Noting that maturation, biological reading potential, and a number of parenting strategies can help young children become eager, competent readers, this paper lists the strategies two parents used to facilitate their daughter's reading competence. Thirty strategies are listed, each one accompanied by the appropriate learning principle. Included…

The pleasures and advantages of informal learning are highlighted in a story about childhood visits to a fabric shop. Contrasts the unhurried, flexible, self-directed nature of informal learning situations with the more structured and controlled environment of the classroom. Discusses skills and lessons learned in informal settings and suggests…

According to the philosophy of John Dewey, the goal of education is to provide students with an increased capacity for having worthwhile experiences. This paper draws on Dewey's writings to develop a theory of worthwhile experience, termed "idea-based experience." A model is proposed of how individuals are apprenticed into having an…

This article discusses how children learn to understand the decimal system in very concrete ways, while having fun using beads. When counting the beads, the children learn 5,491 is not simply "five thousand four hundred and ninety-one" but actually 5 thousands, 4 hundreds, 9 tens, and 1 unit. They begin to understand that as they get 10 units,…

America's continuing efforts to improve education and develop a world-class workforce will be hampered without a federal and state commitment to early childhood education (ECE) for 3- and 4-year-olds. The Business Roundtable and Corporate Voices for Working Families believe federal and state efforts to develop such early childhood systems must be…