This book illustrates the benefits of integrating different approaches to community and regional development for rural Australia. The key theme is community capacity building through lifelong learning, seen as integration of formal, nonformal, and informal education and training at all levels. Other foci include the local-global context, issues…

The role of formal education as a disseminator of new information and producer of significant learning experiences has been continuously diminishing. Interest is growing in learning that occurs in the informal action environments of everyday life and workplaces. Informal learning occurs in varied places and by varied means. Work teaches…

Discusses rationale for developing the Exploratorium at San Francisco's Museum of Science, Art, and Perception. Describes typical exhibits, hands-on nature of exhibits, and function of Explainers. Presents information about Exploratorium workshops (currently oriented toward upper elementary/junior high teachers), emphasizing the nature of science…

Educators are recognizing the importance of diverse out-of-school agencies and institutions in developing human resources and the close association between economic development and a multiplication of vocational specializations. This paper compares informal vocational education in developing countries with that of industrialized countries,…

Employing standardized achievement tests to ascertain educational quality is like measuring temperature with a tablespoon. Such tests are prone to testing-teaching mismatches, omitted items, and confounded causation problems. Actually, three factors influence students' scores: what's taught in school, native intellectual ability, and out-of-school…

The goal of the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers program is to provide academic enrichment opportunities and youth development activities for children attending low-performing schools. A look at several rural and urban programs in Oregon and Washington reveals that successful programs mesh with the school culture and partner with…

In the context of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), United Nations University (UNU) initiated the creation of a network of Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) for Education for Sustainable Development. This paper describes the philosophy behind the activities performed by one of those RCEs, RCE Rhine-Meuse, an RCE…

The documents enclosed in this report provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the progress made in developing a network organization capable of supporting nanoscience education for the public on a national scale. There is a logic to the studies that were done and to the reports that are included in this notebook. The following are the…

High attrition rates among new teachers are of concern to teacher educators. Support mechanisms may help teachers feel less isolated in their new profession. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies can connect novice teachers in ways that are both time and place independent. Most research on asynchronous online discussions has focused…

This report provides information on the administration and structure of all levels of education and initial vocational training in 17 countries--the 15 Member States of the European Union and Iceland and Norway. Country reports are arranged in a similar way to facilitate comparison. Chapter 1 contains information on each country, the basic…

Data for a study of learning within farmers' cooperatives were collected by interviewing members of 25 such cooperatives in Imo State of Nigeria. Information was also gathered from a literature review and interviews with Nigerian government officials who worked closely with cooperatives. Three types of cooperative associations were identified:…

A case study detailed the influence of a nine-year-old female sibling on the writing development of her younger brother, from the time he was 18 months old until he was 28 months old. General and significant interactions, such as the boy's oral language milestones and the books the children shared, were recorded in a journal by their mother.…

In outlining a national strategy for environmental education in India, this document describes some current and future efforts of the Center for Environmental Education at Ahmedabad. It provides an historical account of India's environmental problems and its recent efforts at addressing those problems in light of rapid developmental efforts and…

This booklet is designed to supplement a short course on microcomputers for parents and their middle school children. The course activities are designed to increase the computer literacy of the participants and also to provide an opportunity for parents and children to spend time with each other. The course is intended to take place during a…

An attempt was made to study the influence of social networks in Sri Lanka by identifying, selecting, and training volunteers to serve as informal educators of their own social networks. These educators who each were to serve a cluster of 20-25 families were young adults; the majority were females linked to health, education, or community…