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The Communications Director of Pepsi co discusses the marketing campaign Pepsi Refresh, wherein the public is encouraged to come up with new ideas to "refresh" some part of their world, and with the votes of the public, potentially win grant money to fund that idea. It is both a great marketing tool for Pepsi, and a great way to get the public to be creative. I have come across the Pepsi Refresh project in my research, because there are some ideas from the public that include finding ways to incorporate play into people's lives. I think that this project is a great way to have people think about the change that they want to make in the world, and create a proposal for it that is compelling enough to get others to vote for them and make it happen. With the added incentive of possible grant money, people can think freely without the worry of "how could I actually make this happen financially?"

This article looks at the training of trainers, and also touches a lot on what elements make for effective staff training, and in that program integrity.

I thought this article was a nice portrayal of the action research process. It discusses how a school lunch menu was changed so it would be healthier for the kids. The children also get to give feedback on the menu. It's nice to see a positive change made with just a few people trying to implement something new.

Although my project is not necessarily geared toward evaluating an actual exhibit, I stumbled upon this site that is relevant and pretty interesting. This museum dedicates an entire section of its website to sharing evaluation reports of its exhibits. Most of their evaluations are conducted through observations and interviews, which gave me some ideas about how to design my own evaluation process. The Natural History Museum's evaluations are easy to read and might give others ideas about how to design effective evaluation procedures.

This action research project's purpose was to decrease off-task behavior in elementary and high school students using Cooperative Learning Strategies. This method of keeping students focused was interesting to me because I typically think of students' off-task behavior as being distracted or chatting with peers, but this method actually promotes working with peers in groups. It teaches collaboration along with social skills in the process.

This article, and the video linked on the page, talk about the use of interactive visual supports to help teach children with autism, and manage their behaviors. This research is important as the number of children diagnosed with autism increases and the as technology continues to progress. It makes sense that there would be technological advances in the special education field.

A video of three Canadian teacher's effort to incorporate project based learning into their curriculum.

This got me thinking again about inquiry and problem-based learning. Engagement and ownership while working through/with their own ideas allows students to grow.

An article highlighting the findings of a cohort of 14 teachers from high-needs, urban areas schools who have addressed the education dilemma in a report. The report highlights 5 things that needs to be addressed in order to change the effectiveness of how our schools current operate.

randomized control trials used in medicine to evaluate the effectiveness of drugs are now being used to evaluate policies -- some people get assistance; others don't.\nthis can be read in conjunction with the course reading by Muir, Hazel. 2008. Science rules OK: Running societies the rational way. New Scientist (24 May):40-43.