Describes how putting the theory of multiple intelligences into practice in Montessori elementary schools could enhance students' self-knowledge, animate independent learning, and make learning communities more culturally inclusive. Suggests pluralizing the point of entry into a topic, building teaching teams to support diverse intellects, and…

Describes the main features of a new method for teaching religious education to children. Compares this method to other British religious education approaches. The "gift method" approach begins with the child receiving some easily understood component of a religion (song, prayer, material object) then progresses to a more complex…

Discusses interviews of third- and sixth-grade students and their teachers regarding their perceptions of what makes a student a successful responder in classroom interaction. Findings reveal that students designated by their teachers as "effective responders" could articulate behavioral and content features of effect response, whereas…

A four-phase study identified factors in teaching excellence, compared the teaching strategies of university faculty across disciplines, and compared these with the learning processes of students in their first and third years. Results suggest excellent professors prefer a deep approach to teaching, incongruent with students' more common surface…

Advocates adapting a postmodernist approach to history instruction. This would mandate recognizing the subjectivity of all knowledge including the historical record. Recommends embracing this subjectivity and focusing less on history as a subject and more on the development of critical-thinking skills. (MJP)

Defines a generalization as "a descriptive statement of broad application indicating a relationship between two or more concepts." Argues that successful teaching about generalizations can only occur when students understand the relationship between concepts and facts. Discusses four issues and four approaches related to teaching…

Briefly reviews the research literature concerning the overjustification effect. The effect describes the situation where positive reinforcement reduces one's intrinsic motivation for a behavior, thereby decreasing the probability that the behavior will be repeated. Notes the limitations of this explanation and recommends a broader representation…

Described is the use of peer teaching, to help students to learn the difference between surface and meaningful learning and to provide feedback to the teacher. The advantages of peer teaching to teachers and students are listed. (KR)

Classroom assessment procedures of 36 teachers in grades 2 to 12 were studied to determine the extent to which they measure students' higher order thinking skills in mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts. A striking finding was the absence of evaluation of comparative and evaluative thinking. (SLD)

Investigation of the monitoring behavior of Turkish children speaking Dutch as a second language found that subjects' use repairs increased or decreased with a certain age. A positive relationship was found between monitoring use and subjects' cognitive skills and second language proficiency. (27 references) (Author/CB)

Reviews seven papers presented by the Technical Committee for Education of the International Federation for Information Processing. Topics consider: undergraduate physics, high school optics, a mathematics lab with LOGO, simulations and modeling for secondary education, computer assisted instruction with biology, and mathematics of tomorrow. (MVL)

Reviews a monograph which addresses children's higher-order thinking skills. Suggests the following for teaching problem solving: identify and develop content-independent and content-dependent problem-solving skills, connect developed skills through workshop-style activities to subject discipline, and help students identify and reconstruct their…

Presents a writing method which allows students to reflect upon issues and ideas and thus encourage understanding and retention of social studies content. Divides the writing process into prewriting, composing, and postwriting, and offers techniques for each element. Includes methods for evaluating student efforts. (LS)

Reviews research on influences on children's symbolic play. Finds little support for the effects of child-adult symbolic play interactions on child solitary play. Discusses three theoretical perspectives that should support these effects: attachment, ethological, and scaffolding theories. Reconsiders the essence of specific variables affecting…

Response to article by Bornstein and Tamis-LeMonda in this same issue. Delimits the faults of the ethological, scaffolding, and attachment theories in assessing maternal effects on children's symbolic play. Concludes that environmental influences are important to, but are not necessarily the sole cause of, child behavior. (JW)