Two major, inter-related issues are analysed in this paper -- mother tongue (MT) and early childhood care and education (ECCE). Evidence tells us that learning first in one's MT leads to better outcomes in the future -- for individuals, cultures, and nations. But MT is used rarely in ECCE programmes and the early grades of primary school so that…

This book proposes a new theory on children's thinking (cognitive) development. According to this theory, the stages of said development should be divided into four stages: first, the stage of animalistic thinking (birth--before possessing basic language ability); second, the stage of elementary thinking (beginning to possess basic language…

A systematic review was carried out to examine the use of robots in early childhood and lower level education. The paper synthesizes the findings of research studies carried out in the last ten years and looks at the influence of robots on children and education. Four major factors are examined--the type of studies conducted, the influence of…

A multiple-probe-across-problem-sets (tasks) design was used to evaluate the effects of the Detect, Practice, and Repair (DPR) on multiplication-fact fluency development in seven third-grade students nominated by their teacher as needing remediation. DPR is a multicomponent intervention and begins with a group-administered, metronome-paced…

Being an ecologically literate citizen involves making decisions that are based on ecological knowledge and accepting responsibility for personal actions. Using writing-to-learn activities in college science courses, we asked students to consider personal dilemmas that they or others might have in response to how human choices can impact coastal…

Research indicates that gender influences how children learn. Those findings do not necessarily mean that boys learn one way and girls another. Still, there are significant differences with respect to gender and how our brains develop. Researchers have found that no single area of development influences those gender differences: rather, a…

This article reports on how elementary school teachers teach strategies to help pupils learn and remember. Tips for using the research findings in the classroom are offered. (MT)

The article examines four question-asking practices that prevail in school: maximizing higher level questions, translating identified weaknesses into questions, using questions to create a shared context, and using questions to avoid explicit criticism. (CL)

Discusses the role of the teacher in helping children to develop their intelligence. (MKM)

Guidelines are given for teaching basic concepts (such as "above,""least," and "different") to students who are educable mentally handicapped. Stressed is direct and systematic instruction in basic concepts as an integral part of the curriculum with concrete, representative, and abstract applications. (DB)

The effectiveness of a cognitive coaching condition on the social acceptance of 26 handicapped children in regular first through fourth grade classes was examined. Children were randomly placed in one of three conditions: cognitive coaching (in which students were taught techniques of getting along with peers); individual instruction (control); or…

A discussion of dramatic play and its implementation. (CH)

A map-drawing task was used to test the effects of (1) presenting instruction at a cognitive level higher than that at which most of the students in the study were operating and of (2) presenting instruction to groups of students of differing cognitive levels. Subjects were 63 fifth grade students. (JMB)

Suggests ways that speaking and listening, reading and writing can be brought together in the learner's mind. (DD)

Teachers should provide more real experiences for children rather than vicarious ones, in order to allow children's cognitive structuring processes to develop.