What Waldorf Education Offers Children, Parents and Teachers
Waldorf education, an established and growing independent school movement, continues to be shaped and inspired by Rudolf Steiners numerous lectures on education.
Jeffrey A Kottler states that multiculturalism has become so politically correct that authentic feelings and honest opinions are reserved and limited to the teachers' lounge. What is described as sensitivity to diversity is often transformed into a degree of caution in which people no longer say what they really think. In this book, Kottler presents an honest, intimate and provocative look at issues related to culture, and suggests ways in which teachers can make their classroom more vibrant and culturally responsive.
The focus of this helpful book is on using the community as a classroom for students to gain `real-world' experience. Neal A Glasgow offers examples of activities that utilize community resources, provides clear instruction for recruiting and using community mentors, and addresses insurance and liability issues for students who are involved in learning activities away from school. He also describes the project portfolio that students will present as part of their final assessment.
Using a combination of participant observation and interviews with teachers, parents and students, Rosetta Marantz Cohen explores a high school's efforts in the United States to implement broad-based curricular change. The book vividly illustrates the impact of change on an often resistant institution. From her observations, Cohen draws up a series of recommendations for those considering embarking on similar site-based reform initiatives.
This is a complete guide to the multiage grouping of students. Learning Together discusses the theory behind and practice of multiage classrooms, and explores its curricular, instructional and assessment elements. The book incorporates case studies of four schools which have implemented a multiage configuration.
This is a complete guide to the multiage grouping of students. Learning Together discusses the theory behind and practice of multiage classrooms, and explores its curricular, instructional and assessment elements. The book incorporates case studies of four schools which have implemented a multiage configuration.
The education system in the United States, and its principle of creating equal opportunity in a democratic society, is failing many children. Dissatisfaction with the system has never been higher. Based on a study of New York schools, this comprehensive book examines how social justice issues relate to outcome equity in education, and suggests ways of using resources more effectively in order to improve learning results.
`Throughout the book general points are given a concrete illustration by reference to specific examples of special education research. The breadth of reference is a strength of the text, with a bias towards work on deafness and hearing impairment, in which Mertens has a particular interest. Wherever such illustrations are offered, the book comes alive.... there are few sources for a wide range of short accounts of examples of the practice of research in special education. This short book is a convenient and well-organized addition to them' - Division of Educational and Child Psychology Newsletter This book explores ways to adapt research methods from other disciplines to the special education context and provides the reader with a framework for critically analyzing and conducting research in areas where people with disabilities live, learn and work. Identifying people with disabilities as heterogenous cultural groups, and including such disabilities as blindness, learning difficulties and deafness, the authors discuss the implications for planning, conducting and writing research. Topics examined include: the development of research questions; identification of special education populations; sampling issues; appropriate quantitative and qualitative techniques; interpretation issues in data analysis; and directions for future research such as early intervention and school-linked services.
The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies
In this provocative and broad-ranging work, a distinguished team of authors argues that we are now seeing fundamental changes in the ways in which scientific, social and cultural knowledge is produced. They show how this trend marks a distinct shift towards a new mode of knowledge production which is replacing or reforming established institutions, disciplines, practices and policies. Identifying a range of features associated with this new mode - reflexivity, transdisciplinarity, heterogeneity - the authors illustrate the connections between these features and the changing role of knowledge in social relations. While the main focus is on research and development in science and technology, the book outlines the changing dimensions of social scientific and humanities knowledge. The relations between the production of knowledge and its dissemination through education are also examined. "The New Production" of Knowledge places science policy and scientific knowledge in its broader context within contemporary societies. It will be essential reading for all those concerned with the changing nature of knowledge, the social study of science, educational systems, and with the relations between R&D and social, economic and technological development.
