Reports on an evaluative study of a secondary level civics curriculum in the Netherlands. Finds a discrepancy between the curriculum plans of the developers and the classroom implementation of the curriculum. Recommends an implementation-oriented development strategy with emphasis on early and intensive formative evaluation. (CFR)

Asserts that sport is a pervasive aspect of society. Presents and describes four learning activities designed to help students understand the significance of sport as a social institution. Maintains that, while the activities focus on the institution of sport, they can be used in a variety of sociology courses. (CFR)

Describes a summer program for high-achieving middle school girls in math and science. It covers the organization, curriculum, instruction, and outcomes of the program and describes elements that students rated favorably (such as being outside a lot) and those which needed to be changed (such as too great an age span) for the second summer. (DB)

Reports on a two-year ethnographic study focusing on gender, science education, and the introduction of networked digital media for learning in middle schools. Describes how learners become active participants, exploring gender attitudes, when studying socio-scientific issues related to an endangered rain forest and using video, the Internet, and…

Demonstrates how conditions for active learning can be enhanced by using newer and more sophisticated educational technology. Describes a case study involving a large lecture class on world mythology. Also addresses the question of how information technology can be employed to improve student learning. (Author/VWL)

Examined the influence of faculty active-learning practices on student departure decisions in the context of Tinto's Theory of College Student Departure. Path analysis results of three surveys of 718 first-time, full-time, first-year students at a highly selective private research university found that active learning exerts statistically reliable…

A study examined the value of teaching inquiry science in elementary classrooms where students' home language was Spanish. Bilingual interns taught children in 62 El Paso (Texas) classrooms, half in Spanish and half in English. Findings indicate that language skills in both languages increased, new science concepts were understood, and there was…

Describes an integrated curriculum project for fourth graders in a Hawaiian elementary school with a highly transient population. The project, ALOHA (Active Learners on Hawaiian Adventures) was developed to motivate students in learning about Hawaii's culture and ecosystems. Cooperation between the library media specialist, technology coordinator,…

Forms part of a themed issue describing "Parent-Kid-Teacher Investigators," a program in which parents, children, and teachers gather regularly to use language and literacy for action research projects. Explains the philosophy, assumptions, and intentions behind the program, and research that supports it. Offers action examples of how each belief…

Describes Sudbury Valley School (Framingham, Massachusetts), established in 1965 as an alternative to public education. Discusses the educational philosophy of the democratic school, which stresses the importance of children being free and learning how to govern themselves; daily activities at the school; and how the school has achieved fiscal as…

The global education ideology detailed in this essay results in excessive breadth of coverage as well as a lack of rigor in the study of world history and the evaluation of other cultures. In its most concentrated form, it instills a deep skepticism about the political worth of the nation-state and support for a divisive, anti-western form of…

Working together and exchanging ideas is inherent in interactive learning. The focus of interactive learning is on what learners believe is important to learn, the various processes learners use to learn and how learners use learning in other settings and situations. Active learning processes that promote reflection, writing, demonstrations,…

This article suggests ways in which a current research article on employment discrimination from the "American Sociological Review" can be used in the undergraduate classroom to facilitate deep structure learning (Roberts 1986, 2001, 2002). The exercises are designed for different levels of the undergraduate curriculum and adopt the strategies of…

We have developed a laboratory course that demonstrates how evolution can be taught as a participatory, investigative science at the undergraduate college or advanced secondary high school level. The course emphasizes the applied importance of evolution to areas such as medicine and agriculture. Because many instructors face budgetary or other…

The traditional educational approach with students as passive recipients has been the subject of criticism. A constructivist learner-centered approach towards education has been argued to produce greater internalization and application of knowledge compared to the traditional teacher-centered, transmission-oriented approach. Nevertheless,…