The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of high school students' long-term authentic research projects with Information Technologies (IT) in small groups in and out of school time on their affective dispositions in science. This study was conducted in the context of a three-year NSF project, namely, Translating Information…

Using mixed methods of inquiry, this study examines the impact of experiential learning on Latino/a college students' development as they move away from home to study and do community service in another country. Journals reveal that students developed their identity, relationships, awareness of structural inequalities, and connectedness to…

Stemming from the author's personal experience, numerous conversations with other educators, and information from relevant literature, it is apparent that the majority of students in Ontario have limited access to outdoor, experiential learning through the formal education system. The author believes that investigating the effects of existing…

Cultural differences between Asia and the West and their influence on teaching, are reviewed along with previous experiments in bringing critical thinking to Asian education, and recognition of needs for and barriers to achieving change. Principles driving design and implementation of a two-course sequence in professional transportation studies…

The Center for Summer Learning examined various summer program models and found that there are nine characteristics that provide a framework for effective summer programs. In this chapter, the authors demonstrate how effective practices lead to positive results for young people. The nine characteristics of effective summer learning programs are…

This monograph is divided into three main sections: theoretical grounding, student identity, and implications. The first section, theoretical grounding of parental involvement, looks at the reasons parents today are more likely to be involved in their students' lives and then reviews the literature of K-12 education and compares that information…

Organized afterschool programs have received increased attention over the past two decades because of changes in family demographics and in society's structures for supervising and socializing youth. The number of afterschool programs has been rapidly expanding to meet the increased need. However, not all youth in need are being reached, and the…

In the face of mounting evidence that schools are losing alarming numbers of young black men, a small band of educators gathered recently in Brookline, Massachusetts, to bolster one response to the crisis: creating public schools designed to serve African-American males. Haunted by the specter of a bleak future for millions of young men--and aware…

Theoretical background for researching student learning, engagement, and collaboration through the development of electronic portfolios is described in this article. After providing an overview of the limited research on portfolios in education, the author discusses the accepted definitions, multiple purposes, and conflicting theoretical paradigms…

This monograph presents abstracts of 32 papers on the development of general versus specific abilities and their relationship to diversity in gifted and talented students. Sample topics include: creative development at the college level; cultural and linguistic differences in gifted children; Project High Hopes, a program for gifted students with…

High expectations and appropriate standards for learning and achievement are important to any curriculum plan. The need for curriculum to meet developmental needs is particularly important for middle-level students. Middle-level students are unlike any other age group and are internally varied. Not all middle-level students need the same things at…

The use of creative drama in the classroom is a student-focused process where experiential learning can be fostered and developed within any given curriculum. It can help students to develop divergent thinking skills, inventive creativity, and cognitive thinking skills, and it can stimulate the development of oral and written communication skills.…

This paper briefly reviews the learning outcome aspects of seven recent follow-up studies completed for seven different transfer discipline areas at William Rainey Harper College (Illinois). It notes an increasing interest by the field of institutional research in evaluating how students learn. Faculty in the fields of psychology, English,…

This document contains abstracts of the 82 concurrent session presentations at a 1996 conference on the experience of college freshmen regarding their academic achievement, attitudes, and re-enrollment for the following year. Each abstract is designed to give a succinct statement of each concurrent session presentation and to provide a name,…

A study examined the effects of a college business/professional speaking course on the communication skills' development of students. The research examined three hypotheses: (1) that student ratings of their own communication skills would show a significant improvement after a 16-week course on business and professional speaking; (2) that males…