Every year in the United States, millions of students graduate with some type of postsecondary credential--certificate, associate, or bachelor's degree--and discover they are not, or are identified as not being, adequately prepared to compete in the increasingly global economy. A recent McKinsey & Company study, Education to Employment,…

With the shift towards the knowledge society, the change of working conditions, and the high-speed evolution of information and communication technologies, peoples' knowledge and skills need continuous updating. Learning based on collaborative working, creativity, multidisciplinarity, adaptiveness, intercultural communication, and problem solving…

Presents a rationale for combining content mastery with skill development in social studies. Also provides tips to social studies classroom teachers on planning more systematically, selecting materials for skill development using specific content, stimulating a sense of intellectual achievement, and planning pupil activities which allow students…

Stresses that departments of psychology in colleges and universities should supplement existing curricula with a human service psychology emphasis. Explains why and how this should be done. (DB)

Maintains that: (1) mapping skills in elementary school social studies classes should not be separated from life situations; (2) maps are tools that can be used to collect, store, and share information; and (3) the best way for pupils to learn about mapping skills is to combine map and globe activities with content, observation, and real life…

Describes a writing skill improvement project in which graduate students at Berkely graded papers written by undergraduate students in a course on the origins of Chinese civilization. Critical examination of student papers, combined with opportunities to discuss and rewrite the papers, encouraged students to develop a thesis, eliminate irrelevant…

Based on personal experiences, both as a paraprofessional and as a professional, in cataloging various types of materials in very different library settings, this author identifies several variables that enter into the cataloging process and describes how learning is achieved. (Author/CLB)

The development of ontogenetic movements--complex, learned skills such as throwing--is greatly influenced by socialization experiences provided by parents. Girls, as well as boys, should be given the opportunity to learn and develop these skills during preschool years. (PP)

Social studies teachers have long accepted critical thinking as an important and desirable outcome of instruction. However, they have accepted critical thinking in principle without bothering to define the term precisely or to do much by way of direct instruction to see that this goal is achieved. (Author/RM)

Developing an accurate, commonly accepted definition of critical thinking is absolutely essential. This article proposes and discusses such a definition. Critical thinking is defined as the process of determining the authenticity, accuracy, and worth of information or knowledge claims. It consists of a number of discrete skills. (RM)

The responsibility for helping students attain competence in music-reading skills must fall on choral directors and choral music teachers from middle schools on up. Teachers must teach rhythmic and tonal vocabularies and pitch accuracies. Methods are described. (RM)

Lawyer training in legal skills through clinic experience has failed because of strategic, normative, and intellectual defects. The value of skills education is in the way the skills are used in scholarly intellectual inquiry. If thoughtfully designed, skills education can be the vehicle for rekindling lawyer professionalism. (MSE)

Based on extensive field experience, this two-part book is intended to be a practical guide for maximizing participative training methods. The first part of the book looks at the principles and the core skills involved in participative training. It shows how trainee participation corresponds to the processes of adult learning and describes each…

Secretarial survival skills of communication, organization, and decision making should be incorporated into the secretarial training program, according to the author. She discusses these skills in relation to career mobility. (MF)

Noting that while high school students have received instruction in reading and writing, few have received any instruction in speaking and listening skills, this document advocates a greater recognition of the need for a more realistic balance of instruction in the four communication areas than has traditionally been the case. Sections of the…