EDUCATING FOR FORMATIVE PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITIES OF FAITH

Participation is commonly desired in and out of faith communities. Garnering formative participation entails inviting and empowering others to participate in shaping and defining a community's identity. A community that invites formative participation may empower itself to likewise participate in formative ways in its wider communities. Such participation, at all levels, may be seen as participation in God's ongoing creation, part of our calling as beings created in the image of a creating God. Formative participation should and can be a central goal of education in the church. This article offers images and possibilities for educating for formative participation.     

‘Schools are no longer merely educational institutions’: the rhetoric of social efficiency in Ontario education, 1931–1935

This article examines educational rhetoric in Ontario, Canada, during the Great Depression. It notes how the government, through the Annual Reports of the Minister of Education, and the College of Education, through its journal, The School, espoused themes of social efficiency regarding educational ideas and policies. The Depression struck schools hardest between 1932 and 1935 in Ontario, providing cause and context for reflection and reform in pedagogy. While social efficiency remained within the educational discourse of the province, the notion was problematised in Ontario as the province began to shake off the worst of the economic Depression.     

Resources In Review

Abstract

The RFF Reader in Environmental Science and Resource Management , edited by Wallace E. Oates. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future. 1999. Paperback. $22.95. ISBN 0-915707-96-9.

Science through Multiple Intelligences: Patterns that Inspire Inquiry , by Robert Barkman. Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Press, Inc. 1999. Paperback. 165 pages. $39.00. ISBN 1-56976-096-9.

Earth Report 2000: Revisiting the True State of the Planet , edited by Ronald Bailey. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2000. Paperback. 362 pages. $19.95. ISBN 0-07-134260-5.

Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists (A Conservative Manifesto) , by Peter Huber. New York: Basic Books. 1999. Hardcover. $25.00. ISBN 0-468-03112-9.

Song of the Meadowlark , by James Eggert. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. 1999. Paperback. 145 pages. $12.95. ISBN 1-58008-034-0.

The Greening of Planet Earth: The Effects of Carbon Dioxide on the Biosphere , Greening Earth Society, 4301 Wilson Blvd., Suite 805, Arlington, VA 22203-4193; tel. 703-907-6168; fax 703-907-6161; info@greeningearthsociety.org. 1992. Color. 27 min 50 s. $15.00.

The Greening of Planet Earth Continues: The Promise for the 21st Century & Beyond , Greening Earth Society. 1998. Color. 27 min 30 s. $15.00 (or both for $25.00).

Nature's Nation: An Environmental History of the United States , by John Opie. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company. 1998. Paperback. 515 pages. ISBN 0-15-500219-8.

Visions of Paradise: Glimpses of Our Landscape's Legacy , by John Warfield Simpson. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1999. Clothbound. 387 pages. $35.00. ISBN 0-520-21364-5.

Beyond the Land Ethic: More Essays in Environmental Philosophy , by J. Baird Callicott. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1999. Paperback. 427 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-7914-4084-2.

The Morning After Earth Day , by Mary Graham. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. 1999. Hardcover, 153 pages. ISBN 0-8157-3236-8.

Natural Resource Management and Institutional Change , by Diana Carney and John Farrington. New York: Routledge. 1998. Hardback. 120 pages. $60.00. ISBN 0-415-18604-8.

Green Ink: An Introduction to Environmental Journalism , by Michael Frome. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. 1998. Paperback. 204 pages. $19.95. ISBN 0-87480-582-1.     

Finding Time: Practical Time Management for Out-of-Classroom Educators

This study assesses the validity and reliability of the Learning Styles Preference Indicator (LSPI), an instrument developed by the author. The LSPI identifies students' preferences for analytical or global approaches to learning new and difficult material. This instrument is easy to administer, quick to score, and produces information that will help teachers understand the way their students process information. By using information from the LSPI, teachers can design more appropriate learning strategies for the benefit of each student. This article reports reliability and validity correlation scores for elementary through adult students.     

Locus of control: A proposal for change

Environmental control as expressed in the internal-external locus of control construct- continues to remain unchallenged as a major association variable in academic achievement. Research studies aye cited that suggest that inter-riality may well be preferred to externality if one values power over one's destiny. The writer proposes a peer-teaching-peer strategy that utilizes the low-achieving External as the tutor, a reversal of the usual procedure. The assumption is that the External must experience and perceive personal control over another child in order to begin orientation toward a more internal outlook.