Computer games are no longer just for entertainment; they have also become a useful instructional strategy for acquiring knowledge. When games are used for purposes other than strict entertainment they become serious games. The goal of serious games is to enable the player to learn a task, master a strategy or develop a skill. Serious games can be…

The National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) was appointed in 2002 and carried out its work under the auspices of the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). NELP's primary goal was to identify interventions, parenting activities, and instructional practices that promote the development of children's early literacy skills. The National Institute…

The purpose of this guide is to provide analyses and advice that help philanthropists determine where their capital can have the greatest impact in the lives of U.S. disadvantaged students. To meet this objective, three critical questions were addressed: What is a meaningful change to target? What activities lead to that change for at-risk…

A review of research on fathering and research on men employed in work with young children in centers and in elementary schools emphasises the importance of positive male engagement with young children for their optimal development. Research also reveals the complexity of studying these relationships and the barriers in families and in society…

Science and social studies have much to offer to all learners--including those with disabilities. However, instruction in these subjects has often been overlooked in the quest to better understand and improve leaning in English/language arts and mathematics. As we demonstrate in this paper, science and social studies help students attain skills,…

Recognizing the pressing need to explore the issues surrounding education, incarceration, and reentry, the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Urban Institute hosted the Reentry Roundtable on Education on March 31 and April 1, 2008, at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. The two-day…

These 12 papers are part of the study materials for the one-semester distance education unit, Project Development Plan 2, in the Open Campus Program at Deakin University (Australia). They examine the breadth and depth of the actions and debates around the social construction of skill and the critical role played by the concept of skill in the…

As part of an effort to develop a skill-based education program for students that relates academic skills with workplace skills, the Community College of Rhode Island developed a working instructional model consisting of 6 areas, or strands, and 31 skills. The model is directed at students in grades 9 through 12 and recognizes the importance of…

A study examined the attitudes of individuals who had held positions in hotels or restaurants in which they received tips. Telephone interviews were conducted with 751 adults across the United States who were currently/formerly employed in a position in which gratuities constitute a significant portion of their compensation. The interview…

Five lesson plans, designed for integrated English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and content instruction at the kindergarten level, are presented. All have the general topic of animal life; the specific lesson topics include: animal characteristics and habitats; drawings of habitats; oral language, questions, and categories; caterpillar…

This report describes a practicum that was designed to improve the social skills of eight preschool children with autism or Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), through interactions with their typically developing peers. The children were taught in a classroom with eight typically developing children using a regular…

This project attempted to identify differences in the communicative skills of American Indians compared to other applicants for employment in the food service industry and conducted a demonstration training program to improve both verbal and nonverbal communication skills. The study developed out of a perceived lack of communicative competence…

This paper reviews research on the family's influence on adolescent academic achievement and other related school outcomes and the few existing empirical studies of relevant prevention and intervention programs. Research on family processes has identified salient factors that impact crucial features of the parent-teen relationship. These include…

A study was undertaken to investigate the validity of a progress test, the Maastricht Progress Test, that was designed to measure knowledge and clinical reasoning growth in a problem-based medical curriculum. Scores and subscores of about 40 students per year (total sample of 195) on the different categories of the progress test were compared with…

This text reviews academic, emotional, motivational, and social learning theories that help children to be their own teachers and teachers to be aware of the advantages of taking charge of one's own learning, rather than depending on teacher education methodology. Learning is described as more than learning facts and figures or directive…