The study explored the concept of space through the tactual discrimination of household objects in 48 4-to-7-year-old blind, partially sighted, and sighted children. (PHR)

Tested the hypotheses that errors of ommission would occur more frequently than errors of commission and errors would be related to stimulus complexity. A total of 48 children from grades 1 and 3 were given a memory task (involving visual and haptic memory) for recognition of random polygons. (MS)

Focuses on the use of movement in the music classroom to teach young children. Addresses the benefits of using movement and includes guidelines and teaching suggestions for incorporating movement into the music classroom. Offers a sample lesson for lower/middle elementary and middle/upper elementary students. (CMK)

A study compared the effectiveness of two methods of teaching clinical breast examination: standardized teaching from family medicine faculty or well women teachers (n=54 first-year students) and unstandardized teaching during clinical rotations (n=70 second-year students). The standardized-teaching group had more consistent techniques, higher…

Notes that many activities in early childhood classrooms offer opportunities for sensory learning that may be overlooked unless specific attention is directed toward these areas of learning. Suggests that teachers can increase these opportunities by using "feely" boxes or bags, which allow children to touch an object without seeing it. Various…

Discusses the sensory systems of sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, and equilibrium as tools of children's mental development. (MKR)

This article outlines historical, socio-cultural, and research information that attests to the fundamental relationship between touch and child development. It describes applications including touch therapies with very low-birthweight infants, with fragile premature infants, and with infants of depressed mothers. (Contains extensive references.)…

We describe a perceptual experiment that we have successfully used in Research Methods classes. Students attempt to identify a series of simple cookie cutter shapes using only the fingers and hands (haptic perception). Students read archival studies that have used this procedure, identify confounds, generate and test alternate hypotheses, and…

This study examined the effect of incorporating a visuo-haptic and haptic (tactual-kinaesthetic) exploration of letters in a training designed to develop phonemic awareness, knowledge of letters and letter/sound correspondences, on 5-year-old children's understanding and use of the alphabetic principle. Three interventions, which differed in the…

This article describes the use of touch as a strategy to teach children with multiple handicaps. Touch cues help children to anticipate events and to interpret information from the environment. Caregivers should first observe the child's existing repertoire of movements, and then create touch cues that build upon the child's preferred…

As human beings, we can interact with our environment through the sense of touch, which helps us to build an understanding of objects and events. The implications of touch for cognition are recognized by many educators who advocate the use of "hands-on" instruction. But is it possible to know something more completely by touching it? Does touch…