Presents a study of World Wide Web use in the classroom among graduates and undergraduates at the University of Wolverhampton (England). The study found that the Web gave students better access to more update information than a university library; greater input into their own learning process, making it more proactive; and more individualized…

Deplores the current drive toward cost efficiency, restructuring, and vocationalization of colleges of education. Cultural studies offer an opportunity to redefine educational theory and practice and educate teachers and administrators to play a vital role in renewing civic life. Concerned with empowerment and the democratic process, cultural…

Examined final-year undergraduate responses to innovations to determine whether positive learning outcomes in large classes are possible by increasing the range of work in which students are involved. Straightforward adjustments to approach and style produced both positive learning outcomes and an increase in transferable skills. (RJM)

Discusses a college course that employs the basic principles of constructivist education and promotes active learning through social interaction and personal reflection. The course assists students in developing a greater degree of autonomy that will help them in their personal and professional lives. (SM)

Discusses student empowerment and the importance of including students in planning and implementing conflict resolution programs. The paper describes the "Winning Against Violent Environments" (WAVE) program which trains students to be peer mediators who train other students and adults to be mediators and conflict managers. (SM)

Discusses the tenets of critical pedagogy, describing research on the presence of those tenets within discourse patterns and pedagogical practices in urban, community-based classrooms. Discourses and pedagogies of three female, African American teachers are highlighted, examining how teachers challenge students to consider alternate life…

This article discusses how the "Piirto Pyramid" of talent development was used with gifted elementary students and students with disabilities in an inclusionary classroom to motivate students to work harder. Students clipped and posted articles from newspapers and magazines that typified an aspect of the pyramid. (Contains three references.) (CR)

Students in a Winnipeg (Manitoba) alternative high school participated in a project designed to increase student voice in their own learning and in school direction. Studying emotional intelligence, helping plan a provincial student conference, and conducting research on student priorities developed real-world skills, increased appreciation of…

This article argues that the need for and right to communication and language is fundamental to the human condition. It contends that given the historic difficulties children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing face, a constitutional right to communication is both necessary and legally sound. Relevant case law is reviewed. (Contains references.) (CR)

The idea that children are not objects nor subjects but participants constitutes children as social actors with a part to play in their own educational processes and research connected to these processes. As a consequence, there is growing awareness that knowledge about children should be constituted on the basis of listening and hearing them.…

This article presents a structured psychoeducational group intervention for increasing social justice awareness, knowledge, and advocacy skills with upper elementary, middle school, or junior high aged students. The empowering students for social justice model is presented. A general framework that includes goals and activities for an…

Service-learning is a wide-spread educational strategy in K-16 education. Currently 64% of all public schools and 83% of public high schools have community service. Researchers have proclaimed the many benefits of service learning in terms of student empowerment, but does it have the power to create a counter-hegemony that provides an alternative…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) "R" is for Resilience: Schools Turn to "Asset Development" to Build on Students' Strengths (Nancy Walser); (2) Beyond Bargaining: What…

This report describes a program for improving the on-task behavior of at-risk students to increase their academic achievement. The targeted population consisted of high-school students in a growing middle-class community located in a rural area of a midwestern state. The problems of academic under-achievement were documented through data including…

The 38 essays in this book look back at language experience as an educational approach, provide practical classroom applications, and reconceptualize language experience as an overarching education process. Classroom teachers and reading specialists describe strategies in use in a variety of classroom settings and describe ways to integrate…