Noting that young children's initial writing efforts are often dismissed as insignificant scribbling, a study explored children's emerging understandings about written language as indicated by the changes in 47 preschool children's autographs. Throughout a school year children were asked to write their names and draw pictures of themselves.…

To understand and describe a developmental learning progression of choices students make in forming chains of relationships in their narrative texts, a study used the Cohesive Harmony Index to measure cohesion in children's written narratives. Data were obtained from 36 grade school children at intervals of four months over the students' first…

This study investigated the effects of three instructional strategies and student entry characteristics on student engagement and the acquisition of skills necessary for the construction and interpretation of line graphs. The strategies examined were an activity-based approach, a written simulation-based approach, and a combination of activity-…

Bilingual mathematics competencies and competency-coordinated activities are provided in the four sections of this curriculum guide for kindergarten (pre-operational) and grades 1-3 (concrete-operational) children. Topic areas for kindergarten include: classification (logic); comparing/ordering/graphing; quantitative; measurement; geometry;…

The role of the college or university in facilitating the ethical and moral development of college students is addressed. The views of Kohlberg, Perry, and others who have studied ethical and moral development are briefly reviewed. These psychologists suggest that there is a hierarchy or continuum for the development of moral reasoning. Colleges…

This paper describes the process by which student teachers in field experience programs transform present experience into personal knowledge through experiential learning. The paper is guided by the contemporary understandings about languaging; which include reading, writing, talking, listening, and the transformation of experience into new…

The music skill capabilities and deficiencies of students with mild mental disabilities, and general accommodations necessary for successful participation are discussed. Potential growth in music education is sometimes hampered by educators who underestimate the academic skills required within the typical music class and educators who…

As a means of investigating the current status of citizenship education in the schools, this exploratory study was designed to study graduating high school seniors' perceptions of their citizenship experiences. A questionnaire was distributed to four schools in Texas, Minnesota, California, and Arkansas and data were analyzed using Boos's…

A study was conducted at the University of Maine at Orono (UMO) to examine gender differences with respect to mathematical problem-solving ability, visual spatial ability, abstract reasoning ability, field independence/dependence, independent learning style, and developmental problem-solving ability (i.e., formal reasoning ability). Subjects…

Recognizing that the interest in improving basic skills in public education presents another opportunity for parents to become educators of their children, this sourcebook offers parents suggestions for initiating and continuing their involvement with the basic education of their children in grades 1 through 8. The guide is divided into sections…

This monograph on the development of teachers' careers synthesizes researchers' prescriptions for early-, mid-, and late-career professional development; and describes successful programs that demonstrate sensitivity to the stages of teachers' growth. The first chapter, "Teachers' Career Development," reviews current adult- and career-stage…

A 20-year study to verify Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development through a new research design, the Standard Issue Scoring System, is reported. Kohlberg theorizes that an individual progresses through several stages in attaining moral judgment. As children grow older, they are able to integrate diverse points of view on a moral conflict.…

It is time for the teacher education profession to take more systematic steps for the advancement of theory, research, and practice in the teacher education field. A cognitive-developmental perspective on teacher education curriculum avoids the choice between cognitive and affective goals by providing a dual focus on highly specific behavioral…

Learning to teach ought to be a major province of inservice rather than of preservice teacher education. A "learning to teach continuum" consists of four phases in a teacher's development. During the pretraining phase, which begins with the first childhood exposure to school, patterns and ideas of teaching are formed, and a model of teaching is…

Teacher career development deals with changes teachers experience throughout their careers, in: (1) job skills, knowledge, and behaviors; (2) attitudes and outlooks toward teaching; and (3) job events and advancement. A growing body of research indicates that teachers have different job skills, knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, and concerns at…