In this article, the author discusses the importance of early childhood play. Play is simply shorthand for everyone's capacity for curiosity, imagination, and fantasy--everyone's creative dispositions. What makes play unique is that it enables everyone to create new learning experiences. To illustrate, an infant who drops a rattle from the crib,…

Each year, Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) informs policymakers and practitioners of what children know and are able to do when they start formal education in kindergarten. This report provides a profile of children's skill levels as they enter school based on the evaluation of their teachers. It includes valuable trend data about…

This study analyzed learner characteristics that affect satisfaction in an online certificate program under two main purposes. The first purpose was to examine relationships among selected variables (age, gender, educational level, and online course experience), learners' initial perceptions (online technology self-efficacy, online learning…

There often seems to be confusion as to when young children should be ready to learn basic math concepts. The truth is, children are born ready to do mathematics. They show amazing competencies very early in life. For example, one can show an infant two objects as one moves them behind a screen. Then one more object is added. When the screen is…

The authors have been using components of team-based learning (TBL) in two undergraduate courses at the University of Texas for several years: an educational psychology survey course--Cognition, Human Learning and Motivation--and Introduction to Statistics. In this chapter, they describe how they used technology in classes of fifty to seventy…

This paper reports on the theoretical and political rationale for an assessment strategy designed to support the development of academic literacies and learning cultures amongst undergraduate and postgraduate education students in one metropolitan and one regional university in Australia. The "Critical Review" is an integrated assessment…

P-16 initiatives across the nation, with the endorsement of the National Governors Association, are striving to create a seamless education system from preschool through college graduation. P-12 and postsecondary educators are being asked to collaborate on a much deeper level. These efforts are rooted in the belief that "today's education system…

Research indicates that a socioeconomic status-related gap in mathematical knowledge appears early and widens during early childhood. Young children from economically disadvantaged families receive less support for mathematical development both at home and in preschool. Consequently, children from different socioeconomic backgrounds enter…

Any given child should attend school full time when three parties agree that the time is right: the child, his or her parents, and the school officials. Arbitrary starting dates based on calendar age are outmoded and educationally unsound. (PGD)

A readiness room in a public school in Derry, N. H. and its program for six-year-olds who are too immature for the first grade are discussed. (DB)

Advocates extra time between kindergarten and the first grade for academically and socially immature children to acquire learning skills and develop positive self-esteem. Includes three case studies of former transitional class students. (PKP)

Effective instruction must reflect a functional understanding of the present level of learning, based on the learner's situation and maturity. The Situational Instruction Model is designed to assist in the development of personalized learning. (JOW)

The current trend of hurrying a child's development, as evidenced by the popularity of disposable pants for toilet training, is criticized. The pants frustrate both parents and children and, it is concluded, serve no useful purpose in the toilet-learning process. (LB)

The Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale and Deterrents to Participation Scale were completed by 103 of 181 adults inquiring about continuing education programs. Such deterrents as lack of confidence and low priority correlated with low learning readiness. Other factors interacting with deterrents and readiness were gender, previous enrollment,…

A scale containing items rated by a Delphi panel of 11 nurse educators was administered to 201 nursing students. The questionnaire appears to be a valid and reliable measure of nursing students' self-directed learning readiness, overcoming some problems in the instrument developed by Guglielmino. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)