Families and other caregivers play a major role in children's learning and success in school. Psychologists have learned a great deal about how families can help their children learn and thrive in the classroom. Through conversations with caregivers and extensive research, psychologists have developed ideas about how children learn, what helps…

iPads, iPhones, Notebooks, X-Boxes, PlayStations, Televisions, Computers. They've found their way into every corner of our lives. Add to that, the pressures of the modern education with standardized tests and crowded classrooms, and it seems that our children have lost the simplicity of childhood. Are our children losing their imagination, too?…

Instead of carrying bulging backpacks, imagine students carrying mobile devices that allow them to access information from anywhere at any time. How do we transition from print to digital learning in the midst of economic challenges? This breakthrough guide shows educators how to affordably make the shift to one-to-one computing and transform…

The Early Learning Guidelines: Nebraska's Birth to Five Learning and Development Standards (hereafter referred to as the Guidelines) is a resource to provide information about young children's learning and development. The Guidelines are intended to assist adults in planning and providing meaningful learning experiences and environments for…

This resource provides parents with widely held expectations for their child's development prior to kindergarten and ways parents can encourage their child's growth. Although a child's growth and development follows a general pattern, all children grow at different rates. Some children will be doing things earlier or later than others. There's no…

This guide will help policymakers understand and define the principles behind fusing core subject knowledge and higher-order thinking skills. Recommendations that reflect these principles will help policymakers support 21st century readiness for all students throughout a reauthorized ESEA and other federal legislation.

This article offers a guide for using collaborative story writing (co-story-ing), an assessment technique as well as a therapeutic intervention for children who demonstrate fears, extreme shyness and difficulty in establishing relationships. Co-story-ing draws from Gardner's Mutual Story Telling Technique. Co-story-ing guides clients as they…

Profiles the winners of a national photography contest for students who are deaf and includes the prize-winning photographs. Information is provided on how to sponsor a photography contest, including choosing the theme, size range, contestants, and timelines for exhibition. Ways to have the photos judged and exhibited are also addressed. (CR)

Describes a "hands off" directing style encouraging student actors to think for themselves, not to mimic blocking and line readings imposed by a director. Notes that this directing style is not always appropriate. Suggests that most actors (even teenagers) will undergo a journey of transformation from being themselves to portraying other people…

Narrated by actor Howard Hesseman, this videotape presents arguments for promoting art education in the nation's schools. Interviews with art education leaders, industry leaders, teachers, and principals reveal their convictions that adequate training in critical and creative thinking is necesseary for successful participation in the international…

Describes "Invention Workshops" that were conducted as part of science programs for elementary and middle schools. Three types of workshops capitalize on the history of inventions, the personalities of inventors, and the invention process. (RH)

Examines creative thinking in relation to modern instructional programs and information literacy and compares creative and critical thinking. Discusses teaching for thinking, techniques for sparking creativity, activities for creating a mental museum, synectics (a group creative process to create new insights), and creating meaning through story…

Discusses the "socio-play" philosophy of drama education as practiced in the Soviet Union. Outlines the basic structure of the Soviet educational system. Recounts a Soviet educator's practice of socio-play philosophy. (SR)

Discusses the need for teachers to foster the creativity of elementary school students. Describes creativity boosters for the classroom such as designing and defining new words, providing open-ended problem-solving situations, designing original inventions, presenting "what-if" questions, and providing tasks that require divergent thinking. (CR)

Three major ways that mentors influence their proteges are by heightening anticipation, deepening expectations, and helping proteges keep their creativity going. The role of mentor relationships is to find and highlight what makes the protege special and valuable and to facilitate the expression of this essence and the actualization of the…