This article addresses the controversy concerning multisensory environments for children and adults with profound and multiple learning difficulties, from a British perspective. The need for critical evaluation of such multisensory interventions as the "snoezelen" approach and the paucity of relevant, rigorous research on educational…

What does learning in the outdoors involve? What are the benefits of outdoor experience--and learning? What approaches are effective? What are the benefits for teachers and schools? How can what happens in the "outdoor classroom" be best integrated with the "in-school" curriculum? The research summarised in this article…

A performance objective is a description of an observable task to be performed by a learner to demonstrate that he has learned something. Performance goals stated clearly in terms of observable student performance can be used to improve educational methods. Because it is relatively difficult to construct indirect objectives that will…

This observational study of inclusive education at a London (England) primary school examined relevant aspects of school culture, school policy, and school practice. Findings support development of a "connective pedagogy" philosophy and methodology. Effective inclusive schools are seen to have a shared vision, enthusiastic leadership,…

This collection of 10 papers is intended as a resource book integrating information on pediatric cochlear implants for educators, parents, implant teams, and rehabilitation specialists. The papers focus on the importance of providing an oral educational environment to maximize cochlear implant success. An introduction notes controversies in the…

The United States Information Agency (USIA) invited four Dutch educators to make a five-week tour through the United States during the 1985-1986 school year. The goal was "to award and administer United States Educational Development grants to qualified foreign educators...to enable them to observe educational methods and practices, to see school…

This discussion of ecological approaches to special education suggests that the relative neglect of the ecological approach is partially a result of the apparent incompatibility between ecological theory and conventional scientific approaches. It is suggested that ecological theory and positivism may be reconciled by broadening and developing…

Two types of adaptation can be conceptualized: the first dealing with the efforts of a child during the course of development to continuously improve the efficiency and economy of his or her intelligence, and the second dealing with responses to demands of the environment. This distinction is useful in conceptualizing the adaptive benefits of…

The research project describes a Providence-based non-profit organization called the Big Picture Company (BP), and its efforts to replicate its small high school design in multiple communities throughout the United States (with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). It refers implicitly also to BP's ambition (and that of the Gates…

Proposes that the U.S. school system purports to prize human variability, but many educators are engaged in activities that seek to homogenize students. Describes these activities, including diagnosis, labeling, ability grouping, and positive reinforcement. Presents suggestions for counselors to combat sources of cloning and self-validation. (RC)

Feminist analyses of the "chilly climate" have documented the ways in which women have been and continue to be marginalized within institutions of higher education. Yet there has been little attention to the relationship between the "chilly climate" and the lived experiences of particular populations in specific educational…

Promoting nonviolent school discipline, this handbook describes a wide variety of punitive and preventive approaches practiced in American schools. After introductory passages discussing resistance to change and the declining but persistent use of corporal punishment, part one discusses the following topics under the heading…

Kensington School is an elementary school in Milford (Missouri) School District built in 1966 with open classrooms and designed for team teaching and other innovative practices. A visit 15 years later reveals that the physical plant has deteriorated somewhat, most classrooms are walled off from each other, and innovative structures are not now…

The inner city child is described, and the differences between his school and that of his middle-class counterpart are contrasted. The author lists what he has frequently found to be affective constraints of recalcitrant inner city students: (1) poor school attitudes; (2) anti-societal (middle class) values; and (3) negative school perceptions.…

Proposes a theory for organizing information and activities in educational hypermedia systems and evaluates theory effectiveness based on implementation of a multimedia learning environment. Results suggest that self-paced interactive learning environments, multimedia information access, and constructive activities organized into cognitive media…