Recounts a week-long environmental program that revolved around staff dressing up as Alpha Centaurions to point out pollution on Earth. Activities were chosen to teach students about ways in which our environment is being ruined and students were encouraged to look for solutions. Activities included zoo visits, ecological study of Brockhill Valley…

Describes a qualitative case study of a Los Angeles school that is succeeding in creating a supportive, effective learning environment for its highly transient study body. Identifies several types of transiency and the structural, cultural, and pedagogical strategies used to address students' and families' unique needs. Discusses urban mobility…

This article presents the challenges that urban special education administrators face in serving students with frequent behavior problems. New strategies for creating supportive environments are shared, including creating a positive school climate, increasing capacity to initiate and maintain research-validated practices, and implementing programs…

This study assessed one center's interpretation of child-centered instruction in terms of children's daily activities, social affiliation, and classroom behavior. Staff interviews and classroom observations indicated that children: (1) spent less time engaging in focused learning activities; (2) sustained attention on one activity for smaller…

This ethnographic study examined the introduction of school uniforms in the public schools of one California city. Findings indicated that the uniform issue intersected with issues such as student safety and violence, family stress, egalitarianism, competitive dressing, and a power struggle over shaping the childhood environment. It was concluded…

This article compares and contrasts pediatric HIV with other childhood illnesses and provides a list of recommendations for school systems for assisting students with HIV/AIDS, including: allowing for opportunities for children with HIV/AIDS to interact with others, making accommodations for children with limited abilities, encouraging parental…

A study surveyed 19 student teachers placed in rural Saskatchewan communities and their cooperating teachers. Advantages of rural placements were better acquaintance with students and families, high community involvement, supportive atmosphere, opportunities to engage in various activities, fewer discipline problems, and rural lifestyle.…

This article explores the complexity of racial identity in the lives of gifted African American students and argues that personal identity can only be understood through an ecological and multidimensional view of racial identity that takes into account the individual, the social context, and coping styles. (Contains references.) (CR)

Six gifted African American students (grades 4-5) were bused to a predominately white school and then returned to their predominately African American school. Students identified 6 of 16 teachers as effective. Ineffective teachers were described as having a lack of understanding of African American culture resulting in low academic expectations.…

Examines school roles, school factors, and peer-group influence in predicting Mexican-American adolescents' inhalant use. Surveys 599 adolescents to determine whether unconventional peer associations promote inhalant use. Links academic performance, conduct to drug use. Concludes negative social identity often defined by schools. Makes…

Large numbers of African Americans learn early in life that they fail to perform adequately in mathematics and science, resulting in helplessness syndromes. Learned helplessness in science and mathematics can be ameliorated through desensitization of mathematics phobia, freeing educational environments of crowding and noise, and special career…

This article reports on teacher education participation in the programs of the ERASMUS Bureau. The ERASMUS Bureau and its Inter-university Co-operation Programme is a vehicle designed to promote European awareness among European higher education institutions. Promotion of European awareness through education is considered vital to development of…

This feature examines several issues related to the future of dance education: dance education within the context of futurist thought, core knowledge of dance, performance-geared dance training, a paradigm for dance education in the postmodern world, goals for the future of dance education, and strategies for dance education advocates. (IAH)

Reviewed are the basic principles of cooperative learning including a rationale for its use and the formation of cooperative learning groups in the classroom. Examples of the application of this teaching method to mathematics teaching are discussed. (CW)

An interdisciplinary approach to problem solving which may be used in liberal arts colleges is described. Course content, class members, classroom environment, goals, teaching approach, course format, and the results of this approach at one college are discussed. Lists of documents, articles, movies, books, and information resources are provided.…