With all the recent updates and advances in education and the cognitive sciences, it's crucial that we update and advance how we teach. It is time for our practices to reflect a focus on the way people think and learn rather than solely on the product of that learning. This new edition of the bestselling The Brain-Targeted Teaching® (BTT) Model…

The paper reviews cognitive development during the sensorimotor period (approximately the first two years of life) and considers approaches to assessing multihandicapped, deaf-blind, or severely/profoundly retarded students functioning at this level. Evaluation and training of basic sensorimotor schemes (visual fixation and tracking, sucking, and…

The authors assert that teachers are inherently performers and as such, techniques from the stage enhance and expand a teacher's ready repertoire of discipline-based content. Using performance theory, the authors demonstrate how an educator can transform ordinary classroom experiences into occasions that attract and engage students. In this second…

Constructive-developmentalism is a theory of learning that incorporates two major concepts: (1) that students construct knowledge by organizing and making meaning of their experiences, and (2) that this construction takes place in the context of students' assumptions about and creation of knowledge. A gap often exists between instructor and…

Discusses the developmental process that takes a child from Montessori's "absorbent mind" period to the period when the child creates interior cognitive structures. Suggests practical ways for teachers and parents to support the six- and seven-year old's need to design projects and accomplish goals. (HTH)

The article reviews the development of infant cognitive assessment and describes selected tests. Considerations in choosing, administering, and interpreting the results of infant intelligence/cognitive assessment instruments are outlined. The usefulness of cognitive assessment is discussed as are new approaches to assessment. (Author/DB)

This document provides information about Science Unlimited (SU), the elementary school science effort of the Pennsylvania Department of Education. (The philosophy and characteristics of SU continue the earlier Pennsylvania science program effort entitled Investigative Science in Elementary Education.) The document includes: (1) a list of SU…

The third in a series of three booklets intended for parents of young handicapped children addresses cognition. The development of cognition is discussed and milestones charted from birth to age five. Learning processes are enumerated (using the senses, attending, exploring, adapting, imitating, and asking questions). Suggestions are given for…

The paper reviews definitions of differentiated curricula for gifted students and considers approaches for differentiation. Curriculum content can be modified by making it more abstract, more complex, more varied, and organized differently from the regular curriculum. Process modification can be accomplished through higher level thinking,…

Protocol analysis techniques, in which subjects are taught to think aloud, can provide information on the mental operations used by gifted learners. Concerns over the use of such data are described and new directions for the technique are proposed. (CL)

The article examines four question-asking practices that prevail in school: maximizing higher level questions, translating identified weaknesses into questions, using questions to create a shared context, and using questions to avoid explicit criticism. (CL)

Presents 10 guidelines that staff developers can utilize when assisting teachers in teaching thinking skills to students. Provides guidelines for both practical and theoretical guidance for developing workshop materials, conducting training sessions, and conducting follow-up activities. (AH)

The Skills Assessment Module (SAM) is designed to assess special needs students' affective, cognitive, and manipulative strengths and weaknesses in relation to vocational skills required in various training programs within a school system. Initial sections outline procedures and techniques (including paper-pencil tests, hands-on skill modules and…

The article reviews work conducted on the assessment and training of social skills in learning disabled individuals, outlining cognitive social skills and overt social behaviors that should be included in interventions, and discussing assessment techniques (such as behavioral observation codes and sociometric techniques). (CL)

Describes cognitive levels matching (CLM) as a process by which teachers informally and formally assess students' cognitive levels and adapt instruction according to students' needs. Discusses four informal strategies that can assist teachers in acquiring developmental perspective basic to CLM. (CMG)