This dissertation describes a qualitative research study that grows our understanding of the career development experiences, supports, and barriers of social entrepreneurs who are gifted adults (SEGA) so that we may nurture the career development of future SEGA. Research questions for this study probed the career development experiences, supports,…

A lack of understanding of how women perceive their learning continues to hinder efforts to design educational experiences that prepare women for STEM disciplines. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore women's perceptions of their learning from a middle school STEM program a decade earlier and other learning experiences they…

Adults need certain capabilities to get and keep a job, provide responsive care for children, manage a household, and contribute productively to the community. When these skills have not developed as they should, or are compromised by the stresses of poverty or other ongoing adversity, our communities pay the price. But where do these capabilities…

Children's, adolescents', and adults' (N = 96 7-8, 10-11, and 13-14-year-olds and university students) epistemological development and its relation to judgments and reasoning about teaching methods was examined. The domain (scientific or moral), nature of the topic (controversial or noncontroversial), and teaching method (direct instruction by…

The idea that individual behavior is the result of society's influence on individual self-concept beliefs reflects more than a century of theory and research. Therefore, this study focuses on self-concept as a construct of primordial human characteristics such as emotion, aspiration, love, conflict, anger, jealousy, contradiction, guilt, and…

An inductive model is proposed that suggests that support for the development and deepening of interest can be aided by knowledge of identity development. The model suggests that instructional practice would be usefully informed were educators (e.g., teachers, parents, museum curators, counselors) to have information about both the phase of a…

Describes an educational program specifically directed to the needs of three types of older unemployed persons: the recently unemployed, those who have been unemployed for a long time, and those whose careers have come to a complete stop due to illness, disability, or severe disruption of career arrangements. (EM)

This paper deals with the specific problems of the adolescent and adult hearing-impaired individual who wishes to improve and develop his or her expressive speech ability. Considered are issues critical to the learning process, intervention strategies for improving speech production, and speech production as one part of communication competency.…

This brief guide presents principles and suggestions to help individuals who are deaf-blind enjoy and benefit from participation in recreational activities. Principles consider the need to: (1) start with the individual and determine what he/she is interested in, focusing on the selection of safe, age-appropriate activities; (2) research the…

This brief guide presents principles and suggestions to help individuals who are deaf-blind enjoy and benefit from participation in recreational activities. Some considerations discussed are to: (1) start with the individual and determine what he or she is interested in, focusing on the selection of safe, age-appropriate activities; (2) research…

Reevaluates the impact that Kenneth Koch's 1970 collection of children's poetry, "Wishes, Lies, and Dreams," has had on its contributors. (MM)

This discussion of the relationship between self-directed learning, adult development, and distance education presents findings from researchers in the field of autonomous learning. In addition, the implications of self-directed learning for the curriculum and teaching methods in distance education are considered. The document is divided into the…

This program manual was developed by the Grant-Blackford Development Center in order to help other professionals and organizations working with developmentally disabled persons to improve their recreation and leisure programs. The manual's philosophy is to structure recreation programs for fun, not just for skill teaching: stressing abilities, not…

This final report and associated materials describe a 3-year research and demonstration project whose purpose was to provide adult educators and adults with disabilities with validated accommodations useful in instruction and assessment. These accommodations were intended to help individuals with disabilities understand their legal rights, meet…