Music learning and music performance involve all aspects of the individual: cognitive, emotional, social, and psychomotor. John Feierabend shows that music requires a special kind of intellectual process that is unique to the discipline. Brain density reaches its peak in a child's first few years of life; hence, as with language, music learning…

Challenges the reports of California's "success" with early childhood education. (IRT)

A readiness room in a public school in Derry, N. H. and its program for six-year-olds who are too immature for the first grade are discussed. (DB)

The current trend of hurrying a child's development, as evidenced by the popularity of disposable pants for toilet training, is criticized. The pants frustrate both parents and children and, it is concluded, serve no useful purpose in the toilet-learning process. (LB)

Discusses the concept of bioplasmic forces--the foundation of human growth, regeneration of cells, and life energy--and the relationship between physical and mental development of the child, focusing on the theory that premature or forced learning may cause intellectual or academic retardation. (TO)

Fractions and algebra are critically important components of the mathematics education of the youth. Unfortunately, however, students have typically struggled in these areas. For this reason, teachers and researchers have focused their attention on these topics for at least the past century. This article discusses what research shows regarding…

Author believes in starting children in school on the basis of behavioral age rather than chronological age. (Editor)

Child development theorists, researchers, and educators have long known that play is one of children's most valuable resources, vital to their social, emotional, and cognitive growth. Through play children make sense of the world around them and work through new experiences, ideas, and feelings. But in recent years, a host of social forces and…

For decades researchers have been aware of the extraordinary development of a child's brain during the first five years of life. Recent advances in neuroscience have helped crystallize earlier findings, bringing new clarity and understanding to the field of early childhood brain development. Children are born ready to learn. They cultivate 85…

Reviews research on "critical periods" as an argument justifying initiatives to expand early childhood programs, and asserts that a critical periods argument is neither warranted nor necessary, since other justifiable arguments for early childhood initiatives exist. Points out the importance in a match between a child's experiences,…

This research extends the range of domains within which children's gestures are found to play an important role in learning. The study involves children learning about balance, and the authors locate children's gestures within a relevant model of cognitive development--the representational redescription model (A. Karmiloff-Smith, 1992). The speech…

Presents a critical response to Bloom's thesis that all persons can learn if provided with appropriate prior and current conditions of learning. Unexamined assumptions regarding individual similarities are questioned. Logic supporting the thesis, practicality of the thesis, and unpursued implications are examined. (Author/DB)

Assesses Vertical Home Start, a program which provided children with readiness enrichment over a period of three years while the children were from two to five years of age. Results indicate that there is little durability to short-term verbal gains. However, longitudinal assessment is advised since some scores do vacillate. (HMV)

Although the concept of learning readiness has been recognized for over a century, the term readiness did not appear until the 1920s. Readiness efforts must be considered in terms of their effect on the quality of life for young children, and continued evaluation of activities must take place in these terms. (JN)