The authors identify competitive speech and debate as a form of play that helped democratize American citizenship for the poor, who used what they learned through the practice to advance their personal social and economic goals. In addition, this competitive activity led to the development of speech communication as an academic discipline and…

Despite the current policy prominence of physical education, there is still unease about the subject's educational contribution. In this respect, we are surprised by how seldom John Dewey's writings inform contemporary reviews of aims and values. We outline how his writings on connecting the child and the curriculum and schools with…

This article introduces a sociology role-playing game (RPG) used to demonstrate the broad range of social forces, institutions, and structures in a semester-long series of in-class and homework assignments. RPGs and other simulation games have been frequently suggested as a useful teaching methodology because of their unique ability to allow…

This manual outlines ways in which observation and care of classroom pet animals may be used to enrich the education of elementary school children. Part one deals with the benefits of having pets in the classroom. Part two illustrates ways in which pets can serve as valuable teaching tools and gives examples of lessons in which the use of pets can…

When children begin formal schooling, their fundamental communication skills, speaking and listening, are well developed but limited in scope and range; it becomes the teacher's task to assist the children in achieving communicative competence. A developmental project called "Developing Communicative Competence in Children" identifies four…