The need to improve the presentation of religion in secondary history textbooks is examined by this symposium. Religious content, concept formation, and historical accuracy are examined in the report on religion in school history textbooks. A general discussion on the place of religion in the history of mankind offers insight concerning religious…

Intended for teachers of gifted students in grades 4-6, the guide emphasizes the need for specialized instruction in mathematics, suggests methods for teaching mathematical facts and concepts, describes approaches and materials to develop students' understanding of mathematical principles, and explores ways to build skills and creativity. Stressed…

In an effort to teach all children to read as early as possible, educators are failing to teach the basic prerequisites. A model identifies the basic prerequisites for the development of reading skills in young children and suggests a hierarchy of goal acquisitions. The prerequisites are: (1) language development and verbal meaning, (2) perceptual…

This English language curriculum resource handbook provides background information and techniques of instruction designed for instructors helping students to prepare themselves for the General Educational Development Tests in general language and literary abilities. It consists largely of fundamental concepts which high school graduates are…

The report provides operationally relevant concepts and guidelines for persons responsible for planning and implementing development projects in agrarian countries. A framework for describing or evaluating the conduct of development projects is proposed, and applied to the results of an analysis of 203 case studies of past projects. Influences,…

The inappropriateness of standard experimental research design, which can stifle innovations, is discussed in connection with the problems of designing practical techniques for evaluating a Title III curriculum development project. The project, involving 12 school districts and 2,500 students, teaches concept understanding, critical thinking, and…

A study was designed to determine the relative effectiveness of a series of landscape meetings and a supplemental illustrated landscape circular in teaching landscape design concepts to interested groups. The cooperation of county agents was secured. Five counties were selected as experimental; five, as control. Teaching objectives were formulated…

The purpose of this study was to develop evaluation procedures and to test the evidence of concept learning at various cognitive levels in an experimental social studies curriculum. A number of social science concepts relating to the use of natural resources were identified for use with Curriculum Model #1 on the Quabbin Reservoir system. A…

Egocentrism was investigated as an influencing factor in the development of the perceptual abilities needed to understand and interpret topographic maps. Attainment of an adequate concept of space, and the ability to accurately perceive spatial relationships (perspectives) are considered fundamental. Piaget and Inhelder identified three stages of…

A study was made to determine whether a structured language program for 2-year-old educationally disadvantaged children and a complementary structured language program for their mothers would significantly affect the language behavior of mothers and children. Twenty-four lower socioeconomic status mothers and their 2-year-olds were placed in the…

This experiment was designed to study the value of oral response as opposed to nonoral response in learning by kindergarten children. Approximately 108 kindergarten children were used. About 80 of them were placed in the two experimental groups (that is, the oral and nonoral groups), and the others were placed in a control group. Phase I involved…

This study investigated methods of assessing the effects of cultural deprivation in relation to school adjustment. The investigators developed new methods of assessment in areas of self-concept, (sample of 49 children) concept formation, (314 children) and value orientation, (45 children) The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (sample of 60 children)…

This study focused on the process by which stated organizational goals of a State Department of Education were transformed into the organization's real goals. The purpose of the study was to identify and examine (1) the mechanisms operating in the organization which aided this transformation, (2) the organization's real goal, and (3) the effects…

One of the major goals of the social studies is to help students gain and refine skills in the area of value clarification. Value sheets, carefully planned activities designed to elicit value clarifying patterns of language from students, are one way of securing value clarification. Sheets, planned in conjunction with ongoing units of instruction,…

Instructional task variables of analytical explanation and sequence were studied in two experiments to assess the systems approach proposition of efficiency and effectiveness in concept learning. The independent variable of analytical explanation consisted of two components: a procedure for focusing the subject's attention on the critical…