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Chamberlain High School is small inner-city school within a school in a large urban district. Over its five years of existence, Chamberlain administrators have enlisted the aid of outside partners to help them realize the vision of an interdisciplinary environmental science theme based school. Partners include many university-based groups, as well as groups such as National Public Radio's Living on Earth, the Urban Ecology Institute (a non-profit university-based organization), and a local environmental literacy program. This study was undertaken to understand some of the dynamics behind those partnerships. Using activity theory as an analytical lens we found a set of tensions that drove many of the changes that have occurred between the school and its partners. In this paper we document these tensions so others who are working in similar situations will be able to leverage our experience and findings to support urban school change.

SLJ offers an engaging, law-themed curriculum, with the goal of providing a high-quality, 9-12 education to under-resourced students. SLJ's focus on the study of law builds upon the success and experiences of The Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice (BLGJ). BLGJ opened in 1997 in the South Bronx and has maintained 95% graduation rates in the first three graduating classes, with 90% of those graduates going on to college. Over its seven years, BLGJ has developed an array of law-themed courses that range from constitutional law to forensic science, and has established a successful internship model through which seniors spend three afternoons a week in courthouses, law firms, and non-profit organizations. SLJ was developed in conjunction with members of the BLGJ community including teachers, students, parents, and the principal.

"The University Iuav of Venice is a small university with 3 faculties, 14 undergraduate and graduate degree programmes, 15 master degree programmes, 7 PhD programmes and a limited number of students. Although small in size, the Iuav's specificity, that of being a theme-based university, makes it unique among other Italian universities. At the core of its educational instruction and research lies project design and planning in all its many aspects. The idea behind project design and planning encompasses the crucial themes concerning our daily lives: the system of buildings and objects with which we are in constant contact, the homes in which we live, cities and states of transformation, the landscape and territory with which we interact, and the governing of environmental processes. The programmes of the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Urban & Regional Planning prepare individuals to intelligently and skilfully confront the questions of architecture, construction, and sustainable territory management; individuals capable of developing opportunities and policies which bring to the foreground safeguarding the territory and landscape, city requalification, the conscious use of resources, and the right to fair and suitable housing."

School of Environmental Studies: Taking Class Outdoors At this Minnesota school focused on problem solving, the academic program and the architecture were designed to promote interdisciplinary project-based learning. More to this story.

It's All Happening at the Zoo School: Innovative Education with Practical Applications At Minneapolis's School of Environmental Studies, learning is about becoming an expert and solving real problems.

"In addition to core courses in math, science, language arts, and social studies, we offer electives such as art, environmental stewardship, forensics, Japanese, and science olympiad, plus a series of seminars focused on aviation and aerospace, including Aviation and the American Character, History of Aircraft Design, and Robotics. In each course, students complete projects that demonstrate a depth of understanding and skill related to our essential questions and schoolwide learning goals. The more complex projects are developed in collaboration with industry experts, such as a wing-design engineer, a transit planner, an Arctic researcher, and a local river-cleanup coalition. "