Forest kindergartens are a new idea in the United States but have been around in Germany, Norway, and other European countries for decades. Forest "kindergartens" are preschools for children ages 3-6 and focus on being outdoors and learning through interacting with nature. Instead of building with blocks or doing puzzles at a table…

Considers the current relevance of the practice of observation of children through an exploration of the role of observation in the work of Friedrich Froebel, Susan Isaacs, and Margaret McMillan. (BC)

Chronicles Henry David Thoreau's early positions as a nontraditional, progressive, futuristic teacher, tutor, and schoolmaster. Explains how Thoreau's disposition for observing, questioning, and evaluating led him to leave education and nurture his role as a naturalist and philosopher. (NEC)

This paper contains ethnographic participant-observation field notes taken on a one-night visit to a "shooting gallery" in East Harlem (New York City) along with background information and commentary. East Harlem, also referred to as "El Barrio" or Spanish Harlem, is a 200-square block neighborhood on the upper East Side of…

This textbook presents the divisions of arithmetic in their natural order. The fundamental operations upon integers, common fractions, decimals, denominate numbers, and numbers expressed by letters, are followed by their applications to business and to various employments. The pupil is taught to develop observation and thought power, rather than…

John Burroughs was a poet-naturalist who spent most of his life during the late 1800s and early 1900s living in a rustic cabin that he built almost entirely from native materials. Burroughs suggested that becoming a good observer of nature was a function of the whole person and the power of concentrated attention, and not of the eyes alone. (LP)

This monograph was originally prepared as a thesis for the degree of doctor of philosophy at Clark University, and in its original form was accepted by the faculty of that institution in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree. It presents an unusually comprehensive survey of the provisions for agricultural education and for…

The history of user evaluation of reference service is traced and related to other methods of reference evaluation, including librarian self-reports of success, behavioral guidelines, and observation. The advantages and disadvantages of user-report methodology are considered. (Author/AEF)

Considers contributions of Sigmund Freud and Rene Spitz to developmental psychology. Freud's contributions include his observations about play, perspectives on developmental processes, and ideas about unconscious mental activity. Spitz's contributions include his assessments of infants, perspectives on developmental processes, and his concept of…

Discusses the work of Susan Isaacs on assessing and recording the progress of infant school children in Britain between 1934 and 1936. Compares Isaacs' approach to that advocated in a 1992 book on assessment in early childhood education edited by Blenkin and Kelly. Concludes that Isaacs' work still has a contribution to make to educational…

The survey of the school system of Alexandria, Virginia, was made in May, 1923, by the United States Commissioner of Education upon the invitation of the Board of Education of Alexandria and of the State superintendent of public instruction of Virginia. Members of the survey staff during the three weeks of field work visited the schools, made…

This paper first gives a historical overview of mosaics, discussing mosaic masks made by the Aztecs and floor mosaics made by the Greeks, as well as the Roman mosaics at Pompeii and the Byzantine decorative mosaics exemplified by those at Ravenna. The paper then elaborates on children's mosaic making observed during research conducted between 1986…

This bulletin is a report of one of those side issues, or by-products, of a piece of scientific work which often proves to be more important than the main issue. When, in 1916, the psychological laboratory of the Vocation Bureau of Cincinnati (Ohio) was given an official position in the public-school system, the first task assigned it was that of…

This report is a result of a cooperative agreement between the Bureau of Education of the Department of the Interior and the States Relations Service of the Department of Agriculture. The study included in this report was undertaken with a view to determining the character of instruction in agriculture in certain high schools in eastern States and…

Considers student-teacher observation and evaluation as processes that define proper behavior and construct social forms of teaching behavior. Discusses documentary records on student-teachers' development. Analyzes nineteenth-century Training Registers of the Ontario Provincial Model School in terms of students' characteristics and evaluations,…