Understanding the nature of the 5- to 7-year shift is essential if educators are to help children adjust to elementary school. The timing and quality of this shift is influenced by child characteristics, home environment, cultural context, and previous group learning experience. Since child development depends on children's engagement in cultural…

A survey of 840 employees received 273 responses (43 percent from managers/executives) demonstrating that the importance placed on work and career and perceptions of motivating job characteristics were significantly related to 3 aspects of motivation: career identity, insight, and resilience. Other significant variables were managerial support,…

Infants of five, seven, and nine months were shown two video images on monitors placed side by side. Images were accompanied by a soundtrack that matched one of the images. Results indicated that age-related changes in infants' coordination of auditory and visual depth information took place between the ages of five and nine months. (SH)

The conceptual views of homeostasis held by students (n=300) in seventh grade life science, tenth grade biology, and college zoology were examined. A biographical questionnaire, the results from two Piagetian-like developmental tasks, and a concept evaluation statement of homeostasis were collected from each student. Understanding of the concept…

The Directed Inquiry Approach to Learning Science Process Skills and Scientific Problem Solving [DIAL(SPS)2] is described. Concept mapping, advance organizers, Vee diagrams, the theme approach, and focusing are used to help students develop science process skills. (KR)

Discusses an evolutionary approach to human morality. Emphasizes the rapid development of brain weight, neural circuits, and synaptic systems during early childhood. Concludes that the human brain has resources for generating responsible, caring behavior but must be nurtured and educated. Urges that moral training in a proper social climate be…

A study of 13 14-month-old and 12 18-month-old children found that the younger infants relied more on gestures and fussing to express their physical wants, whereas the older infants relied more on vocal responses, especially when clarification of their wants was needed. (MDM)

A study (n=631) of children's ideas on motion of objects is reported. On three items of a four-part questionnaire, responses changed as the children matured, passing through distinct, successive stages with respect to their conceptual understanding. If teaching strategies to overcome misconceptions are to be effective, they must be appropriate to…

This paper examines the nature of communication taking place between suspected victims of child abuse and adults in courtroom and investigative proceedings. It focuses on the discourse requirements of eyewitness testimony, the child's developing ability to produce the requisite discourse, autobiographical memory, sociocultural factors influencing…

Reprints a talk presented to teacher trainers in 1990 that surveys thinking on language acquisition, specifically on the transition from orality to literacy, focusing on Montessori connections and applications. (HTH)

Restructuring requires that educational leaders have new frameworks for interpreting participant behaviors. Paulo Freire has defined characteristics of people moving toward higher thinking levels and decision-making ability. Combining Freire's thoughts with restructuring provides a conceptual model allowing leaders to interpret the organizational…

The articles of this special issue are summarized. A new model for schooling is calling for a change in which adults in schools can inquire into and reflect on their own and their students' skills and on dispositions that need to be developed as well as on adult development. (SLD)

Presents a developmental theory of mentoring proposing that mentoring enhances creative and intellectual growth as it facilitates task accomplishment uniquely characteristic of early life stages. How different levels of mentoring facilitate this developmental process is described. The synergism of creativity, intellectual accomplishment, and…

Proves review of potential roles that counseling psychologists can assume in meeting needs of children. Conceptualized within method of intervention dimensions, roles are examined relative to different childhood stressors whose impact is influenced by child's developmental stage. Provides examples to illustrate function of various roles in…

A study used the Three-Interval Forced-Choice Test of Speech Pattern Contrast Perception (THRIFT) to examine sensory-level speech-perception performance under the input modalities of hearing alone, speech-reading alone, and the two combined in 44 children (ages 5-10). Within each condition there were significant influences of age on performance…