Effective teaching in schools requires flexibility, energy and commitment. Successful teaching also requires that teachers are able to address learner's needs and understand the variations in learner's styles and approaches. Teachers can accomplish these requirements while creating an optimal teaching-learning environment by utilizing a variety of…

The integrated program that the author teaches--the Community Environmental Leadership Program (CELP)--begins with a five-night wilderness trip. Here connections to the Earth are clear: water comes from lakes, fuel comes from trees and waste decomposes in the soil below. Students learn quickly that they shouldn't pee in the water they are…

Research on playfulness, science, and creativity suggests that there is a connection between having positive background experiences with science and the development of interest in science. However, there is little empirical research on where, how, and when teachers' interests in science develop. The purpose of this research was to explore…

A field trip is a common strategy used by educators to bring out-of-school learning experience into schools. Many research studies suggest a field trip will not only bring an individual close to the real-world, but may also increase an individual's environmental knowledge and responsible behaviors. Program evaluations usually focus on the…

This study evaluates the relationship between elements of a college preparation program and the college readiness of low-income and/or Latina/o students at the completion of 6 years of participation in the program. Hours of participation in tutoring, mentoring, advising, college campus visits, summer programs, and educational field trips are…

Environmental field days offer a distinct opportunity to connect students with science and the environment. The literature on field days, informed by research on field trips, provides a framework for best practices. If there are best practices, however, then presence or lack of the practice should have a discernible impact on the outcomes of the…

This ethnographic case study examines the dynamic relationship between culture and environmental education within the context of a specific Florida-based public education program. The School District of Hillsborough County (SDHC) offers the program through a three-day field trip to the study site, Nature's Classroom, and accompanying classroom…

Museum studies will certainly reinforce students' appreciation of art history and art production. A student's understanding of a museum's function will deepen with each museum visit. Students will recognize that a museum can be organized around materials and kinds of art, periods of art history and cultures, and the works of an individual artist.…

The state of Texas has an "essential knowledge" component in some high school science courses indicating that students be able to describe connections between academic science content and future jobs or training through effective exposure to course content. The participants in this study were from a small rural high school in central…

This article analyzes the activity "Daytime School Guided Visits" at an astronomical observatory in Brazil with pupils from primary school. The adopted research methodology relied on questionnaire applications and semistructured interviews. The objectives were to identify the influences of the visits on learning of astronomical concepts…

Learning is best served when students are mentally and physically (actively participation) in the process. Most college and university instructors consist of lectures, discussions, instructional videos, computer simulations, online teaching, guest speakers, but also include active learning components of laboratories, greenhouses, and field trips.…

This paper adopts a rhetorical perspective in order to examine language about children in the discourse of mathematics education through a study of metaphor. Previous research has tended to emphasize the notion of "beliefs", which locates responsibility for problematic conceptions of children within the heads of individuals, particularly…

Off-road motorcycle racing and ATV riding. Gardening and fishing. What do these high-adrenaline and slower-paced pastimes have in common? Each requires soil, and the texture of that soil has an effect on all of them. In the inquiry-based lessons described here, students work both in the field or laboratory and in the classroom to collect soil…

To develop sustainable solutions to remediate the complex ecological problems of earth's soil, water, and air degradation requires the talents and skills of knowledgeable, motivated people (UNESCO, 1977; UNESCO, 2010). Researchers historically emphasized that time spent in outdoor, nature activities (Wells & Lekies, 2006), particularly with an…

Curriculum for global citizenship education is gaining momentum as countries have experienced an increase in interdependence and interconnectedness through technology over the last century. Through qualitative research, this study employed a phenomenological methodology to understand how ten female elementary teachers in grades third- through…