Discusses ways to improve postsecondary library instruction based on theories of active learning. Topics include a historical background of active learning; student achievement and attitudes; cognitive development; risks; active teaching; and instructional techniques, including modified lectures, brainstorming, small group work, cooperative…

Supports expanding children's understanding of gender roles through children's literature. Describes the understanding of gender at different ages and developmental levels. Suggests the development of a classroom library collection that reflects a variety of gender roles and recommends titles for children of different age groups. Encourages…

Examines how the instructional conversation can be an effective method to raise the low academic achievement of various Native American students. Considers cultural differences in conversational styles, the relative emphasis on verbal or visual symbolic thinking in schools, student motivation, and the social organization of classrooms and schools.…

Explored the relation between types of peer behavior in young children to children's level of intention understanding. Found level of intention understanding predicted types of overtures made, types of objects offered, monitoring of partner responses, partner compliance, and types of speech acts addressed to partners. (Author/DLH)

Presents ways adults in Montessori 6-to-9 classrooms can help students expand their vocabularies. Suggestions for building vocabulary and understanding include using Command Cards to teach a variety of verbs, providing opportunities to play with words and memorize poetry, and making classical literature available. Maintains that lack of concern…

Reviews theory and research on mastery motivation in young children. Discusses Piaget's and White's perspectives on motivation, changes in mastery motivation during early childhood, how motivation relates to cognition, how caregivers influence mastery motivation, motivation in children with disabilities, assessment of mastery motivation, and how…

Extends dynamic model of cognitive growth proposed by van Geert in three directions: (1) added a term to consider exposure to material to be learned; (2) developed method to apply model to cross-sectional studies; and (3) developed procedure to scale cognitive abilities tests with items of varying difficulty. Tests model with 2- to 15-year-olds'…

Despite public skepticism regarding steadily increasing numbers of learning-disabled students, most experts agree that 5 percent of schoolchildren suffer severe difficulties with language and other skills. There are three explanations: remediation is ineffective after second grade; identification comes too late; and federal policies overlook…

Gaining students' cooperation in urban classrooms involves establishing an environment where teachers address students' cultural and ethnic needs, as well as their social, emotional, and cognitive needs. This article describes the management strategies of 13 1st- through 12th-grade urban teachers from seven cities throughout the United States.…

This paper comments on a critical review of cohort studies on PCB-related neurodevelopmental deficit in young children by D.V. Cicchetti, A.S. Kaufman, and S.S. Sparrow (CKS). Major points of criticism of CKS, namely alleged violation of statistical principles, presumed lack of clinical significance of findings, and alleged insufficient control of…

There is growing evidence that insecurely attached children are less advanced in their social understanding than their secure counterparts. However, attachment may also predict how individual children use their social understanding across different relationships. For instance, the insecure child's social-cognitive difficulties may be more…

This paper reports on a study of nursery children's responses to number focused activities. Responses were analysed in terms of cognitive, physical, emotional and social aspects in order to gain insights into what engaged children in number learning opportunities. "Cognitive-emotional hooks" for number activities were identified, involving…

Background: Previous empirical studies of the cognitive sequelae of failure to thrive in infancy have led to apparently inconsistent conclusions. Methods: Studies of cognitive abilities in failure to thrive were located through published bibliographies, supplemented by a search through MEDLINE. They were classified (a) into those in which the…

Children learn through movement and interactions with their environment and/or with others. For children who have physical limitations, this natural developmental process is affected. The use of assistive technology to enhance movement, communication, play and learning allows the child with physical impairments to learn in a more independent…

We review the main findings of the Jyvaskyla of Dyslexia (JLD) which follows the development of children at familial risk for dyslexia (N = 107) and their controls (N = 93). We will illustrate the development of these two groups of children at ages from birth to school entry in the skill domains that have been connected to reading and reading…