This article examines the emergence of a dialogue among urban youth about their educational condition, and the opportunities for learning and collaboration that ensue. The study is based on observations and interviews with eight students in a community-based program that supports the engagement of young people in school reform. Notably, the…

In this article, the author describes a project that deals with fire production as an aspect of technology. The project challenges students to be survivors in a five-day classroom activity. Students research various materials and methods to produce fire without the use of matches or other modern combustion devices, then must create "fire" to keep…

This study evaluated the relative effectiveness of home-based, community-based, and state-run early childhood programs across Cambodia. A total of 880 five-year-olds (55% girls) from 6 rural provinces in Cambodia attending State Preschools, Community Preschools, Home-Based Programs, or no programs were assessed twice using the Cambodian…

This article investigates whether school activism diminishes the alienation that accompanies urban youths' observations of unequal educational conditions, and often leads to underachievement and school rejection. The study is based on interviews with 13 urban youth about their participation in a community-based program that supports education…

This article presents the findings of a large scale study that tested a comprehensive model of predictors of three manifestations of sustainability: continuation, institutionalization, and duration. Based on the literature the predictors were arrayed in four groups: variables pertaining to the project, the auspice organization, the community, and…

This study investigated the impact of an online learning community project on university students' motivation in learning Chinese as a foreign language. A newly proposed second language (L2) motivation theory--the L2 motivational self system (Dornyei, 2005, 2009)--guided this study. A concurrent transformative mixed-methods design was employed to…

Environmental education is a widespread, yet relatively unexamined strategy to reduce human-wildlife conflicts. We evaluated knowledge, attitudes and behavioral intentions toward bear conservation after five years of environmental education in a Quichua community. Conflicts with livestock predation created mixed attitudes and behaviors toward bear…

Communities, Cameras, and Conservation (CCC) is the most exciting and valuable program the author has seen in her 30 years of teaching field science courses. In this citizen science project, students and community volunteers collect data on mountain lions ("Puma concolor") at four natural areas and public parks along the Front Range of Colorado.…

There is a relative paucity of evidence examining the effectiveness of early intervention for young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, in particular those delivered through educationally-based programmes. This study aimed to evaluate the real world effectiveness of a community-based autism-specific early learning and intervention programme in…

Studying community engagement provides another lens for examining how neoliberal universities collaborate with external organizations to move closer to the market, often in the hope of promoting the public good. This study examined the tension between the public and private aspects of university-community partnerships by studying the impact of…

Human-wildlife conflicts are common in agricultural communities and mountainous villages in Japan. Tochigi prefecture has one of the highest amounts of agricultural damage caused by wildlife in the country. To reduce conflicts, the Nature Preservation Division of Tochigi Prefecture launched a wildlife damage prevention program. We evaluated the…

Each issue of this annual newsletter focuses on a particular area of Kettering's research. The 2015 issue focuses on a yearlong review of Kettering's research over time. This issue contains the following articles that address this review: (1) How Kettering Discovered Democracy (David Mathews); (2) Key Events in KF History (Collette McDonough); (3)…

This paper examines a community theatre project in Kaohsiung County, Taiwan that aimed to tackle domestic violence through a collaboration between local community female elders and the facilitator. The paper investigates how an outside facilitator could unfix the assumed community identities which tend to exclude outsiders or sub-groups, in this…

President Obama announced his Early Learning Agenda during his Second Inaugural Address. This announcement has galvanized a special focus on early childhood policy and practices, for the prenatal to 5-year-old period, to improve educational outcomes for America's youth. The emergent science of early childhood development places an emphasis on…

This study was conducted to explore the effectiveness of a program teaching healthy sexuality values on adolescent sexual awareness and sexual behavior. For this study, the present researcher, along with two other professors, developed a 4-h program on 4 different subjects, and conducted the full education program through four different 4-h…