This article introduces a reprint of an 1835 article by Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard entitled, "Existing State of the Art of Instructing the Deaf and Dumb". It reviews Barnard's background and achievements (including 25 years as the president of Columbia College), his familial progressive deafness, and his advanced views on communication…

Provides an account of the design of the Lesson Planning System, a hypermedia performance support system (PSS) predicated on task performance to support novice teacher-education students in lesson planning. Reports on an initial research study to investigate the effectiveness of the software and discusses the role of PSSs in teacher education.…

Discusses problems with the validity and usefulness of students' evaluations of professors' teaching effectiveness and suggests it is the use of computers that has had a negative impact in this area. Describes another possible method of evaluation that would involve letters of evaluation by students for the professors. (LRW)

In a recent attempt to infuse her instructional design course at Penn State with the problem-based approach, the author began using real-world cases as the centerpiece for the class. This article describes the course requirements, how cases work, and probably pitfalls to this approach. Two sidebars include an Occupational Hearing Conservation…

Examines concepts from diversity theory and research using selected film scenes. Describes major workforce diversity concepts and then describes and analyzes film scenes for many concepts. Film continues to give the classroom instructor major resources for enhancing the teaching of diversity theory and concepts. (Author/AEF)

Relates the experiences of Sioux Valley School and the Deubrook Area School (South Dakota) in the Arts as Basic Curriculum Grant Program. Recounts these participants' stories as they modified arts curricula, which has helped students improve the amount of information they can retain and use higher order thinking skills to solve creative problems.…

Yoga creates a union of the body, mind, and spirit, and develops in the participant a conscious awareness of self. Noting that adventure education programs give participants the opportunity to come to a greater awareness of self, an experiential educator started combining yoga with adventure activities. Several anecdotes illustrate the mind/body…

Presents simple experiments using the flow of water from bell jars that can provide an easily visualized introduction to exponential decay. (Author)

Discusses an action research project in which two groups of middle school students were taught about cells using different kinds of visual aids. Finds that three-dimensional modeling seems to improve retention of information and facilitate short-term understanding of related concepts. (Author/WRM)

Investigated the teaching behaviors of 11 teacher educators working with early childhood education student teachers. Participants provided course syllabi and written descriptions of activities and assignments, then completed interviews. Most instructors philosophically aligned with constructivist epistemology, though few discussed constructivist…

Discusses the roles played by participants and the processes involved in a provincial standards-setting exercise for a large-scale assessment of student skills. Offers perspectives of a policy maker outside the exercise and an insider participant. Describes alternate notions of representativeness, stakes, and significance. (SLD)

Describes a model for group work with young adults from divorced families using an 8-session psychoeducational group intervention. Goals include reducing isolation, establishing connectedness, and building a stronger sense of identify. By educating young adults on topics such as assertiveness, communication skills, and self-esteem, it will give…

A focus on people--whether community members, students, historical figures, or fictional characters--and their motivations brings excitement to learning. A community's experts on everything from jazz music and Chinese tapestries to building construction can help students move inside history and other subjects. (MLH)

A study examined idiosyncratic environment-behavior relations associated with increased levels of problem behavior of a child with mental retardation and a typical child. Results indicated that idiosyncratic antecedent stimuli set the occasion for occurrences of problem behavior and that the behavior persisted in the absence of social…

Discussion of the psychological assessment of children with learning difficulties considers: the role of the educational psychologist, IQ testing, behavioral and curricular approaches to assessment, dynamic assessment, and the relevance of psychological assessment to educational practice. Conclusions call for more ecologically valid assessment.…