MSU Extension - Resources for Extension Institutes: Children & Youth Insitute

Informal learning, also called free choice learning or out-of-school time, is a relatively new field that has grown exponentially in the past 15 years. Research on the learning and teaching that takes place in these non-traditional, non-classroom environments, such as museums, gardens, afterschool and community programs, has enjoyed tremendous growth; yet we still need to understand much more, and more deeply, how people actually interact, participate and learn in such settings.

The Handbook of Youth Mentoring is a state-of-the art compilation of the research, practice and application of best practices in the field of youth mentoring. The First Edition won the award by SRA for the best edited book, and the new edition, aims to increase its focus on practical application and implementation of best practices.

The SAGE Handbook of Mentoring provides a scholarly, comprehensive and critical overview of mentoring theory, research and practice across the world. The chapters are organised into four areas: The Landscape of Mentoring The Practice of Mentoring The Context of Mentoring Case Studies of Mentoring Around the Globe This Handbook is a resource for mentoring academics, students and practitioners across a range of disciplines including business and management, education, health, psychology, counselling, and social work.

Designed to be a one-stop resource for mentors, this guide doesn't flinch from the tough problems. Organized topically by issue, the book provides mentors with advice they need both in the ever-changing and sometimes challenging mentoring relationship and within the parameters of a mentoring program. For mentors, the book addresses the rewards as well as the risks of mentoring, while program leaders can use the challenges and solutions to help mentors understand their roles and equip them to handle tough mentoring issues.

The Encyclopedia of Applied Developmental Science is the authoritative source that encompasses the entire range of concepts and topics involved in the study of applied developmental science. Its contents and levels have broad appeal across the diverse audiences interested in how the application of knowledge about human development can be used to enhance the lives of individuals, families, and communities. It includes entries written in an authoritative but not overly technical manner by the broad range of scholars and practitioners involved in applied developmental science.

Deep understanding of child development, best educational practices based on development, emergent curriculum, cultural competence and applications of family systems are necessary for high-quality early education.The SAGE Encyclopedia of Contemporary Early Childhood Education presents advanced research, accurate practical applications of research, historical foundations and key facts from the field of contemporary early childhood education. Through approximately 450 entries, this work includes all areas of child development - physical, cognitive, language, social, emotional, aesthetic - as well as comprehensive review of best educational practices with young children, effective preparation for early childhood professionals and policy making practices.

Children spend more time in school than in any social institution outside the home. And schools probably exert more influence on children¿s development and life chances than any environment beyond the home and neighbourhood. The purpose of this book is to document some important ways schools influence children's development and to describe various models and methods for studying schooling effects.

4-H, the iconic rural youth program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has enrolled more than 70 million Americans over the last century. As the first comprehensive history of the organization, The 4-H Harvest tracks 4-H from its origins in turn-of-the-century agricultural modernization efforts, through its role in the administration of federal programs during the New Deal and World War II, to its status as an instrument of international development in Cold War battlegrounds like Vietnam and Latin America.

Raise masterfully combines vivid accounts from a little-known subculture with a broader analysis of agriculture education today, using 4-H as a lens through which to view the changing landscape of farming in America and the rest of the world. Lively, deeply informed, and perceptive in its analysis, Raise provides answers to complex questions about our collective concern over the future of food.

Science Literacy studies the role of science literacy in public support of science. This report synthesizes the available research literature on science literacy, makes recommendations on the need to improve the understanding of science and scientific research in the United States, and considers the relationship between scientific literacy and support for and use of science and research.

This book concentrates exclusively on the dialogic turn in the governance of science and the environment. The official aim is to involve citizens in processes of decision-making on scientific and environmental issues, including issues relating to the built environment such as urban planning.

In Citizen Science, experts from a variety of disciplines share their experiences of creating and implementing successful citizen science projects, primarily those that use massive data sets gathered by citizen scientists to better understand the impact of environmental change.