New Horizons for Learning Online Journal: Summer 2003

What is IslandWood? Pat Guild O’Rourke
Using the cultural and natural environment as a context, IslandWood’s primary goal is to help children and adults develop a commitment to life-long learning and environmental and community stewardship.

History of IslandWood Debbi Brainerd
By taking children outside the classroom-- by focusing on actively doing rather than reading or being lectured to-- children's academic performance goes up in every discipline. This knowledge became the inspiration for IslandWood as a model for hands-on learning.

Finding a Relationship To Place Through Natural Fiber Weaving Melinda West
Hands-on natural fiber projects derived from the local traditional cultures and native plants of any given area of the world can open a doorway to place, providing new skills for expressing a relationship to the land.

The Nature Journal as a Tool for Learning Karen Matsumoto
Recording observations and feelings in a field journal can be a powerful way for students to get to know their natural community and the geography of their home environment, so that they can develop that sense of caring commitment.

Technology in Environmental Education Clancy J. Wolf
How technology not only enhances learning but also helps students to explore and understand the world around them.

Sustainable Food at IslandWood’s School Overnight Program Greg Atkinson
Through the process of eating we are linked to our environment more intimately than any other activity in which we engage. We learn at the table how to be human in the most fundamental ways.

Understanding the Foodshed Celina Steiger and Danielle Harrington
Food education encourages children to learn how to examine the impacts of food production and agricultural practices.

Learning from the Land: The Power of Place Denise Dumouchel
Place-based education brings some of that holistic, active learning back into the child's life experience by demonstrating a connection between the classroom and the child's world outside of academia.

Inquiry-based Learning Through Animal Tracking Mark Jordahl
A single animal track is a gateway into a world of questions and understandings that can motivate students to direct their own learning about their surroundings.

Stewardship Projects: Learning That Makes A Difference Joseph Petrick
Stewardship engages students and gives them what John Dewey called: "the most important attitude that can be formed . . . the desire to go on learning."

School Partnerships Kristi Stoa
By building a partnership relationship with each visiting school, IslandWood helps schools to make the connection between what they learn at IslandWood and what they learn in the classroom and home community.

What is "The Art of Changing the Brain?" James E. Zull
The art of learning is the arrangement of the right conditions and challenges in ways that engage the learner, students have the chance to use their whole brain.

STUDENT VOICES
Please visit our Student Voices area for more articles on this subject.

The Environmental and Adventure School Danna Crewdson and David Perlmutter
Two ninth grade student authors describe their middle school, which encourages students to be leaders while learning about and experiencing nature.

TRANSFORMING EDUCATION
Please visit our Transforming Education area for more articles on this subject.

Transforming Geography in our Schools Kieran O'Mahony
We must perceive the need for geography in a modern world where our very survival depends on attitudes towards our planet and our neighbors.

TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES: Environments for Learning
Please visit our Teaching and Learning Strategies: Environments for Learning area for more articles on this subject.

Hands On Civics: An Approach to Increase Community Intelligence Milenko Matanovic
Students become civic planners by designing their own community and in the process begin to understand the complexities facing contemporary communities.

TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES: Character Education
Please visit our Teaching and Learning Strategies: Character Education area for more articles on this subject.

Roadmaps For Life, Notes From The Journey Midge Bowman
NHFL's president, former teacher and school administrator, and organizational consultant, Ms. Bowman shares her thoughts on moral education and challenges us to make acts of kindness and love a living thing among us.

INCLUSION OF STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: Teaching and Learning
Please visit our Special Needs area for more articles on this subject.

Strategies for Winning Over the Impossible Class Camille Clawson
A thirty-three year teaching veteran shares her effective methods to help students feel respected, loved and successful.

RECOMMENDED READING
Click on title for description

CityClub Boxed Lunch Diplomas and Jobs: Are We Fulfilling Expectations?
Seattle, Washington • Friday, June 6, 2003

Adopt a Stream Foundation
Everett, Washington • Summer 2003
Offers summer courses for teachers which include credit or clock hour options.

Summer Leadership Institute: Becoming A Social Artist
Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR • July 25th – August 3rd 2003
Dr. Jean Houston, Director of the Foundation for Mind Research, is hosting the Second Annual Summer Leadership Institute. The need for this type of program is right before us. You know the need. You have the compassion and the desire to help create a better, kinder world.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Education Center
A wealth of information for teachers, students, and parents.

Nation's Students Still at Risk James Harvey
Harvey, a professor of education at the University of Washington, contributes an especially timely and informative editorial about the current state of education in our country.