This book contends that learning is enhanced through active involvement in personally meaningful experiences accompanied by processing for meaning and future use. While some processing takes place automatically, much can be done strategically to enhance and generalize learning. Intended as a resource for experiential educators and therapists, this…

Multi-age education is most similar to the one-room schoolhouse approach. The teacher creates an environment for students of different ages to learn and prosper. The students, working independently and collectively to learn topics of relevance and interest, have increased self-esteem and a more positive attitude toward school. This volume looks at…

Learning centers are special areas in the classroom where students can work independently or in small groups to build a concept, explore a topic, or refine a skill. Learning centers are a way to meet the academic, social, emotional, and physical needs of elementary school students through active involvement in the learning process by enabling…

A guide to the use of role playing in the foreign language classroom outlines in general terms what role play is, provides examples, analyzes its uses, and gives practical assistance in planning activities. The following topics are examined: aspects of role behavior (formality, register, function, attitude, para-linguistic and extra-linguistic…

As members of the faculty of the same college, the State University of New York at Potsdam, the fifteen contributors to this book have the unique experience of working from the same pool of students in order to explore how to improve teaching, enhance learning, and make the classroom more interesting. Together professors from thirteen different…

Intended to facilitate communication between parents and child care providers through creative problem solving, this guide explains young children's normal developmental behaviors that frequently cause concern, and identifies factors parents and caregivers can control in the environment that may have an immediate positive response from a child.…

This book describes issues, trends, and practical teaching concerns that surround cooperative learning. It puts forward specific organizational plans and content area lessons for teachers who would like to become more familiar with active team learning in the classroom. Major themes include collaborative approaches to multicultural education,…

In this book, the methodology of cooperative learning, defined as the teaching strategy that involves children's participation in small group learning activities that promote positive interaction, is applied to early childhood education. The book contains the following chapters: (1) A Rationale for Cooperative Learning with Young Children, which…

Blending the fields of group process and cooperative learning; prevention and resiliency; learning theory; and school change into a comprehensive guide, this book describes the on-going development of the Tribes group process, whereby small learning groups are used to promote human growth and learning. A tribe consists of three to six students who…

How do we estimate personal growth? What do experiential education programs accomplish? Personal growth (affective domain) often is fostered through experiential education programs, but it is difficult to measure the relationship between the two. One manner of measurement is the observation of external actions by a student that demonstrate what…

The second edition of "Really Writing!" provides 40 real-life writing activities designed to capture the attention of young authors (grades 2 through 6) who are just learning the composing process. This book is also a resource for teaching advanced writers who are ready to experiment with a variety of writing and speaking genres. Each of the…

The book is intended as a practical guide for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teachers with mixed-level classes. It begins with a discussion of multilevel classes, factors to consider in deciding how to teach them, reasons for their existence, and their problems and advantages. It then addresses curriculum planning, using a sample class for…

This book describes a "whole learning" approach to education called the Watershed Program, which stresses integrated curriculum and experiential learning. Each chapter begins with an episode from the history of eastern Pennsylvania along the Brandywine River, used as an analogy to problems faced by the teachers in the Watershed program.…

Ideas for using children's literature suggest ways to extend and enrich the elementary school social studies curriculum beyond the adopted textbook or scope and sequence developed in a local school district or at the state level. The focus of kindergarten through grade three is the study of family and communities and the acquisition of individual…

Using collaborative learning activities means structuring student interaction in small, mixed-ability groups, encouraging interdependence, and providing for individual accountability. By taking part in cooperative experiences, students are encouraged to learn by assimilating their ideas and creating new knowledge through interaction with others.…