Because reading is not a natural process like language, young learners must be taught to read. Knowledge about how the reading brain develops has critical implications for understanding which teaching methods to use and helps reconceptualize previous debates. In this excerpt from "Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World",…

Educational philosophy in elementary and secondary schools has often centered on creating a "product," full of content knowledge and basic skills (Bagby, 2002). However, no longer is academic achievement in the classroom considered the sole gauge of lifelong success. Meltzer (2010) suggested that the development of executive functioning skills…

Bruner's constructs of learning, specifically the structure of learning, spiral curriculum, and discovery learning, in conjunction with the Cognitive Load Theory, are used to evaluate the Picture Word Inductive Model (PWIM), an inquiry-oriented inductive language arts strategy designed to teach K-6 children phonics and spelling. The PWIM reflects…

This article argues that to understand how new technologies and media can become co-agents in the process of pedagogical change, we first need to understand teachers' complex relationship with new technologies and media in both their personal and their professional lives. A conceptual framework is delineated for constructing a complex narrative…

Even when two-digit numbers are irrelevant to the task at hand, adults process them. Do children process numbers automatically, and if so, what kind of information is activated? In a novel dot-number Stroop task, children (Grades 1-5) and adults were shown two different two-digit numbers made up of dots. Participants were asked to select the…

This practice guide presents five recommendations intended to help educators improve students' understanding of, and problem-solving success with, fractions. Recommendations progress from proposals for how to build rudimentary understanding of fractions in young children; to ideas for helping older children understand the meaning of fractions and…

In the past, if a question is asked of a student, and that student needed a few minutes to think, that student's thinking would be interrupted by somebody else who'd be shouting out. Now, teachers at St. Johnsbury School in Vermont are really focusing on think time for students and really working with other students in the classroom to be…

The impetus to begin Bilingual Buds came about six years ago when the author, pregnant with twins and commuting into New York City, was reading about the numerous cognitive benefits for children of acquiring a second language early in their lives. She was surprised to learn that even by the age of six months, children begin to lose the ability to…

A comprehensive thinking skills scope and sequence plan provides three types of information. It identifies the thinking skills and strategies to be learned throughout the curriculum, locates them in the subject areas where they are to be taught, and arranges them in the proper sequence. This article describes basic principles and guidelines for…

Described misconceptions of elementary students participating in physical education, testing ways of recording and classifying types of misconceptions. Data from observations, videotapes, interviews, and document analysis indicated that misconceptions fell into categories representing motor skill execution and confusion over terminology, strategy,…

Theories of teaching and learning on human cognition depend on domain-free, general purpose processing by the brain. Cognition is modular in nature and often domain-specific. Children's ideas in science are often triggered rather than learned. Triggered conceptual structures are not necessarily expressible in language and may not be susceptible to…

This report discusses the design of the Macintosh version of INQUIRE, a software package developed to support the processes and activities of inquiry learning and teaching. It is noted that the design challenge was to encourage students to consider information from a variety of perspectives, to make and articulate conceptual connections between…

Describes how the Junior Great Books Program of the Great Books Foundation gives children an interpretive method for a lifetime of reading. The method involves selecting readings that will sustain discussion, the discussion method of "shared inquiry," and a course on interpretive reading and discussion. (RH)

Discusses the concept of metalinguistic awareness and describes the administration of the Test of Metalinguistic Ability (TAM) to 300 Italian elementary school children. (34 references) (CFM)

Describes the mathematical processes that occur during problem solving, reasoning, and communication. Provides examples from mathematics education research with preschoolers. (ASK)