In this paper the author describes the structure, operations, and problems of a year-long, full time, experimental, environmental awareness program at the University of Montana. The program was designed so that students and faculty would work together in a loosely structured, integrated learning experience, with the usual authority structures…

The Selected Classroom Project was planned, implemented, evaluated, and disseminated between October 1970 and June 1971. It narrowed the focus of Project COD to helping teachers in specific classroom develop a practical approach to the transition from traditional to "open" classrooms. The 21 participating teachers in grades 4 through 8…

Project LEM (Learning Experience Module), funded under Title III, Elementary Secondary Education Act, incorporates concepts of an open elementary educational plan, featuring: multi-age, multi-ethnic groupings, individually prescribed instructions, a "core" curriculum, differentiated staffing, and maximum space utilization. These…

Open entry/open exit refers to formats and procedures which allow learners to enter a program whenever they are ready and available, and allows them to leave or complete programs when competencies for job entry are attained. This study sought to provide base data on the concept of open entry/open exit by surveying involved individuals and to…

The Middle Years Alternative program (MYA) designed for seventh and eighth graders, stresses such objectives as ungraded classes, informal assessment, personal goal setting, and parent and student participation. This evaluation report examined progress toward achieving MYA objectives, and tests two hypotheses implied in the literature: first, that…

Research evaluated the effectiveness of varying television (TV) lesson formats. Adults ranging in age from 17 to 58 viewed lessons in accounting and psychology in four formats featuring: 1) a storyline running through a lesson; 2) a news magazine format dealing with different concepts in one lesson; 3) a non-authoritarian narrator; and 4) an…

Thirty children, 7.5 to 8.5 years, in two classrooms in a Catholic school trying to implement an informal curriculum were studied. The classrooms were not "exemplary"; The children had lower-middle-class origins. Each child was observed under free-choice conditions for approximately 80-90 minutes over a 3-month period. Two-minute narrative records…

Two interviews with Akira, a 7-year-old student, describe life at a Japanese residential free school. Modeled after the Summerhill School, the main components are voluntary lessons, self-government through weekly schoolwide meetings and smaller dormitory meetings, and extensive experiential learning through project work. Akira likes Kinokuni…

Followup student interview about Kinokuni Children's Village, a Japanese residential free school modeled after Summerhill School. School features include voluntary lessons, self-government through schoolwide and dormitory meetings, and extensive project work. The school now has secondary programs and another campus. Eight-year-old Akira, in his…

The relative achievement and appeal effectiveness of a multimedia nontraditional course with open learning adult learners and on-campus students were examined in this study of a University of Mid-America course. Focus was on (1) the achievement and appeal effects, with on-campus students employing or omitting the television component in the…

This report documents the conduct and results of activities to evaluate the first offering of The Consumer Experience to adult learners through the State University of Nebraska (SUN). A project of the University of Nebraska, SUN is a nontraditional, open learning program designed to extend postsecondary educational opportunities to persons who…

This study is concerned with analyzing the effects of classroom environment on students' achievement and perceptions of their learning environment. The learning environment was analyzed from the perspectives of teachers, students, and principals. The sample included one class from each of 25 elementary schools, including architecturally open…

A summer happening for children was organized and analyzed according to the ideas that educational accountability means that the system of education should provide both data and information about the educational process and examine educational outcomes. A major goal of the program was to generate an awareness for first year participants of the…

A Title III, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, open concept school program has been serving the Ojibway Indian Community for 4 years and has recently been evaluated. Derived from a project evaluation submitted August 19, 1974, this informal report presents comparative data on the open concept and traditional school. Using a "frequency…

The effectiveness of flexible learning systems at the Tea Tree Gully Campus (TTGC) of the Torrens Valley Institute of Technical and Further Education in Australia was examined in a 2-year longitudinal study. Data were collected from 199 interviews and 696 questionnaires completed by TTGC students and staff during 1992 and 1993. Among the main…