Declining academic performance, along with a growing apathy of students toward the value of education, demonstrates that students in the United States public education system do not recognize the value of a positive experience in middle schools. A plethora of research and writing has been done on elementary schools and secondary schools, but…

The purpose of this conceptual work was to provide a theory of curricular change in music education. The author introduced a "Model of Psychological Dimensions," and suggested how it might help the profession conceptualise the nexus between the individual and society. Identity as a manifestation of cultural psychology, and the role and…

This study explores the usefulness of a creativity construct for arts education. It is hypothesized that an arts orientation is a valid personality construct, that this orientation is correlated with contrasting cognitive skills, and that these skills are manifested in creative behaviors. Sixty-five high school seniors were given the ACT Interest…

Purpose: In the USA, as elsewhere, there is an ongoing need to improve quality in higher education. Quality improvement models from business have not been widely embraced, and many other approaches to accountability seem to induce minimal compliance. This paper aims to contend that learning communities represent a viable alternative in the quest…

Discusses the Manhattanville Music Curriculum Project's concentration on the purpose, substance, and means of music instruction. Describes improvisation as the dominant means for teaching concepts, knowing how music works, and knowing how to make musical sense. Urges that the same goals of aural acuity, creative thought, and musical facility are…

The author discusses his opposition to gifted curriculum developed largely by teachers and suggests that real problems should be the focus of gifted programing. Two curriculum models are described according to four variables: the roles of students, knowledge, creativity, and teachers. (CL)

The need for developing a program stressing leadership skills among gifted, talented, and creative school children is considered and aspects of such a program are discussed. (PHR)

Suggestions are provided for including writing from personal experience as a part of the school's curriculum. The philosophy is that experience in the real world provides motivation for writing. (KC)

This book, a revision of a previous publication, "Dance: Creative/Rhythmic Movement Education", continues and expands on the substantive work contained in the initial publication. Building on the essential elements of the body of knowledge articulated in the first book, this guide presents a conceptual framework for dance and gives procedures for…

Discusses problems in evaluating artistic ability, changing views on the appropriate content and methods for art education, and new research that reveals relationships between artistic and other intellectual abilities; briefly notes several studies on art programs for the gifted and talented. (MCG)

Offers a systematic approach to creative learning in music through an analysis of the components of complex learning and creative activity. Outlines goals for fostering creative learning in music education, and delineates person, process, and product objectives. Suggests methods of evaluating creativity. (RW)

Presented is the stage-set design approach to classroom environment, in which the classroom is designed as a stage so that learning experiences and situations may become life-related and purposeful. (BD)

Analogies help students to unlock long-term memory and to project the implications of courses of action. Gives examples of how analogies can be brought into the social studies curriculum in areas like value claims and decision making. (CS)

Discusses effects on graduate sociology education of trends emphasizing quantitative methods and the positivist tradition at the expense of social theory and interpretive sociology. Argues that failure to develop sociology's interpretive tradition has allowed the style and intellectual creativity of sociological work to suffer. Urges greater…

Fifteen papers address issues in therapeutic recreation for disabled persons from the perspectives of practitioners, educators, and students. The following papers are presented. "Therapeutic Recreation Service: The Past and Challenging Present" (H. Sessoms); "Therapeutic Recreatiion in an Era of Limits: A Crisis...A Challenge... An Opportunity"…