In "Learning Without Lessons," David F. Lancy fills a rather large gap in the field of child development and education. Drawing on focused, empirical studies in cultural psychology, ethnographic accounts of childhood, and insights from archaeological studies, Lancy offers the first attempt to review the principles and practices for…

Field experiences continue to be a hallmark of a geographer's education and, for that matter, reeducation, as we all strive to remain current in the real world. Academic geographers beginning their ascent towards tenure and promotion might consider augmenting their portfolios with materials emerging from field teaching and learning activities.

The recent explosive growth of the Wild Network, which exists to champion and support connection with nature and wildness in children and young people, suggests that there is a groundswell of support for getting young people outdoors. Hannah Rose and Anneke Kempton of the Field Studies Council (FSC) explain why the outdoors is such an important…

Educators are committed to understanding one another in their community as they explore their diversity. The home visit unit of study represents one of the earliest examples of "student research" done at the school where these authors teach, which serves children in pre-kindergarten classes through grade eight. A home visit is a field…

Location, where geographic elements interwork spatially and dynamically, has been one of the enduring themes in geographic studies. There are a number of location theories to explain why things are located where they are. Alfred Weber's location theory stresses that the least cost of delivering products is a key factor in location selection, and…

In this article, the author explains why field experiments can improve what we teach and how we teach economics. Economists no longer operate as passive observers of economic phenomena. Instead, they participate actively in the research process by collecting data from field experiments to investigate the economics of everyday life. This change can…

Many high school science students do not encounter opportunities for authentic science inquiry in their formal coursework. Ecological field studies can provide such opportunities. The purpose of this project was to teach students about the process of science by designing and conducting experiments on whether and how honey bees (Apis mellifera)…

Advancement of human rights is a core competency in the social work curriculum. Presented is a model to teach policy practice from a human rights perspective based on a violence-against-women delegation visit to Guatemala. Postdelegation policy advocacy responses included White House and State Department briefings on the problems, including…

With crosscutting concepts such as stability and change in the "Next Generation Science Standards," this article was written for those who have wondered how to teach these concepts in a way that is relevant to students. In this investigation, students ask the question, "Why is the pond dirty?" As students investigate the health…

Communities, Cameras, and Conservation (CCC) is the most exciting and valuable program the author has seen in her 30 years of teaching field science courses. In this citizen science project, students and community volunteers collect data on mountain lions ("Puma concolor") at four natural areas and public parks along the Front Range of Colorado.…

This article describes the benefits of combining field-based learning within the context of a competitive setting in the geography curriculum. Findings and data are presented based on experiences gathered from teaching an upper-level university geography course that combined geographic techniques and theory into a game of capture-the-flag.…

Qualitative research is an inherent part of the human services profession, since it emphasizes the great and multifaceted complexity characterizing human experience and the sociocultural context in which humans act. In the department of human services at Emek Yezreel College, Israel, we have developed a three-phase model to ensure a relatively…

In Continuous Education curricula in Spain, the programs on sciences of the environment are aimed toward understandings of sustainability. Teaching practice rarely leaves the classroom for outdoor field studies. At the same time, teaching practice is generally focused on examples of how human activities are harmful for ecosystems. From a pedagogic…

This article, the second of a two-part series, features 11 teaching innovations presented at the 2014 Association for Business Communication annual conference. These 11 assignments included leadership and other-focused communication--detecting communication style, adaptive communication, personality type, delivering feedback, problem solving, and…

Students learn science best with activities that mirror the way scientists work. This article describes how geologists investigate groundwater flow systems in areas of karst topography--geologic formations shaped by dissolving bedrock--and provides a way for students to replicate this research. Students also use electric current to model water…