International trends promoting school diversity and choice have reshaped education across Europe, leading towards a multiplicity in ownership structures and varied governance configurations. More recently, this can also be seen in European countries with a long history of state-owned and governed public schools, such as in the Nordic states. The…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to deflate some of the pressure-orienting teachers toward following a curricular script. Design/methodology/approach: The authors connect effective classroom teaching and learning practices to a dialogic instructional stance that values local resources and student perspectives and contributions. The authors…

Despite its proliferation in higher learning institutions, e-learning has been criticised as being nothing more than trivial online conversations, or a mere means of delivering class materials electronically. If e-learning is to address such criticisms and become an effective pedagogical platform, educators need to identify elements critical to…

Field trips are well recognized by researchers as an educational approach with the potential to complement and enhance classroom science teaching by exposing students to unique activities, resources, and content in informal settings. The following investigation addresses teachers' field trip practices in three related manuscripts: (1) A study…

How to Differentiate Learning provides guidance for schools and districts to start or improve the effort to differentiate instruction. Based on what educators know about the differences among children they teach, and based on what is known of brain research, teachers must find and embrace ways to differentiate curriculum, assessment and entry…

Reviews needs assessment history and extant techniques and offers a model for generating needs assessments based upon five general purposes of front-end analysis and their corresponding types of items--problem finding; problem selecting; knowledge/skill proving; finding feelings; and cause finding. Thirty-three sources are appended. (EJS)

The nature of thinking as perhaps the most basic of all intellectual skills and the neglect of thinking as a valuable skill to teach in formal educational settings are discussed in the first two sections of this paper. The third section provides a rationale for teaching effective thinking skills in school. (Author/RH)

The battle for communication skills has already been won; the task ahead is to get teachers in the trenches to teach them, either in separate units or in their subject areas. Nine references are listed, and a list of resources for implementing instruction in speaking and listening is provided. (Author/DCS)

Described is a teaching methodology which includes enrichment of the students' learning experiences through an integrated approach to curriculum development, using continuity of curriculum as the major objective. The teacher's responsibility in this approach is to point out patterns and explore and talk about patterns included in the students'…

The history of the relation between achievement tests and curriculum programs is reviewed, and it is concluded that content specialists are best qualified as sources of curricular goals to specify content, kinds of attainment, and standards. The specification of instructional intents is also considered from the perspective of modern cognition…

Educators, business and government leaders in the public sector are attempting to provide a kind of comprehensive, effective education for all students by designing a new approach to education which will: (1) eliminate the educationally embarrassing general education track which leads students into an academic and vocational dead end; (2) improve…

Describes an elective, noncrisis course on death and dying which targets fifth graders. Discusses both the psychological theory behind the program and the ways that life and death values can be clarified. Program tries to allow children to grieve previous losses and helps children to develop appropriate grieving behaviors. (RJM)

The influence of John Dewey's educational theory on curriculum development in South Africa is examined in this paper. The two main streams of thinking about curriculum theory in South Africa include the traditional perspective, which is heavily influenced by the national Christianity movement, and the alternative curriculum development…

Discusses the development of an Information Resources Management (IRM) curriculum by the IRM Curriculum Advisory Committee established by the Graduate School, United States Department of Agriculture. Initial activities, models proposed for the program (standards, skills, users, operational), course selection, and structural proposals considered…

This paper discusses the "Curriculum and Evaluation Standards" (produced by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) that are of particular relevance to mildly handicapped children. Concepts discussed include curriculum and instruction, need for a broad spectrum of mathematics, problem solving, vocabulary, emphasis on understanding, and…