Developing a School Focused Approach to Continuing Professional Development in Sustainability Education

This article has two aims. Its first is to describe how findings from a questionnaire survey of 96 UK primary schools influenced the theory of action adopted in the SEEPS Project, (Sustainability Education in European Primary Schools, 1997) funded by DGXI and DGXXII of the European Commission and Scottish Natural Heritage. SEEPS is a continuing professional development (CPD) project developed by representatives from 11 European educational systems. The first section of the article outlines how the Project came to adopt a school focused theory of action in CPD, in preference to a centralised or school-based approach. School focused CPD trains trainers and provides them with adaptable materials that can support individualised CPD programmes decided in and by the school and its staff. The second aim is to outline and analyse some of the more interesting inter and intra-regional relationships, correlations and differences which emerged from the survey. We have only included those findings that illuminate CPD provision in sustainability education. This article seeks to share data with others working in environmental education and sustainability education and to stimulate a debate about the relevance of school focused approaches in international discussions about CPD in environmental and sustainability education.     

The Butter Battle Book: Engaging children's thoughts of war

Her research interests center on the writing of children especially when they write in response to literature.     

Information-seeking behavior changes in community-based teaching practices.

A National Library of Medicine information access grant allowed for a collaborative project to provide computer resources in fourteen clinical practice sites that enabled health care professionals to access medical information via PubMed and the Internet. Health care professionals were taught how to access quality, cost-effective information that was user friendly and would result in improved patient care. Selected sites were located in medically underserved areas and received a computer, a printer, and, during year one, a fax machine. Participants were provided dial-up Internet service or were connected to the affiliated hospital's network. Clinicians were trained in how to search PubMed as a tool for practicing evidence-based medicine and to support clinical decision making. Health care providers were also taught how to find patient-education materials and continuing education programs and how to network with other professionals. Prior to the training, participants completed a questionnaire to assess their computer skills and familiarity with searching the Internet, MEDLINE, and other health-related databases. Responses indicated favorable changes in information-seeking behavior, including an increased frequency in conducting MEDLINE searches and Internet searches for work-related information.