One Street continues our work with our local university, Prescott College, on the development of their course - The Bicycle: Vehicle for a Small Planet. This course won't run again until spring 09, so the instructor and I have lately been focusing on education techniques. After assessing with him the results from the course this past spring, I realized college students suffer from many of the same learning problems as our politicians, general public, health practitioners, traffic engineers and yes, even leaders of bicycle advocacy organizations! These include:

• Laziness - not putting the energy into learning something new.
• Excuses - whether their dog or their secretary ate the intriguing resource meant for their benefit, the result is the same.
• Resistance - holding onto old ideas even if those ideas have been proven to be harmful.
• Fear - of learning something new.

So, how do great teachers work around these human tendencies and nurture curiosity in their students that drives them to learn? I vividly remember the great teachers in my past who helped build my endless (and often times annoying) curiosity. But I can't say how they guided me that way. If any of you can recommend books or other resources on education techniques, please email them to me: sue{at}onestreet.org. This is not just for the class next spring, but for all of One Street's services to leaders of organizations working to increase bicycling. Thanks in advance!

Sue Knaup, Executive Director