Discover why school readiness IS children's play. This updated guide includes timely research and new stories that highlight how play is vital to the social, physical, cognitive, and spiritual development of children. Learn the seven things we must do with children every day and why they are so important. Use your daily observations to incorporate…

It is estimated that up to sixty-five percent of children entering grade school this year will end up working in careers that have yet to be created. This is a result, in part, of the rapid advances in technology that have occurred since Apple introduced the iPhone just ten years ago. This technology is not only impacting the way that we learn or…

Scholars and practitioners alike often assume that discomfort is a necessary and productive aspect of the college experience. We used a range of theories grounded in the concept of dissonance to question these assumptions and critically analyze the role of discomfort in collegiate learning and development for today's diverse college student…

Learners are multi-faceted, unique people. Discovering the whole individual is incumbent upon realizing the teaching/learning environments, common social and societal realities, and belief and value systems respective of academic and socio-societal factors that establish who one is as a learner and teacher. In "Learning and Teaching," the authors…

The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which the characteristics of two teaching interventions can bring about cognitive progress in preschoolers with regard to the factors rolling friction depends on, when it is applied to an object that is freely rolling on a horizontal surface. The study was conducted in three phases: pre-test,…

This in-depth examination of a line explores several ways that the infinite nature and finite representation of a line can be perceived. These attempts to understand the nature of the line give insights into the nature of understanding itself. (MDH)

The science learning cycle developed by Robert Karplus and others in the 1960's has been a useful model for many science teachers and researchers. This model stresses the use of structured inquiry to organize knowledge acquisition and problem solving. Recent research in the cognitive science tradition, however, has shown that learning and problem…

This guide is written for environmental educators who are interested in learning more about how and why young children think and act, and how they can use this information to design developmentally appropriate programs and activities. The sections of this guide become progressively more practical and specific from understanding the basics of how…

Discussed is the importance of establishing the link between students' understanding of mathematics in real world settings and the symbolism used to represent that mathematics. Examples provide evidence that students and sometimes teachers fail to establish that link. References are given for resources providing strategies and contexts to assist…

Considers the unique cognitive and intellectual factors that influence the learning and education of older adults. Reviews research on patterns of intellectual and cognitive aging and the implications of patterns in attention, memory, information retrieval, and tolerance for interference in the development of cognitive training programs for older…

This paper answers several frequently asked questions about constructivism, including how to define it, how to plan the curriculum, how to assess student understanding, what to do with the information, where to begin, how students work in a constructivist classroom, and why constructivism is important. (SM)

One approach to the study of cognitive processes highlights the distinctions between expert and novice problem solvers. This approach attempts to discover how experts and novices differ in the way they organize, retain and use domain related knowledge. It appears to some that what is learned from expert-novice research can help teachers to teach…

The results of survey of secondary school biology students used to access misconceptions about cells are presented. A distinction between conceptions, misconceptions, and nonconceptions is drawn in terms of secondary school biology concepts. The resilience of misconceptions is discussed. (CW)

An active learning method incorporated into one college teacher's art history survey classes encourages students to begin to express ideas about what they see through three stages of a learning cycle: exploration, invention, and application. The method can be used in almost any field and has special advantages for introductory courses. (MSE)

Reports the influence of piano harmonic accompaniment on singing ability of 203 kindergarten students during 1 year of instruction. Finds that no significant differences in singing ability occurred in the groups. Suggests that musical aptitude develops gradually and extensive musical exposure and instruction may be necessary to improve singing…