This report from the National Research Council explores how learning changes the physical structure of the brain, how existing knowledge affects what people notice and how they learn, the amazing learning potential of infants, and the relationship between classroom learning and learning in everyday settings such as community and the workplace. It identifies learning needs and opportunities for teachers and provides a realistic look at the role of technology in education.
In order to name and classify a plant they see, children use their existing mental models to provide the plant with a name and classification. In this study pupils of a range of ages (5, 8, 10, and 14 years old) were presented with preserved specimens of six different plants (strictly, five plants and a fungus) and asked a series of questions about them. Their responses indicate that pupils of all ages mainly recognise and use anatomical features when naming the plants and explaining why they are what they are. However, older pupils are more likely to also use habitat features. For both girls
Can the study of dance lead to enhanced academic skills? Dance is an art form that makes use of a wide variety of cognitive skills and may call upon many of the intelligences identified by Howard Gardner in his theory of multiple intelligences. Clearly dance involves nonverbal spatial and musical intelligence. Dance also may call upon linguistic intelligence, when students learn the verbal vocabulary of dance or when they discuss and evaluate a dance sequence. In what follows, we report the results of two very small meta-analyses testing the claims that dance instruction leads to improvements
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mia KeinänenLois HetlandEllen Winner
Can reading skills be enhanced by instruction in the visual arts? Arts education researchers have sometimes made this claim and have argued that the visual arts can play a strong role in the teaching of basic skills in the kindergarten and elementary school years. There are two possible mechanisms by which visual arts instruction might enhance reading ability, one cognitive, one motivational. The cognitive mechanism would involve transfer of skill. Perhaps visual arts training strengthens visual perception skills that can be deployed in reading.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kristin BurgerEllen WinnerUniversity of Illinois
This article reports on part of a larger study of how 11- and 12-year-old students construct knowledge about electricity and magnetism by drawing on aspects of their experiences during the course of a school visit to an interactive science museum and subsequent classroom activities linked to the science museum exhibits. The significance of this study is that it focuses on an aspect of school visits to informal learning centers that has been neglected by researchers in the past, namely the influence of post-visit activities in the classroom on subsequent learning and knowledge construction
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TEAM MEMBERS:
David AndersonKeith LucasIan GinnsLynn Dierking
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
An effective youth development-based training program includes such key elements as building trust, engaging participants, and setting high expectations. This article presents practical suggestions and a useful checklist for program planners.
Children thrive individually when they feel part of a group. Thus every youth organization must intentionally create an agency culture that promotes positive values and relationships. Using social group work theory and her own experience as an agency director, the author proposes a Model for Common Humanity: nine principles that can guide the fostering of an agency milieu.
This essay presents one practitioner's journey into the field of after school education. It encourages practitioners to maintain their passion while seeking ways to further examine their practice in the pursuit of excellence.
This article discusses the keys to successful field trips. The authors outline findings from eight years of studying self-guided school groups at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, including what they've learned about these groups and their plans for enhancing field trip experiences.
This article discusses the methodology, key findings, and implications of a 1998-1999 evaluation conducted by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum of its educational programming for school groups. The evaluation examined the impact of the school programs as well as guided future programming decisions.
This article discusses "The Big History Lesson," an educational program at the Michigan Historical Museum in which teachers and students use the museum as their classroom for a week for a lively, in-depth study of Michigan history. This project is a model of teaching and learning that makes a real world, hands-on, personal history connection for students.
The Milwaukee Public Museum will develop Adventures in Science: An Interactive Exhibit Gallery. This will be a 7250 sq. ft. interactive exhibit with associated public programs and materials that link the exhibit with formal education. The goal of Adventures in Science is to promote understanding of biological diversity, the forces that have change it over time, and how scientists study and affect change. The exhibit will consist of three areas. "Our Ever-Changing World" will feature "dual scene" habitat dioramas that will convey at-a-glance how environments change over time. "The Natural History Museum" will be a reconstruction of a museum laboratory and collections area to protray behind-the-scenes scientific and curatorial activities that further the study of biological diversity, ecology and systematics. An "Exploration Center: will bridge these two areas and will be designed to accommodate live presentations, group activities and additional multimedia stations for Internet and intranet access. Using interactive devices, visitors will be encouraged to make hypothesis, examine evidence, compare specimens, construction histories of biological and geological changes, and develop conclusions about the science behind biodiversity and extinction issues. Visitors should also come away with an increased understanding of the role of systematic collections in understanding biological diversity. Information on MPM research programs will be highlighted in "The Natural History Museum" section and will be updated frequently. Annual Teacher Training Institutes for pre-service and in-service teachers will present strategies for using the gallery's multimedia stations, lab areas, and Web site links. Special attention will be given to reaching new audiences including those in the inner city and people with disabilities.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Allen YoungJames KellyPeter SheehanSusan-Sullivan BorkinRolf JohnsonMary Korenic