appears to be a contested area with some within the discipline favoring a narrower definition of children's…

This report discusses increasing demands on teachers' time, particularly with more students with disabilities in regular education classes, and describes how teachers can use strategies, routines, and support systems to empower students to become more independent and more responsible for their own learning and study. The five underlying principles…

This document is intended to provide Minnesota educators a means of systematically viewing Environmental Education (EE) programs within their schools or districts, and provide a tool for integrating EE into all courses and programs in accordance with the State Board Curriculum Rule 3500.1075. The material is divided into four chapters, followed by…

This bulletin discusses the aspects of curriculum development that relate to environmental education. The first of five sections establishes the need for curriculum development that addresses the emotional, cultural, and sociological factors that influence the curriculum framework in view of the need for educational reform. The second section…

Efforts by a writing specialist at the University of Maine at Presque Isle to implement a learning center there were based on methodologies adapted from Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." In keeping with Freire's call and decoding stages, the specialist began meeting with the necessary personnel to create guidelines and split…

In the literature of feminist pedagogy, four interconnected strands emerge: (1) horizontal, rather than vertical classroom structure; (2) inclusion of the subjective, not just the objective; (3) the importance of context; and (4) a need to overcome the oppression that females face. Each of these strands is discussed in this paper, and connections…

A new perspective on the practical problems of changing secondary schools to enhance learning is called "the Copernican Plan" because its implementation would change the schools as completely as Copernicus's ideas changed the perception of our solar system. The plan proposes major restructuring of virtually all the basic systems within a…

This monograph is intended for use by vocational teachers, state supervisors, administrators, and curriculum developers as a resource guide in the development of sound curriculum for vocational programs in Arizona. It examines learning theories and principles and, where applicable, applies these ideas to vocational education. Chapter 1 introduces…

Computers can provide four kinds of help to practicing writers: (1) data storage and retrieval, (2) computer-assisted instruction and text feedback, (3) utility or word processing programs, and (4) telecommunications capability. Writing teachers must incorporate certain values into the planning of computer applications in the writing curriculum.…

Drawing on the author's long personal involvement in several interpersonal communication movements, this paper defines and defends sensitivity training and experiential learning. After examining some philosophical and ethical themes and theories of education, the paper recounts some difficulties of fitting alternative modes of education into the…

The old saying, that a single spark can start a prairie fire, appears in many forms and in different cultures carrying a range of shifting implications and meanings. In this article, William Ayers writes that in some instances, prairie fires are not always catastrophic. They are naturally occurring events necessary and renewing; removing the thick…

Although "The Paideia Proposal" (1982) has been "all but totally eclipsed" by other recent publications on school reform, the Paideia Group's painstaking, unified, long-range approach (expanded on in its newly published second volume, "Paideia Problems and Possibilities," and the remaining volume, to be released later…