This article describes the design and implementation, within a culturally sensitive context, of a multiservice, community-based counseling intervention aimed at promoting personal and career development of urban, African American youth. Components of this program can be adapted in planning future developmental interventions with this particular…

A behavior specialist working in a class for students identified as severely emotionally disturbed shares the dialog journal writing of an eighth-grade male student and notes the boy's self-evaluation regarding his special education label, his searching questions, his relationship to others, his growing self-esteem as a writer, and his family…

The evolution and role of the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study, founded to provide year-long, part-time fellowships for women doctorates wishing to pursue independent scholarly or creative projects, are described. The program, which encourages applications from mothers whose intellectual work had been put on hold, is seen as one of the…

Residential, challenging, learning experiences can provide a powerful and essential education in environmental values and interpersonal relationships. Presents a basic-needs planning guide for residential adventure programs that considers the need for water, air, food, clothing, accommodation, waste disposal, health, energy, resources, love of…

Considers the wilderness environment as "sacred space," a place pervaded by a sense of power, mystery, and awesomeness that when visited with "full respect and a clean spirit" can lead to positive empowerment. Suggests that a key objective for outdoor programs should be teaching about nature and conservation. Describes positive…

Problem solving in adventure programs contains physical, social, philosophical, and transcendent (insightful) elements. Through transcendent experiences students reach a high level of performance, tolerance, and understanding. Instructors often attempt to facilitate transcendent experiences through such activities as the Native American…

Camp staff can remove prejudices from camp by acknowledging their own personal biases, understanding and accepting diversity, developing a deep understanding of existing differences, and internalizing changed beliefs. Camps should strive to be multicultural organizations that reflect the contributions and interests of diverse cultural and social…

The 1994 Kurt Hahn Award recipient and president of the American Youth Foundation discusses essential elements for personal and systemic change, including creativity (which provides energy and direction), character (which defines who we are), and commitment (which requires accountability), all of which enable individuals and organizations to…

Suggests ways to enhance the processing of adventure-based experiences by making participants aware of their responses when they reach the edge of their own comfort zone. Participants can use this information to generalize the learning experience to home, school, and office situations. (LP)

On campus as in society, male-centered paradigms of sex role and identity are being challenged. A relationship-centered model of psychological development is currently of great interest. Areas of conflict between male and female students include stereotypes and political correctness, violence and rape, hostility toward women, the economy,…

Compared outcomes of college as perceived by African-American and white alumni in the affective or personal growth categories. An analysis of responses to an alumni survey revealed that, for affective growth variables, proportionally more African Americans than whites indicated that college had influenced their growth "very much." (Author/NB)

Intellectually gifted senior high school students (94 girls and 75 boys) were given the Learning Preference Scale. The cooperative learning style was not significantly more preferred for any subject matter nor was it significantly related to higher achievement outcome. In mathematics, boys preferred both the individualistic and competitive styles…

In contrast to earlier notions, a systems view of an organism's development sees genes as only one component in a hierarchy of influences that produces finished traits and differentiation. Developmental canalization proceeds from genes, behavior, and environment as well as from the coaction of these factors. (BC)

Notes that psychologists' interest in behavioral development concerns individual differences in behavior. Explores complexities of genetic and environmental determination of development, and of canalization. Intelligence is considered as an example of the canalization of human behavior. (BC)

A sample of seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders generated self-descriptors for the role of the self in the classroom, with friends, with parents, and in romantic relationships. Findings revealed that the self becomes increasingly differentiated into role-related multiple selves with age. (GLR)