For the field of human development, the synthesis of older theories of the environment, newer context theories, biological theories, and systems theories permit the generation of new models for the developmental process. This paper reviews, compares, and contrasts recent theories of development and presents a synthesis that can guide future…

This guide presents individual and school-based strategies to help teachers deal with stress and burnout. The following individual strategies are briefly described: biofeedback, buddy system, childhood energy, conflict management, desensitization, dreams, exercise, humor, ideology, imaging, leaving stress behind, looking forward, making lists,…

This handbook was created by 138 Colorado educators statewide to provide their colleagues with exciting ideas for infusing life skills into the school curriculum. This handbook offers a wide variety of practical learning experiences for elementary through high school level students in three broad categories: career development; independent living;…

This paper recounts the author's removal as an Indian child to a non-Indian foster home and consequent alienation and identity crisis, and presents survey results from Indian adults with similar childhood experiences. The problems in this particular case began when, at age 5, the author moved with her family from the reservation to an urban…

There is an urgent need for young people to learn to know the natural world of which they are a part. Outdoor education is the only means by which people can recover their stone-age identity and discover that they are wildlife, no different in the basics of life than any other species. For most of their story, human beings lived in harmony with…

The theory of transformative learning, the process of making meaning of one's experience, emerged from the work of Jack Mezirow and has been explored through numerous research studies and critiques over the last 20 years. The purpose of this monographic is to provide greater insight into the transformative learning theory. The paper begins with an…

A study of higher education graduates participating in South Australian technical and further education (TAFE) courses concentrated on the reasons they chose TAFE courses and how appropriate they found them. Survey instruments were developed, and a census of 3,731 higher education graduates who enrolled in the South Australia Department of…

Adolescents today have to live with incoherence for longer periods than before, and that makes ambiguity tolerance a socially significant personality dimension. Studies of the development of ambiguity tolerance in adolescents are reported. The pilot study, "Adaptation of MAT-50 for Use with Bulgarian Population," involves translation and…

Ways in which organizations can enhance their use of "360-degree feedback" are presented. The book begins with a review of the process itself, emphasizing that 360-degree feedback should be a core element of self-development. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 describes how to maximize the value of the process for individual…

This paper discusses a theory of the formation of social stereotyping and prejudice in children. This intergroup-developmental theory of prejudice has three primary goals: to account for the development of stereotyping and prejudice across multiple domains; to provide a developmental account of social stereotyping, outlining how developmental…

Originally written for students at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, this guide to child development offers an overview of child development for parents, teachers, and all adults concerned with raising children. Many of the book's ideas come from direct work with children and draw on Rudolf Steiner's approach to child development. The book's…

A simulation experiment demonstrated that the perceptual sensitivity of Swedish and Danish students at upper secondary school level varies systematically concerning the basic conditions for "personal growth." An attempt is made to constrain this concept contextually, in such a way that it can be described behaviorally. It is made evident…

Although Kohlberg and others have proposed that various social psychological and cultural factors may influence a person's level of moral reasoning, most work in this area has been conducted among relatively well educated persons in so called advanced societies. These two studies investigated stages of reasoning about moral dilemmas among…

Social scientists and educators who favor the developmental approach to values acquisition focus on the individual and his or her own psychological growth as the means to acquiring a healthy set of values. On the other hand, those who favor the transmission approach to values acquisition focus on the instillation of societal and group norms in the…

This study examined individuals' concepts of human nature in Germany, the United States, and Indonesia. Three procedures were used with about 100 subjects in each country. Only the second procedure, a presentation of a story involving a character's dilemma that has moral and social consequences, is reported here. In each culture, there were some…