Two separate tests which measure children's ability to produce standard grammatical and phonological features when they speak, provide pre-instructional and post-instructional data to help determine instructional emphases. The structured response test, requiring 15 minutes to administer, yields a profile of group performance in the production of…

Experiences and communication in education can be seen as a cone with a progression in concept development from direct, purposeful experiences through contrived experiences; dramatized experiences; demonstrations; study trips; exhibits; educational television; motion pictures; recordings, radio, and still pictures; and visual symbols to the final…

This material developed as a resource in Los Angeles, California, is designed to assist teachers in the planning of social studies programs for grades one, two, and three. The ideas and suggestions are related directly to the two State textbooks which were adopted in 1971--"The Social Sciences: Concepts and Values," and "Voices of Life." The…

Based on the more general principle that all thinking (including reasoning) is basically perceptual in nature, the author proposes that visual perception is not a passive recording of stimulus material but an active concern of the mind. He delineates the task of visually distinguishing changes in size, shape, and position and points out the…

The experiences of a headmaster of a primary junior school situated in the older part of a large city are described. The point is made that the children in this school, with but little conscious awareness of what was beautiful, had within them an ability to create true beauty within all the media of the arts. This booklet is divided into eight…

This document presents some ideas about initial reading instruction in bilingual education. The bilingual programs created in 1969 seek the creation of equal educational opportunities through the use of instruction in a native language to children who speak a language other than English. Such programs attempt to teach two languages concurrently…

There has been disagreement among linguists and psychologists concerning the age at which children develop social perceptions of others on the basis of difference in speech. The purpose of the present study was to determine in what ways eight- and nine-year-old children from different socioeconomic backgrounds might react to dialect differences.…

This study examines thought, language, and related action in sixth-graders working to understand concepts related to mass, volume, and density. Students from a heterogeneous urban classroom worked in various social contexts including individually, in pairs, in groups of four, and as a class. Their work was examined via videotapes, field notes,…

Explores how to integrate history content and skill development in elementary social studies. Suggests ways to combine history, language arts, reading, and critical thinking, including teaching history through children's literature, story telling, story writing, and mock trials. Identifies community resources for history projects. Introduces an…

An attempt is made to elaborate on the connections and differences between the objective and subjective elements of mathematical knowledge using case study analysis relative to how an epistemological perspective about probability and randomness impacts upon a short classroom teaching episode. (19 references) (Author/JJK)

The relationships and possible effects of various personal home and school variables on the acquisition of functional biological, chemical, and physical scientific knowledge by tenth grade Israeli students (n=544) was investigated. Biology was the only subject in which functional knowledge was significantly related to nonformal science activities.…

Presents five activities to help students construct meaning for multiplying fractions through real-world problem contexts, physical or pictorial models, the recognition of patterns, and the use of calculators. In the context of a garden plot, worksheets examine various aspects of parts of plots, patterns in plots, and a maximization problem.…

Describes the use and rationale of "Silent Teaching," a teaching technique in which the teacher remains silent as students generate and evaluate hypotheses while trying to understand an as-yet undiscovered concept. (MDH)

A longitudinal study followed Brian from grade five through grade seven to examine his representation and development of mathematical knowledge. Some observations over the four years were that Brian liked to figure things out, responded poorly to suggestions not fitting the representation he constructed, and changed attitudes from purposeful and…

Evaluates the effectiveness of a course using a constructivist approach in reducing Dutch secondary school students (n=190) misconceptions about force. Concluded that the lessons were effective in changing students' ideas in regard to forces in rest situations and frictional forces and that learning effects were equally distributed over student…