The metrics presently being used to gauge student success have become outdated and irrelevant. Enrollment, persistence, and degree attainment are secondary measures, missing entirely the question of whether students are truly achieving an effective life skillset while attempting to complete degree or graduation fulfillment. Student success, and…

This book provides practitioners and scholars with a number of practical tools for studying and implementing democratic learning processes within schools, and theorizes these tools in relation to current developmental learning and democratic theory. Three dimensions of knowledge are framed--foundational, expert, and personal--and the place of each…

People at the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) are focused on the adult learning experience wherever it takes place--in classrooms, workshops, training centres, community centres, or at work. They exist to help those who teach to be better at what they do--and those who lead and manage to encourage this improvement--so that learners can receive a…

The importance of the "learner voice" is again a concern throughout the learning and skills sector, and turning the rhetoric into some kind of meaningful reality has become a renewed challenge. The concern to be responsive to "learner and learning experience" can be seen across developments in information, advice and guidance…

This handbook is a much expanded version of the original Learning Activities Survey published by Dr. Kathleen P. King of Fordham University in 1998. Based on her ground breaking research in this field where she used a mixed methodology research approach to study transformative learning, the book will provide a model of research, firsthand…

In this article, Judith V. Boettcher provides ten core learning principles that can guide technology-enhanced teaching as well as more traditional forms of instruction. Drawn from both traditional pedagogical theory as well as current research about how people learn, the ten principles integrate these findings in a helpful set of guidelines that…

This article describes a science learning experience in which intermediate grade students launched balloons with attached postcards to study wind currents. More than 200 (of over 900 balloons) were returned, and their analysis supported the students' hypothesis about the direction of wind currents. (DB)

Describes recent publications and traveling exhibition services (and related materials) of the Smithsonian Museum. (RH)

Students in a senior level community health nursing course were required to complete an assignment and display their results in a poster session. The objective was to educate professional nurses to be prepared as presenters and viewers of poster sessions in order to publicize nursing activities. Using high risk groups in the community as the…

The personal student journal is a little-used technique that holds special promise for instructors working in diverse educational settings. Journals can be used as an instructional tool for students, as a means for nurturing self-directed learning, and as a bridge to personal growth. (PP)

This article recounts a learning experience at the Kansas State School for the Deaf in which students invited an author of children's books about deaf children, Jean Andrews, to visit and participated with the author in developing her next book. Students also wrote their own books, and received feedback on them from Andrews. (DB)

A "children's festival" can be an exciting and meaningful alternative to the traditional school carnival, which often emphasizes competition rather than cooperation and learning. Ideas for such a festival that can generate money, provide fun for adults and children, encourage cooperation, and provide learning experiences are presented.…

Discusses the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child as it seeks to establish the right of children to participate in discussions and decisions about their own situations. Includes action taken by children around the world to promote participation. Stresses the necessity of participation to become responsible, active citizens in a democracy.…

Distinguishes between surface and meaningful parent involvement in reading. Describes six situations that meaningfully involve parents in school: (1) parent learning stations, (2) newspaper activities, (3) a parent talent bank, (4) "thin-book" reading from "cut up books," (5) parent activity sheets, and (6) a parent recreation room. (BJD)

Describes the training of sixth and seventh graders in helping with preschoolers' play sessions. Students met with the writer for a half-hour discussion afterwards. The training helped them understand normal development and learning of communication skills to facilitate caring for and interaction with young children. (Author/JAC)