Standard guidelines are presented by the Oregon Department of Education for a prekindergarten public school program for 4-year-olds. The program emphasizes helping teachers work with parents at home and at school to form an effective team in building a child's self-concept, self-confidence and communicative skills. Each curriculum area is…

Offers a variety of practical writing ideas that can help first-grade teachers encourage writing across the curriculum. (FL)

Discusses the need to consider students' pre-existing conceptual schemes when teaching chemistry. Reports on a study done in Spain which indicates that the existence of adolescents preconceptions about gases is important to consider when teaching the principles of conservation of substance, mass, and weight. (TW)

Reviews the purposes, underlying assumptions, and curriculum development model for the United Kingdom's "Children's Learning in Science Project." Explains the general features and phases of the constructivist approach to learning that the program advocates. Identifies theoretical developments on children's ideas, the constructivist view…

Discusses general issues that have shaped research on whether depictions of violence in television and other media significantly influence real-life aggressive behavior. Presents a theoretical framework for understanding media effects on the psychological processes of acquisition, maintenance, and emission of aggression. Outlines contents of this…

Considers variables which affect the acquisition of the kinetic theory of heat by children who hold alternative viewpoints. Suggests that the articulation of different viewpoints in no way hinders the acquisition of the desired conceptual framework. Emphasizes the benefit to low-reasoning students in particular. (CW)

Discusses the nature of interactive video, its educational use, evidence for its effectiveness, and the design of interactive video courseware. Use by the military and industry is also described, studies comparing video with other instructional methods are reviewed, and areas for further study are suggested. Ninety-four references are provided.…

Describes study of fourth and fifth grade students which explained the effect of graphics on student motivation in a microcomputer-based spelling drill program. The role of feedback in instruction is discussed, the impact of graphics on computer software is described, and results are analyzed. (4 references) (LRW)

Describes a teaching method that actively involves elementary school children in science lessons by having them teach lessons to their peers. Gives examples of teacher and student strategies. Describes evaluation of the students and student progress with time. Reviews depth of thinking and questioning by students in this activity. (CW)

According to speakers at the annual meeting of the American Association for Higher Education, better college teaching requires closer attention to how students learn, but colleges set a poor example for such values as empathy and cooperation. Institutions should encourage student-faculty contacts, emphasize collaboration among students, use active…

This study investigated the degree to which seventh- and eighth-grade students of different abilities acquired strategic planning knowledge from a problem-solving computer game called Wumpus. Regression analysis was used to determine the influences of individual differences and either activating or modeling instruction, and to assess transfer of…

Science education in Great Britain needs to develop more human and humane themes; e.g., students should study aspects of science that are essential to their self-understanding, and they should evaluate their own personal understanding of key scientific concepts and theories. Researchers should study the learning process variables of science…

Reports on a study showing that teachers' understanding of learning and the age of children affect children's comprehension styles. (EL)

Discusses the importance of providing opportunities for children to learn through talk with an adult and contains excerpts from transcripts of parent-child and teacher-student conversations. (DF)

Examines how information from psychological and educational research was used to develop and implement a remedial chemistry course, focusing on the viewpoint of a learning process based on research in cognitive science. Comments on textbook selection, testing, scheduling, instructional strategies, and other areas are included. (JN)