The current paper reviews four research perspectives that have been used to investigate the development of risk-taking. Cognitive developmental research has investigated the development of decision-making capacities that potentially underlie risk-taking development, including sensitivity to risk, probability estimation, and perceptions of…

Activity Based Intervention (ABI) is an approach used in many early childhood programs serving the special needs of young children and their families. The purpose of this article is to present theoretical underpinnings of ABI, and discusses theory-based ABI practices. ABI draws upon multiple and varied theories which in turn inform practice. At…

This study sought to determine whether differences existed between infants from low socioeconomic status (SES) families and those from high SES families in the occipital rhythmic activity of the brain, as recorded in their electroencephalograms (EEGs), as well as in other developmental measures. Ten low SES white infants and 10 high SES white…

Stability of the Early Screening Profiles (ESP), developed by P. Harrison, was examined with a sample of 23 non-handicapped preschool children (14 females and 9 males) ranging in age from 3 years 0 months to 6 years 0 months at the time of initial testing. The sample was drawn from a rural/suburban community in the midwest with a predominantly…

The digest addresses ways that parents and educators can nurture giftedness in young children. Problems in appropriate school placement for young gifted children with uneven development are discussed and illustrated with examples. In selecting a program, parents need to look for a highly individualized program in which children are encouraged to…

Examined were antecedents and behavioral correlates of parental perceptions of efficacy, using data from a national survey of 3,000 parents and a study of 65 mother-infant dyads. Survey data were used to determine what factors are predictive of parental perceptions of efficacy. Dyadic data were used primarily to examine the relation between…

An examination of the journal writing of 14 second graders during one school year reveals the evolution from egocentricity, with the work of one student serving as a model against which similarities and differences in the growth patterns of the other students are measured. The students' drawings and writings reflect their learning about the world…

This paper presents a perspective from Singapore on the secondary school curriculum and adolescent development. Topics discussed include (1) curricular considerations related to socioeconomic factors in Singapore society, such as rapid industrializaton, problematic procreation and marriage trends, latchkey children, and youth gangs; (2) curriculum…

Illustrated with examples drawn from the experience of one teacher educator, ways of providing prospective teachers at the college level with active learning experiences based on developmental principles are discussed. The discussion draws parallels between three approaches in early childhood education and these same approaches to teacher…

The current study was devised to determine the short-term (1 month) and long-term (4 months) effects of having students generate their own examples of selected concepts. More specifically, focus was on determining how self-generated examples might enhance the learning and retrieval of concepts. Subjects were 55 (54 female and 1 male) undergraduate…

The two studies described in this article investigated the effectiveness of educational-based programs as crisis intervention strategies for limiting the negative effects of divorce on preschool-age children. In the first study, a pretest posttest control group design was used. Two experimental groups, including seven children from divorced homes…

This instructional booklet is part of Learning Package #2 on self concept development and child behavior used in conjunction with the Child Development Training Program at Bemidji, Minnesota. The booklet is divided into 15 brief sections which emphasize: (1) techniques of observation and experimentation; (2) measurement of the readiness concept;…

Presented is the Virginia State Education Department's curriculum development guide for teachers of the trainable mentally retarded (TMR). Briefly considered are long range goals and characteristics of the TMR child, curriculum design factors and the role of the teacher. The bulk of the document is comprised of activities for primary,…

In a speech before the American Educational Research Association, the author asserts that childhood education theory is going through one of its periodic over-reactions to new findings. The result is the present overemphasis on environmentally caused cognitive development. Yet a very basic biological law is the law of human variability. The…

This report is a summary statement about a broad-based longitudinal study being conducted by Head Start. It concerns the effects of early school experiences on over 1800 disadvantaged children, ages 4 to 8, and their families who live in four poverty areas. The report (1) raises basic questions about the nature of education, learning, and…