This article mingles stories and concepts of young Jewish Israeli children about God, with reflections on the roles of faith, memory, imagination, and cognitive development in children's Religious Education. The stories are meant to illustrate, among other things, the purity and innocence of young children's faith, which is largely untroubled by…

This document cautions against high expectations on the part of educators for rapid cognitive growth during middle school years--and urges a rethinking of curricular structure for those years--based upon neurological data concerning brain growth patterns. Empirical research (case studies, autopsy studies, cadaver research) conducted by Epstein has…

Instead of expending enormous energy investigating limits that may be biologically (or evolutionarily) determined, it may make more sense to expend resources on developing additional, mostly undeveloped capacities that will enable ordinary people to perform at levels far beyond what they achieve through our present educational programs. (Author/EB)

Documents and argues the need to move beyond linear conceptions of development in art. Proposes an art education that explores multiple pictorial repertoires, including those that rely on cooperation of multiple modalities of expression, and allows students to construct meaning through connections across symbol systems. (DSK)

This paper summarizes an examination and critique of literature related to the application of developmental theories to teacher education. Analysis of selected readings revealed a weak bond between the theoretical framework of developmentalists and concrete practices. It was concluded that, though much may be gained from a developmental theory of…

Discusses Montessori theories for development of social, moral, cognitive, and emotional dimensions of the human personality during the second plane of development--age six to puberty--as these theories relate to the theory of optimal experience. (JPB)

Three developmental approaches in teacher education are described. The first approach entails matching curriculum content with teacher concerns, enabling teachers to be motivated to learn. The second approach considers teacher development as a form of cognitive development. The third approach is a style of inservice work emphasizing self-directed…

All too often educators establish a "pretest, skill, posttest" type of curriculum. While this approach has an educational value, it must be used within a developmental framework based on individual thinking and learning style. Thus, a thorough knowledge of cognitive development is necessary. A review of the body of knowledge concerning…

Perspectives concerning the application of adult development theory to the education of college students are presented in two papers. In "Adult Development: A Workable Vision for Higher Education," Arthur W. Chickering suggests that the major dimensions of adult development are essentially the same objectives pursued by the university, and that by…

There has been a long-standing debate about the proper relationships between teacher preparation and liberal education. The current wave of concern about the quality of teacher preparation, combined with enrollment declines in colleges of education, has led to major reorganization in some institutions which have moved significant portions of the…

The classroom environment elicits social comparison behavior in which a student uses peers' performance as a gauge for his own self-assessment. Social comparison as it relates to ability is a four phase sequential process. In phase one, stimulation of social comparison is elicited through developmentally-determined cognitive capacities and motives…

The learning of different school subjects (history, English, poetry appreciation, creative writing, reading, elementary school mathematics, geography, and modern languages) can be evaluated qualitatively, using the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) Taxonomy. The taxonomy is structured into five major levels, with transitional…

These narrative accounts follow a group of young adults searching for meaning during the ten years after their college graduation, and offer insights into how higher education might create conditions for this search to occur during college. This longitudinal study is based on interviews with 39 participants at various points during their…

Revisits the middle-level school movement. Provides an overview of young adolescents' development, offers representative examples of developmentally appropriate practices, and looks at progress educators have made as well challenges encountered. Emphasizes the importance of understanding physical, pychosocial, and cognitive development in young…

A review of Piaget's theory and research on children's cognitive development is presented, including a discussion of the psychological structures of intelligence, developmental constructivism, and the evolution of knowledge as a subject-object relation. Piaget's assessment techniques are summarized, including moral development, number…