The main idea skill presents a structure that is the basis of all kinds of understanding and narration activities. In this respect, while it covers all language skills, it also lays the groundwork for all learning levels and lessons because people communicate through meaning transfer. Therefore, the importance of main idea teaching is not limited…

Often classified as efficiency-minded, Bobbitt changed his position in his final book, "Curriculum of Modern Education." This article examines four later ideas: the importance of general education, schools' inability to predetermine students' future lives and roles, schools' need to develop students' intellect, and Bobbitt's respect for…

The article presents a generalized program for improving critical judgment and facilitating intellectual progress in gifted students. It examines the development of a critical base of knowledge, generalizing past experience into a theoretical base, and applying a theory of knowledge in education. Examples from adult and elementary programs are…

Explores two approaches (theoretical representation versus a modeling exercise based on artificial neurological networks) to a problem in organizational design: fitting together constraints making hierarchy advantageous with those favoring organizational learning. The modeling approach expands the scope of traditional theorizing about practice.…

For two decades, Bates seriously challenged educational administration's value neutrality as ideological and concerned with protecting vested interests and class divisions in society. This article explores intellectual influences shaping Bates's critical-theory approach, examines similarities to Thomas Greenfield's ideas, and evaluates critics'…

This introductory article examines how intelligence theory influences the way we identify and assess students, our attitudes toward giftedness and gifted students, the models upon which we base our programs and interventions, and many other aspects of gifted education. Past, present, and emerging intelligence theories are discussed. (Contains…

Discusses recent brain-research findings relevant for educators: the brain changes physiologically as a result of experience; IQ is not fixed at birth; some abilities are acquired more easily during certain windows of opportunity; and learning is strongly influenced by emotion. Environmental enrichment unmistakably influences the brain's growth…

Intelligence-friendly classrooms require a teaching/learning process governed by extant knowledge and theories about developing human beings' intellectual potential. Guidelines are based on setting a safe emotional climate, creating a rich learning environment, teaching the mind-tools and skills of life, developing learners' skillfulness,…

Research of cognitive scientists is resulting in new learning theories through which students can move from novice to expert. How cognitive scientists work and how their results are applied are discussed. Reciprocal teaching, as implemented in the Springfield (Illinois) schools, provides an example of a successful research-based technique. (SLD)

Educational quality and the organizational structure of the nation's educational system are examined in relation to the call for reform in American public education in this symposium paper. In "Introduction and Problem Statement," Robert H. Beach states that problems in American education stem from a structurally dysfunctional system,…