"January Undergraduate Move Ahead Program" (JUMP) uses winter break as an opportunity to prepare small groups of scholarship students with high financial need for the second semester of their first-year biology curriculum and a career in life science. A winter intersession program has challenges, but more importantly, benefits that…

Service-learning initiatives often serve as higher education's approach to achieving institutional goals of fostering students' civic growth. Alternative Spring Breaks (ASBs), defined in this study as short-term immersion trips developed to engage college students in direct service experiences, have been understudied as service-learning…

This study examined the potential impact of a week-long cocurricular community service-learning (CSL) program on undergraduate students' psychosocial development. Participants in the Alternative Spring Break program and a matched control group completed surveys assessing a number of psychosocial variables immediately before and after the program,…

A life sciences undergraduate apprenticeship initiative was run during the vacations at a South African university. In particular, the initiative aimed to increase the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Annually 12-18 undergraduate biology students were apprenticed to various institutions during the January and July vacations from…

Background: The emergence of a participatory culture, brought about mainly by the use of Web2.0 technology, is challenging us to reconsider aspects of teaching and learning. Adapting the learning-as-digital-game-building approach, this paper explores how new educational practices can help students build skills for the 21st century. Purpose: This…

In language learning contexts a primary concern is how to maximise target language interaction both inside and outside of the classroom. With the development of digital technologies, the proliferation of language learning applications, and an increased awareness of how technology can assist in language education, educators are being presented with…

This 10-year follow-up three-part evaluation describes how well the City of Buena Vista (Virginia) Public Schools implemented a year-round school program for high school students. The focus of the program was the organization and development of a tuition-free extended-school-year quarter plan that included a voluntary fourth quarter. The…

There is no lack of debate regarding year-round schooling. Emotions run high when school districts tamper with the "traditional" agrarian school calendar and adapt a year-round calendar. This study examines one program in a multi-track year-round elementary school, a tutoring program delivered during the students' intersession. Through…

Describes a Title I summer program in which teachers and aides visited children's homes weekly with the objectives of (1) increasing the amount of reading done by the children during the summer and (2) involving parents in reading activities with their children. Evaluates the program, noting the benefits reported by children, parents, and…

Describes an experimental program at the University of Surrey (England) to show children that education can be enjoyable and is not necessarily the regimented, apprehensive affair from which many suffer. The existing teenage program was extended to include younger children and school-vacation day programs were added to the evening classes. (MF)