Outlines the use of a rubric format to assess student learning in art production. The rubric provides students a visual guide to the successful and deficient areas. It includes areas for comments on preparation, research, assignment goals, craftsmanship, originality, and aesthetics. Recommends student involvement in establishing the evaluative…

Reviews teachers' resources related to people and places. Most of these focus on the identification of geographic locations and historical biographies of famous individuals or groups of people. Includes discussions of reference works, audio cassettes, activity kits, and fiction. (MJP)

Presents a simple, yet effective method for drawing a world map that helps younger students remember the continents, oceans, and major seas. The only materials required are a ruler, paper, and a world map (a transparency would work best). Includes suggestions for related activities and ways to improve map skills. (MJP)

Video is an effective educational tool in English Literature classes when the teacher is creative in its application. Video has five specific properties which make it an effective instructional device: (1) condensing or expanding an experience; (2) making the invisible visible; (3) taking the viewers where they could not go; (4) eliciting…

This study examined how the use of Knowledge Forum (KF)[R], a networked, Internet-based learning environment, was related to the literacy development of 4-year-old children in a laboratory school affiliated with the University of Toronto. Over the course of the year, children participated in a longitudinal photo journal project. With adult…

This work began with a question about the challenges of nonverbal communication across cultures for both immigrant children in Canadian schools and a community of researchers. The question led to the gathering of an ensemble of researchers that included both adults and children. This article represents that collaborative group's approach to a…

So far educational adaptive technologies have proven their effectiveness only in small-scale lab courses, thus they still wait for being released to the large community of educators. Among the reasons, there is the difficult task of designing and authoring an interactive adaptive course, especially for non-technical group of educators. In this…

When analyzing young people's media projects, it is easy to get excited about "youth voice" as a site of free expression and social critique. Tempting as this is, media scholars, as well as young producers and adult mentors, note the varied, often contradictory, voices and interests at play within youth videos, photography exhibitions, and other…

The Visual Image User Study (VIUS), an extensive needs assessment project at Penn State University, describes academic users of pictures and their perceptions. These findings outline the potential market for digital images and list the likely determinates of whether or not a system will be used. They also explain some key user requirements for…

Even the youngest readers and writers in today's classrooms can benefit enormously from engagement with a wide range of traditional and nontraditional texts. This teacher-friendly handbook is packed with creative strategies for introducing K-3 students to fiction, poetry, and plays; informational texts; graphic novels; digital storytelling;…

This paper briefly describes the author's dissertation research covering the history of women as visual and audiovisual educators (1920-1957), outlining her historical methodology and tracing sources for such research. The methodology used was a discourse analysis of selected audiovisual textbooks and audiotapes of founders in the audiovisual…

This study determined if the use of visual imagery and verbal rehearsal would benefit readers who had third or fourth grade reading level ability. Readily available trade materials were used each totalling approximately 400 to 600 words in length and containing novel content to eliminate the possibility of prior knowledge. The study used the…

This paper attempts to merge specific psychological theories of knowledge acquisition, the impact of pictures on cognitive processes, and theories of effective pedagogical approaches to foreign language learning, in order to assess commercially available software for its effectiveness, specific impact on learning, and classroom uses. The first…

This study investigated whether a person with profound mental retardation could effectively learn specific requests using two different communication modes, both including the same set of graphic symbols. It also sought to compare whether the participant showed a preference for one modality over the other and to determine whether the participant…

This practicum investigated the effectiveness of using music activities to reinforce basic money skills with 10 students, ages 12 to 21, with mental retardation in the trainable range. The program used a combination of music and visual aids as strategies for reinforcing basic money skills and improving student on-task behaviors in the classroom.…