This paper presents an overview of the history of teaching in ancient societies. Discussion centers on the role of the teacher and the purposes of education in non-Western civilizations: India, China, Egypt, Persia, and Israel. The close links between formal education and social structure are noted as well as the influence of religious beliefs on…

Focusing on providing an interdisciplinary framework, the papers in this monograph attempt to synthesize knowledge about comprehension from the points of view of cognitive psychology, textlinguistics, artificial intelligence, and sociolinguistics, as well as from the more conventional perspective of language education. Papers include…

With the current emphasis on whole language, the use of children's literature as the basis for reading instruction is widespread. Theme units have been suggested as one way to provide stimulating opportunities for children to explore and learn. Whole language based literature theme units emphasize process more than product. Units are designed to…

Students in a "Literature and Ideas" introductory literature course at the University of Pittsburgh gathered a wide variety of interviews, articles, and other texts that circulated around the film "Dangerous Liaisons" to build a shared text on the popular reception of the film. One student, in particular, made sense of the work…

A discussion of the English language teaching method of Toru Matsumoto, author of "Thinking in English," reconstructs the instructional principle and presents it for further development. First, the history of English language teaching in Japan is reviewed and Matsumoto's biography is sketched. The salient features of the principle are…

This report summarizes and compares the views of six experts (three university professors and three elementary teachers) concerning elementary-level social studies teaching. The experts were asked to treat the topic comprehensively by addressing issues of curriculum (goals and objectives, selection and organization of content); instruction…

Active learning is not a new concept, and recent research suggests that students who have opportunities to participate in the learning process are much more successful students in terms of achievement test scores and individual happiness. This paper discusses some recent research on active learning, including a description of a microsociety school…

The integration of recommendations, ideas, theories, and/or research results on the use of educational media in social studies with ideas, theories, recommendations, and research results concerning active learning in social studies is the focus of this paper. Educational media refers to software or hardware or both. Active learning refers to…

This guide is designed to help a prospective job seeker prepare a resume from scratch. It tells the reader what must be done before starting to write, provides tips on content and format, and suggests important points to keep in mind. It also provides information on constructing a cover letter to accompany the resume. Topics covered in this brief…

Reading aloud to kindergarten children makes good educational sense. For this group, teachers should emphasize the aspects of reading aloud that promote a love of story listening as a bridge to future reading. To read aloud well, teachers should: (1) use stories with strong plots, vivid characters, and interesting settings; (2) select a book they…

This book for state early childhood licensing administrators addresses the problem of obtaining systematic and reliable information about the operation of an early childhood or child care program. The book: (1) provides an introduction to early childhood program evaluation; (2) describes systematic observation techniques; (3) discusses summative…

An evaluation was conducted to provide Saskatchewan Education with information about the effectiveness of: (1) a program evaluation package for use at the school level consisting of the "School-Based Program Evaluation Manual" (Burgess, 1987) and its related workshop; and (2) a pilot-site model for the implementation of the evaluation…

A sequence of four central essays on the topic of "experts" illustrates how students can develop the critical tools necessary to handle the flood of information that exists in a complex, expert-dominated world. The first essay begins with communication of shared knowledge and examination of assumptions. Students are asked to share with…

Composition instructors need to emphasize to their students that persuasion is not always announced--it can be forcefully present in so-called "objective" forms of discourse like textbooks and news. News photographs can be successfully used in the composition classroom as a unit of study in visual rhetoric to introduce students to the…

These guidelines developed out of a study identifying support systems for supervisors of people with moderate special needs (MSN) in training internships and employment situations. Generally MSNs are dependable, loyal employees who are eager to please and to do a good job. Problems occur because the MSNs are insecure about their role at work, have…