Investigates the needs of graduate students in educational administration programs, focusing on what learning would prove most valuable to administrators dealing with diverse constituencies and cultures. From indepth interviews, researchers found that graduate students learned far more about diversity (of gender, race, ethnicity, and social class)…

Henry M. Levin finds Balfanz's article a dispassionate attempt to explore the connections between workplace performance and curriculum reform. Educational reform efforts often misinterpret and simplify the relationship between informal knowledge, academic skills, and individual productivity. Consequently, the U.S. public's productive capacity is…

Two kinds of teaching/learning theories in higher education, formal and informal, are examined critically. It is argued that the contribution of formal theory is often ignored in favor of an amateur approach to instructional improvement driven by institutional imperatives, the rewarding of compliance over risk taking, and trivialization of the…

Reports on functions of preschoolers' literacy-based verbal exchanges in a print-enriched play environment. Content of four and five year olds' play behavior was systematically analyzed. Results suggest that children's collaborative engagement in literacy through play may have an important influence on their developing understanding of written…

Reviews theories, concepts, and learning approaches relevant to the development of professionals and reports on the range of experiences and events that practitioners have found formative in helping them become fully competent. The review is based on empirical research conducted across 20 professions. (Contains 166 references.) (JOW)

Discusses why the Japanese term "otaku" (an obsession with the information exchanged via computers) is preferable to the American term "geek." Discusses a set of pedagogical beliefs and practices that geeks and otaku have in common, which are the antithesis of those of the typical U.S. high school. (SR)

Outlines a program that was designed to be the first step in the development of an academic home for informal science education at the New York University. Aims at taking advantage of nonformal educational resources and bridging the formal and nonformal systems in order to provide people with access to an understanding of science and technology.…

Simplicity study circles examine how the American preoccupation with affluence destroys individual lives, community, and the environment. Through sharing personal stories, people learn to listen and trust their own judgment. Cooperative discussions about specific problems and their causes and solutions stimulate concern for the common good, which,…

Presents a study in which the conversations of primary school groups were collected in a botanical garden and analyzed for content. The data were examined for the effects of the presence or absence of an adult in the group, age, and the sex of the pupils. (Contains 27 references.) (Author/DDR)

Investigates the differences in academic achievement and performance for two groups of at-risk students in large and small group instructional settings when activity-based informal collaboration is applied as a teaching method. Includes 40 references. (YDS)

Reports results of a telephone interview with history professor and social analyst Carlos Cortes, whose current main area of interest is the multicultural education that occurs outside the classroom, with special interest in the role of the media. Explores the concept of the societal curriculum. (SLD)

Presents results from two studies conducted as part of the evaluation activities of the FUNTIVITIES project, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project to increase girls' and women's interest and comfort level in science and math. Girls showed a slightly higher mean, implying greater recognition that achievement in science and math is not…

This article explores how far research findings about successful pedagogies in formal post-school education might be used in non-formal learning contexts--settings where learning may not lead to formal qualifications. It does this by examining a learner outcomes model adapted from a synthesis of research into retention. The article first…

Over two and a half years, the authors conducted a detailed survey of 1101 adults in England and Wales, 100 follow-up interviews and year-long case studies of 25 families. The data have led them to construct a rich and often thought-provoking picture of how adults are using information and communications technologies (ICTs) in their day-to-day…

The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) emerged from a boycott committee established in London in the summer of 1959 in response to a call from the South African liberation movements for support in their struggle against apartheid. Education was regarded as an important aspect of the movement's work from the very beginning. One of the stated objectives…