After 18 years of using a traditional approach to teaching, a middle-school teacher turned her classroom into a shared learning experience by giving students the responsibility to make choices about their education. To reassure parents who were skeptical of the Foxfire approach, she continued to interject traditional learning activities. (LP)

Puts forth a theory of popular education, the elements of which include (1) an emphasis on the relationship of education and learning to collective and emancipatory struggle, and (2) an analytical framework which connects learning and education with analysis of political economy and ideology. Tests the theory through a case study of Australian…

General session, small group activities, and on-site visits are represented in these papers from a conference which had the objectives of defining alternatives for systematic curriculum development, providing for the interchange of experiences in determining needs and instructional specifications for material production, and developing a plan for…

Considerable research has focused on comparative studies of open and traditional classrooms which have used standardized test scores as well as measurements of self-perception, creativity, adjustment to school, classroom structure, and teacher control. This paper briefly reviews some of these research findings and discusses the implications of…

Open area designs for school buildings were adopted frequently in Australia in the 1970s, often without adequate preparation of the educators who would be using them. A study of the effects of open area designs led to the recognition that school building design warrants more serious attention as a variable in formal education than it has yet…

A teacher of children with multiple handicaps and the mother of a child in the class describe changes made as they worked together to create a more open and child-centered classroom. (RH)

Reviews data on (1) the adequacy and allocation of American educational resources; (2) students' achievement compared to foreign students today and American students in the past; (3) the impact of open versus traditional schools; and (4) public assessment of current education. Indicates recent declines in effort, achievement, attitudes, and…

The author defends the progressive teaching methods of the British Primary school against recent calls for "literacy" and "evaluation." He asserts that language and writing develop best from personal exploration and student-teacher trust, not from rote learning and surveillance. (SJL)

Discusses the impact of information technology and networking on higher education with particular reference to academic libraries, based on experiences in Australia and New Zealand. Highlights include technology and learning; open learning and the virtual campus; network infrastructure; database access; electronic publishing; information…

Discusses the increasing need for professional development and retraining in Australia, especially for inservice teacher education, and describes new methods that may be more effective than traditional methods. Highlights include open learning; the modularization of courses and programs; the adaptation of instructional materials; and distance…

Relates the experience of students and a teacher in an alternative high school in designing a biology curriculum based on Foxfire practices. Describes student efforts to gain approval from school officials to study evolution and creationism and the conflicts in values and belief systems among the students. (LP)

This book, written by a father of school-aged children, challenges the idea that school reform must be based on raising test scores. Rather, it asserts that school reform should start by deciding what kind of students it wants to produce and then designing schools that will allow students to develop accordingly. The book advocates a child-centered…

Based on experiences with her introverted sensing-perceiving type daughter, the author concludes that successful teaching requires trust, empathy, and a large-goal orientation combined with a clear understanding of Jungian typology. Included is a schematic description of Jungian types (as extended by Myers), excerpted from the author's book,…

This paper argues that over time, future teachers will be offered and participate in more developed forms of professional development than is currently expected. The professional development will be significantly based on their own and local schools, and online electronic communication will be an important aspect of this increasingly international…

A private alternative school in the slums of New Delhi (India) is committed to ending female child labor and ensuring that its students don't grow up poor. The school was able to enroll girls in its all-female afternoon classes by getting their mothers involved in income-generating cooperatives. The students often outperform their peers in state…