SHAPES--an acronym for the South Plains Child Care Management Services (SpCCMS) Helping, Assisting and Preparing Educators and Staff--is also the name of a preschool readiness curriculum that is being developed for use by administrators and teachers. The first phase of the curriculum development consists of the publication of five books to be used…

A study was designed to test the hypothesis that a descriptive-type learning cycle was insufficient to stimulate students to reason at a reflective level or to develop an understanding of, and facility with, the processes of scientific investigation. In order to test the hypothesis, four classes of ninth-grade physical science students (n=100)…

A total of 271 students in the 2nd, 7th, and 12th grades from the midwest, northeast, and southeast regions of the United States were surveyed. The survey consisted of fact-based questions about the recent events in the Persian Gulf, and questions designed to elicit value judgments about the international role and current leaders of the United…

These proceedings report the results of 10 years of ongoing research by the Malaysian Child Development Project to develop and implement measures to study the cognitive, language, and socioemotional development of Malaysian preschool children. Part 1 of the report contains opening speeches delivered by conference organizers and dignitaries. Part 2…

This study describes the steps taken to measure the integrity of an intermediate concept measure and test the assessment strategy of a well-validated dental ethics curriculum. Because this curriculum, which had been in place for 15 years, had consistently been shown to influence moral judgment, it was posited that a cross-sectional comparison…

This book is a collection of essays forming a mosaic of theory, research, and practice directed at the task of spreading mathematical knowledge based on the learning theory of constructivism. The authors collectively address questions raised by the observation that current practice frequently generate in the student an aversion to mathematics.…

Problem solving has been a concern of science education for at least three quarters of a century. This book presents a comprehensive review of the research that has occurred in problem solving. The studies included in this summary range across the continuum. Some are concerned with gaps between conditions and resolutions; some involve science…

Examining the question, "Why are children not mastering what they ought to be learning in school?," this book merges cognitive science with educational agenda to show how incompatible children's minds and natural patterns of learning are to current educational materials, practices, and institutions, making a case for restructuring the…

This booklet reports and comments upon recent trends and issues that have influenced the education of children under age 5 in the United Kingdom. It is based on over 300 inspections of nursery and primary schools undertaken between 1985 and 1988. Following a brief introduction that outlines the educational provisions for preschoolers in the United…

A South African project investigated effective methods of English language instruction for educationally disadvantaged black gold mine workers. Four instructors taught eight 3-week intensive classes, four by traditional language teaching methods and four by methods used at the Institute for Language Teaching of the University of Stellenbosch…

Cognitive science research offers hope for the development of innovative science teaching strategies that facilitate the development of optimally interconnected procedural and declarative knowledge networks. Improving students' neural networks should improve their abilities to think critically, reason logically, learn more efficiently, and solve…

The predictive properties of the Gesell School Readiness Screening Test (GSRT) were examined, taking into account the stated purposes of the test and the context of test use. Two samples were used: (1) a control sample of 55 students (21 males and 34 females) whose GSRT scores were not used for placement or tracking; and (2) a treatment sample of…

Originally developed for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on developing thinking skills through literature is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a lecture giving an overview on the topic; the…

The continuation of an earlier study examined to what extent students change in their use of evaluative criteria in writing between the fifth and sixth grade. Twenty-five students were interviewed in fifth and sixth grade. In the fifth grade, all students were taught writing by the same teacher who emphasized student choice of topic, recursive…

Presented in this paper are a selective review and summary of recent research findings concerning the adult's role in infant development. After an introduction setting forth assumptions guiding the selection of issues and findings, the first section discusses research on parent/infant interaction. Some of the classic concepts of infant…