In this research study, we hear the voices of middle school students, preservice teachers, and practicing middle school teachers in support of school-based experiential outdoor education. The benefits of engaging youth in memorably relevant learning, immersing them in physically active, field-based education, and providing them with authentic,…

What does it mean to be engaged, especially when it comes to literacy learning? It is this question that drove my doctoral research in 2007 when I became a participant observer in a grade two classroom with the goal of making the everyday visible while sharing a greater understanding of classroom life in relation to engagement. Six years later, I…

For this study, 119 middle level teacher candidates identified, observed, and documented their interactions with middle school "ghost children" as part of their field placement activities. About two thirds of the 124 ghost children identified for this study were male. The teacher candidates documented additional characteristics of ghost…

This paper provides a process evaluation of a 6-day teacher training programme which forms part of a sexuality education project. The training aimed at providing teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively teach a 16-lesson Grade 8 (14 year olds) life skills curriculum consisting of participatory exercises on sexual…

This paper draws on data gathered from a five-month phenomenological study of middle school students' perceptions of the effects of computer-based technologies on a learning community in an online synchronous environment. Twenty-four eighth-grade students participated in the Web Pen Pals project, a university-secondary telecollaborative…