There is an increasing awareness of the usefulness of foreign language training in a number of seemingly diverse areas. Foreign language students develop not only technical skills related to language use but also tangible advantages in the job market because of their increased communication skills. Mastery of languages also enhances the enjoyment…

Problem solving is often identified as a goal of science education. What is considered problem solving varies from teacher to teacher. The ultimate goal of problem-solving education has been identified as a means of helping students develop higher-order thinking skills. This ERIC digest focuses on problem solving in secondary school science as…

This digest addresses cognitive learning with respect to outside-the-classroom instruction at the elementary school level. It notes that affective, not cognitive, learning has traditionally been the primary objective of field instruction at all K-12 levels. Therefore, most educational research in field instruction has been mainly non-cognitive in…

This digest discusses the findings of empirical studies on teacher-directed and child-initiated preschool programs. Three long-term preschool curriculum comparison studies--the High/Scope Preschool Curriculum Comparison, the Louisville Head Start Study, and the University of Illinois Study--were started in the 1970s. These studies indicated that…

Those who advocate for developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) do so based on the conviction that these classroom practices enhance children's development and facilitate learning. This ERIC Digest examines recent research on DAP and social-emotional and cognitive development, and describes what we have learned about DAP in early childhood…