In this review essay, Jan Nespor uses three recent contributions to place-based education, Paul Theobald's "Teaching the Commons," C.A. Bowers's "Revitalizing the Commons," and David Gruenewald and Gregory Smith's edited volume "Place-Based Education in the Global Age," to examine some fundamental conceptual and practical issues in the area. One…

The article reviews proposed causes and observable symptoms that characterize dyslexia, concluding that individualized analysis and specialized treatments are required and that, until an operational definition can be agreed upon, use of the label "dyslexia" is counterproductive. (DB)

Definitions and identification practices are examined in light of special problems facing gifted disabled and gifted disadvantaged students. Research is reviewed on a variety of gifted subgroups, including physical disabilities, diverse cultures and ethnic groups, underachievement, and learning disabilities. Differences in definitions of gifted…

Although both the general public and research scientists intuitively understand the word learning, the meanings they assign to it vary. Nevertheless, there is too much concern about generalizing the meaning, and too little concern about learning context. Learning context is the internal, changing relation between individual and situation; it is…

Provides a basis from which to critically examine contemporary identity research, by offering a definition of identity, a constructive criticism of the subject approach, and an empirical approach to studying sense of identity. The empirical approach is based on conceptually sound ideas and leads to important questions about identity modes and the…

This article advances a view of disability as interaction-specific rather than person-specific, as arising when the nature of the academic task or instructional environment fails to support adequately the learning characteristics of the student. The implications of this view for all students in higher education are explored. (MDM)

Considers areas of consensus from commentaries, including the value of an evolutionary perspective and the utility of exploring variations in physical activity play. Examines areas of debate, including the nonplay-play distinction, functions of rough-and-tumble play, and the opportunities of juveniles for exercise training. Calls for more directed…

This essay considers how emotion regulation should be defined, the various components of the management of emotion, how emotion regulation strategies fit into the dynamics of social interaction, and how individual differences in emotion regulation should be conceptualized and measured. (MDM)

It is argued that the term "propriospect" is needed to define the private and subjective view of the world and its contents that each person develops through personal experience. The term can serve anthropologists for the constellation of cultural competencies a person achieves. (SLD)

Reviews seven multiple-intelligence forms (linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal) and adds naturalist intelligence, the ability to discriminate among living things. Considers a ninth form (existential intelligence), challenges the IQ concept and common testing practices, and urges…

This article first discusses various definitions of "difference" and then reviews some sociological theories providing a general conceptual understanding of the response to difference in today's society. It stresses the need to build communities and schools that support difference and develop cultural citizenship without polarizing…

Reviews arguments for, but questions the validity of, the "information society" and presents a personal view of communication which includes six "laws" (e.g., communication usually fails, except by chance) and a situational model (same messages and communications may create different effects in different communication…

This essay argues that the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system does not appear to be related to emotion regulation processes in children, although individual differences in emotion processes related to negative emotion temperaments appear to be associated with individual differences in HPA reactivity among normally…

This paper proposes that mild learning disability may often be more the result of teaching which ignores individual differences in learning style than the result of psychological processing and/or central nervous system disorders that are characteristic of true learning disabilities. A brief overview of learning disability identification explains…

This report offers answers to four basic questions about children's readiness for school: (1) What does being ready for school mean? (2) How can practitioners best identify and assess readiness? (3) How important is readiness? and (4) How do children who are ready get ready, and how do children who are not yet ready become ready? It is argued that…