Observed all 12 kindergarten classrooms from a small town/rural Midwestern county for the full session on the first day of school to determine teachers' language and classroom practices. Found evidence of demands for entering kindergartners to process complex language, organize themselves and their materials, and comply with many new rules and…

Examines a case study relating to the delivering of an environmental law module at Staffordshire University (England) and describes the practices that were implemented to facilitate interdisciplinarity and learning of environmental law. Concludes that the changes to the environmental law course at Staffordshire demonstrate the possibility to…

Introduces this issue's Arena Symposium, which contains revised versions of papers presented in a session at the annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (January 1999) that focus on reconciling the priorities and balances between research and teaching. (CMK)

Focuses on henna, a natural reddish dye that is applied to hair, nails, feet, and hands. Provides a brief history and description of henna. Discusses how henna is applied, the importance of patience when using henna, and how students can create their own "Henna Salon." (CMK)

Analyzes the moral potential of drama through five theoretical lenses: (1) the nature of dramatic narrative; (2) the association between drama and learning rules; (3) drama as a public communal artform; (4) dialogue and dialogism in drama; and (5) the relationship among emotion, reason, and moral engagement in drama. (CMK)

Analyzes the confusion in the language of political economy in Great Britain that generates and sustains moral infantilism in the civil polity. Critiques the limits of recent approaches to moral education. Sketches the relationship between the use of interpretative understanding and Jungian insights in support of poetry in moral engagement.…

Reports on a comparative study of civic education in Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Australia, discussing educational policies, practices, and classroom climate. Explores adolescents' political attitudes and behaviors cross-nationally, specifically focusing on political interest, political efficacy, and…

Attempts to construct an account of how teachers acquire their professional identities as a means to informing professional development. Discusses four significant traditions (craft, scientific, moral, and artistic) in education. Considers implications for practice. (CMK)

Through use of two prepared surveys, Power Reader and Power Learner (from the Information Power Action Research Project by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Research and Statistics Committee), high school students can track their library skill growth during a research project and report and reflect on their reading…

Surveyed Montessori preprimary teachers concerning attitudes toward pretend play in the classroom. Found mixed feelings among teachers toward pretend play. By a margin of 2 to 1, teachers were dissatisfied with the training they had received regarding the role of children's play in Montessori settings. (KB)

Dewey-inspired educational progressivism in the early 20th century is generally seen as an urban phenomenon. This article traces a tradition of rural progressivism during 1910-50, centered at Teachers College in New York City, and explores the implications of that tradition for educators and rural education reformers today. (Contains 47…

Interviews were conducted with 92 parents and practitioners to examine their views of quality inclusive child care. Findings confirmed the two-dimensional view of quality inclusion to encompass both general early childhood practices and individualization. For each dimension, program features, resources, strategies, and outcomes associated with…

River Oaks Elementary is a public school in Houston Independent School District's Vanguard Magnet Program. Magnet programs are one of the district's ways of providing parents with choice in public education. The Vanguard program serves students who have been identified as potentially gifted and talented in intellectual ability, creativity, or…

This paper examines the effects of the playworld educational practice on the development of narrative competence in 5- to 7-year-old children. The playworld educational practice is derived from play pedagogy and the theory of narrative learning, both developed and implemented in Scandinavia. The playworld practice consists of joint adult-child…

The present study explores the relationship between sentence recall and reading and language skills in a group of 7--11-year-old children with learning difficulties. While recent studies have found that performance on sentence recall tasks plays a role in learning, it is possible that this contribution is a reflection of shared resources with…