mixed age grouping

• learning in the company of those who have differing levels of experience and skills
• sharing, mentoring, and having the opportunity to be both the "big kid" and the "little" one
• benefiting from diverse viewpoints and approaches

interdisciplinary learning

• the search for connections, parallels, causes, effects, ripples
• sharing viewpoints, sources, resources, factors, outcomes
• recognizing the connections among disciplines

mastery-based learning

• revising, finding errors, making corrections, and mastering material before moving on
• encouraging enrichment, connections, and horizontal as well as vertical growth
• revisiting topics at successive ages in a spiral curriculum

diagnostic and prescriptive teaching

• beginning where the learner is, assessing with a variety of means, and  designing the next step to fit the learner
• movement in small, logical steps, watching for signs of mastery, a need for practice, additional experience or re-teaching
• allowing for blinding insight and non-linear thinking and knowing

individualized, independent learning

• recognizing that the rapid acquisition and consolidation periods of learners may not coincide
• allowing for the "teachable moment"
• fostering the "light bulb" joy of discovery.

learning how one learns

• by observing one's own most and least effective strategies
• by observing others, and adopting and adapting what might work
• acting on suggestions from others including parents and teachers and observations of the ways in which younger children learn

learning how to learn in "classroom" settings:

• using books, study prints, media, and library sources
• learning from peers, teachers, media sources , and those who have "been there" and in discussions, lectures, interviews, and speeches
• participating in discussion, discourse, constructive debate, and process
• utilizing non-traditional classrooms by leaving the school for field trips, observations, and experiences off-site

learning the skills of learning

• the ability to organize time, materials and assignments
• the ability to break tasks into manageable "chunks"
• the ability to design a project, experiment, or course of study
• the ability to modify a plan when necessary and/or appropriate
• reading, for information and for pleasure
• note-taking, study guides, organization of materials

learning to preserve and present one's thoughts, learning, skills, and talents

• writing, for a variety of uses and audiences
• publishing/presentation via computer, pencil, pen, artistic illustration, photography, movie
• graphic presentations:  graph, map, timeline, chart, artistic rendering, cut and paste
• oral presentation
• conveying knowledge attained and evidence of learning; how to take a test