Two severely handicapped elementary-aged children who participated in a home-based domestic skills program became more independent in performing the domestic tasks involved in their daily routine. Besides generalization to their home environment, the program also featured such advantages as the involvement of significant others and facilitated…

Apart from the official or academic "culture," there is also the popular culture to pass on, which is based on oral traditions, practical creativity, and daily life activities. These three aspects of popular culture are mutually reinforcing, demanding the same kinds of competence and using similar modes of transmission and communication. (MSE)

Advocating the study of practical arts as a means of preparing youth to cope with a wide range of personal and societal problems, the author presents his rationale for and an outline of a practical arts program. Male and female students would be required to enroll in a four-year block (grades 7-10) of practical arts programming. (DTT)

Vocational enrollment is declining because of an increase in academic requirements. Because job skills are changing so rapidly, employers are increasingly choosing to provide their own vocational training to students who have mastered standard academic requirements. However, the lack of hands-on methodology in academic curricula and the lack of…

Three tests of daily living skills for retarded adolescents were developed and validated: making purchases, seeking jobs, and using banks. These three tests were adapted from three of the nine sections of the Social and Prevocational Information Battery (SPIB), a test made up mostly of true-false items. Each of the three tests were developed in…

The article discusses the benefits of craft, design, and technology (CDT) activities for children with special educational needs. Activities such as craftwork can contribute to improved motor skills, self-image, and basic language and math skills. CDT teachers are encouraged to adapt their teaching methods and styles to meet special needs. (JW)

This guide contains standards designed to encourage local educational agencies to redesign consumer home economics programs to meet the present and future needs of students and adults in the 1980s and 1990s. A procedure is suggested for using them in redesign or development of new and innovative articulated programs. The standards include nine…

The curriculum guide was designed to teach prevocational and independent living skills to students with a wide range of handicapping conditions. The SSSQ (Street Survival Skills Questionnaire) curriculum presents information on objectives, materials, suggested performance criteria, teacher strategies, and specific students activities for the…

This guide outlines the basic, developmental, and extension skills that should be covered in practical arts courses (for grades 7 and 8) presented within the framework of agricultural, business, home economics, and industrial arts/technology education programs. The first section lists practical arts skills related to the following areas of…

A report is presented on a two-year project developed by the Cleveland Public Schools to develop and pilot-test a "packaged" curriculum model designed to support both the basic and functional skill development of high school students in each of five major content areas--English, social studies, mathematics, science, and…

This book maintains that much of what children and adolescents are taught in school is of limited use to them in succeeding in life. It notes that although most school curricula focus on factual knowledge and cultural enrichment, they fall short in providing students with an education that focuses on individual abilities and inclinations,…

A joint collaborative effort between Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital and the Parsippany Adult School had as its objective the facilitation of the deinstitutionalization and the assumption of the normal societal role of workers for emotionally disabled citizens. This was to be accomplished through the development, delivery, and refinement of a…

The Edison Project provides the design for a new kind of school, one that keeps pace with the social and technological changes children will encounter. The Edison school design, which is highly ambitious and encourages fundamental change in schools, proposes a rich and challenging curriculum for all students; a professional environment for…

This manual for parents and teachers provides an appropriate teaching curriculum for use with trainable mentally retarded adults, age eighteen to twenty-one years. It provides first a course outline based on five knowledge areas: health, nutrition, home maintenance, basic consumerism, and job readiness. Other contents include tests, objectives,…

This guide provides practical ideas for incorporating the concept of voluntary simplicity into home economics classes. Discussed in the first chapter are the need to study voluntary simplicity, its potential contributions to home economics, and techniques and a questionnaire for measuring student attitudes toward the concept. The remaining…