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This paper illustrates a radical course design structured to create active and situated learning in which students participate in communities of practice within the classroom, replicating real-life work situations. This paper illustrates the approach through a People Management module, but the approach is also used across a range of disciplines such as History and Psychology. The Matrix Classroom is a two-stage format which organizes students, firstly into specialism groups developing expertise in a specific aspect of knowledge, and secondly into applied task groups in which they apply their knowledge to a particular case, industry, time-period, or event. The design creates two temporary communities of practice which allow students to participate by both taking leadership roles and acting from the periphery, thereby gradually increasing their exposure and confidence in authentic work situations. This structure creates a peer support network of elected student leaders from whom they can gain "specialist" support. The active nature of the student-led activities are designed to re-contextualize abstract concepts into specific problem situations, thus preparing students for graduate life.

This paper illustrates a radical course design structured to create active and situated learning in which students participate in communities of practice within the classroom, replicating real-life work situations. This paper illustrates the approach through a People Management module, but the approach is also used across a range of disciplines such as History and Psychology. The Matrix Classroom is a two-stage format which organizes students, firstly into specialism groups developing expertise in a specific aspect of knowledge, and secondly into applied task groups in which they apply their knowledge to a particular case, industry, time-period, or event. The design creates two temporary communities of practice which allow students to participate by both taking leadership roles and acting from the periphery, thereby gradually increasing their exposure and confidence in authentic work situations. This structure creates a peer support network of elected student leaders from whom they can gain "specialist" support. The active nature of the student-led activities are designed to re-contextualize abstract concepts into specific problem situations, thus preparing students for graduate life.

A central theme in this book is that there are many paths to literacy. The materials in this guidebook are intended to encourage those involved in teaching reading and writing to engage in dialogue and reflection with colleagues, to know their students well, to examine their own experiences and beliefs, and to generate and seek answers to their own questions by collaborative study of research. The guidebook builds and expands on two earlier Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) publications: "Learning to Read and Write: A Place To Start" and "Building a Knowledge Base in Reading." To make the guidebook a practical resource that will assist preschool and early elementary teachers and others in the education field, the materials provide a strong link between research and promising practices. The materials are organized into these sections: Learning To Read and Write: A Place To Start; Creating a Caring Community of Learners; Sharing Books with Children: The Heart of the Early Elementary Literacy Program; Teacher Demonstrations of Strategies for Decoding and Word Recognition; Storytelling, Story Acting, and Writing: Essential Language Experience for All Children; Nurturing Emotional and Aesthetic Literacy: Learning To Read the Heart; Monitoring Children's Progress; and Conclusion. Includes a handout section. Appended are a discussion of professional learning teams to enhance teaching and learning; an annotated 77-item list of children's picture books; and an annotated 48-item list of suggested professional resources. (Contains 315 references.) (NKA)