Highlights steps for carrying out a needs assessment survey research effort in the Black community. Stresses the need for understanding (1) cultural-linguistic and historical factors, (2) the potential or inadvertent role of the researcher, and (3) the obstacles and resistance one may encounter in carrying out the survey and implementing its…

Reviews a community training program for undergraduate students at a small liberal arts college in Alton, Illinois. The program involves students in a community work placement, a community studies course, and work study experience in a small industrial town near the college. (Author/DB)

This article describes an economics trail which aims to encourage elementary and secondary students to use their knowledge of economics in looking at their local surroundings. For availability, see SO 505 564. (Author/AV)

Uses a class exercise that tests the folk wisdom concerning small-town friendliness. Students are assigned to express random friendliness to strangers so they can determine whether friendlier responses are elicited in small towns or large cities. (KO)

Examines an analysis of the Barrow Alcohol Study by applying a set of parameters for community-based research from a collaborative and participatory research framework. Suggests that research must build the capacity of the studied communities to become the researchers of the needs of their own communities. (DHP)

Describes a Community Analysis course that gives students an opportunity to apply urban theory through direct community engagement. Notes course objectives and organization (as a condensed special topic to allow travel, or within the regular semester). Identifies benefits/risks of community experiential learning for instructors and students.…

Describes a set of community-problem assignments for upper-level undergraduate public policy courses which require students to connect public policy analysis and scholarly research to a specific policy problem in a community. Analyzes student evaluations of the assignments and suggests modifications to fit different curriculum needs. (Author/DB)

Brooks Farm is an independent Black farming community unique in the Mississippi Delta. A community case study shows that, despite declining population and resources, Brooks Farm has drawn on the strength of its traditional institutions (family, churches, civic groups) to sustain community life and to continue to provide services to the elderly,…

Objective: This study aimed to examine rates and associated factors of parent-to-child corporal punishment and physical maltreatment in Hong Kong Chinese families. Method: Cross-sectional and randomized household interviews were conducted with 1,662 Chinese parents to collect information on demographic characteristics of parents and children,…

The communities that individuals have created are endlessly diverse. They have followed ancient patterns and have experimented boldly with innovative ideas. This publication and the exhibition it complements present only a few of the many ways that individuals have found to live together. It is divided according to the specific forces behind the…

Designed for elementary school teachers in Santa Cruz, California, this book outlines an experiential approach to community study. Because the term community can encompass a scope as narrow as the school or as wide as the region, these guidelines are adaptable to several elementary grade levels. The book is arranged in six sections. The first…

Identifying local environmental problems and solutions is suggested as a way to integrate environmental studies into the social studies curriculum. (DE)

A junior high program to study the local community is described. (KM)

A melding of community professionals, graduate students, and sociology faculty to identify and study urban community problems proved to be a viable technique for an experimental seminar program. (Author/KM)

Discusses the potential benefits to a community of increased coordination between educational policy-makers and city government leaders, then examines some of the political factors that aided and hindered such cooperation in one city studied by the author. (JG)