Preservice teacher interns learned from direct, first-hand practical experiences rather than just from theoretical ideas, the kinds of feelings a new and stressful situation may elicit. (NQ)

Expands on one aspect of the rationale for elementary school industrial arts described in the January 1975 issue of "Elements". Discusses some developments at the provincial level tracing the Integrated Practical Arts program, broader in concept than elementary industrial arts but including many similar features. (Author/RK)

Vocational instructors and administrators keep up to date on new jobs and equipment by working for brief periods in industry. (Author)

"Awareness" of drugs among rural elementary school students (N=53) was studied with a word-association test of drug slang and words with no drug connotations given to students randomly selected from each of the six grades. The study suggests rural students are not immune to influences of the drug culture. (Author)

Considers the implications that broadening the definition of learning would have for educators and educational technologists. This special issues addresses the task of redefining learning from a variety of perspectives. The authors draw on different frameworks of analysis, exploring what it means to be learning at levels ranging from the…

Guided by contextual and constructivist perspectives, this study situates museum-going in the everyday lives of children, exploring how children perceive their experiences in museums in relationship to the other places they visit. Children were divided in their designations of museums as fun, boring, or a combination of the two. (LZ)

Suggests that schools implementing a literature-based, holistic language arts philosophy must be ready to support it with inservice education. Describes program design, procedures to engage teacher interest, and inservice sessions that were part of a suburban Cleveland, Ohio school's program. Concludes that, if done properly, such programs enrich…

Discussion of educational systems design describes four systems levels that can be emphasized: learning experience, instructional, administration, and governance levels. Factors to be considered in selecting a focus level and the implications of focusing on the learning experience level are discussed; and a table comparing instructional and…

Outlines intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental benefits of the small-group wilderness experience. Discusses barriers to providing school children with wilderness and outdoor adventure experiences: concerns about possible litigation, lack of professional outdoor leadership, perceptions of the experience as a vacation from the classroom,…

Dissatisfied with mandated standardized assessment modes, an Illinois elementary school began an alternative assessment program incorporating Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. The assessment process became more meaningful through using learning experience forms and "portfolio evenings," in which children present their…

Challenges misconceptions suggesting that outdoor and adventure experiences lead participants to advocate protection of natural areas, to value aesthetic experiences, to appreciate and understand the environment more deeply, to develop a spiritual relationship with the natural world, and to fight for environmental causes. (LP)

States that educators should be concerned to involve all students in collaborative talk about tasks that are student-owned and inquiry-oriented and which integrate talking with thinking, doing, reading, and writing to engage with topics and texts that both students and teachers find meaningful and significant. (MG)

Discusses the origins and limitations of the rites of passage model; the types of outdoor education courses the rites of passage and its notion of transformation can inform; and how neglecting the third stage of the model, "reincorporation," limits the longevity of transformations. Outlines the elements needed to successfully bring the…

Exposing today's students to a balance of science and the outside world is critical. The outdoors provides a context for practical applications of science, exposing the relevance of science to everyday life. Outdoor education instills an awareness that the health of the environment is directly coupled with our own health, enabling us to make…

A survey of 447 visitors to a Kansas zoo examined adult visitors' motivations for themselves and companions. In another survey, 118 zoo educators nationwide predicted visitor responses. Educators' predictions were fairly good for visitors' educational and recreational motives for attendance, less accurate for their social orientation, and poor…