Abandoning conventional assumptions about skills hierarchies leads to a new set of curricular principles focusing on complex, meaningful problems, embedding basic skills instruction within more global tasks, and connecting instruction to students' experience and culture. Teachers can then model powerful thinking strategies, encourage multiple…

Depicts the isolation which results when education, particularly language arts education, is concerned primarily with the acquisition of skills. Urges educators not to lose sight of the fundamental purpose of the language arts, which are to help people make and articulate meaning from their experiences, to empower people, and to imagine…

Explores the field of adolescent development as a rationale for the use of reader-response pedagogy in the secondary literature classroom. Discusses reader-response theory and pedagogy, adolescent cognitive and affective development in the secondary schools, and the implementation of a reader-response secondary English curriculum. (PRA)

Outlines a master syllabus for introductory intercultural communication courses. Overviews the major issues instructors must face when they teach such a course at any level of instruction. Discusses philosophical issues, pedagogical issues, course content (objectives, texts, written assignments), and available resources and teaching techniques.…

Presents a proposal of what is possible and necessary for teaching, studying, and learning the "Bible" with children, youth, and adults of religious congregations. Looks to scripture to gain clues regarding its important role in the spiritual formation of believers of all ages. Offers examples of ways to implement effective strategies…

This article presents a rationale for including self-determination in special education curricula. It describes a framework for providing choices, based on an analysis of risk and benefits, and compares assessment approaches and teaching strategies. The recommended approach emphasizes criterion-referenced assessments that are setting specific.…

Reviews and focuses on a comparison of current curriculum models used in gifted-child education and early childhood education. The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, which emphasizes the child's needs, interests, and abilities as the focus of curriculum development, is described. (CR)

Analyzes didactics as the hard core of Finnish pedagogic discourse and relates changes in the state educational discourse in Finland to recent developments in department-level curricula in teacher education at Finnish universities in the 1980s and 1990s. The tendency in Finland has been toward a decontextualized and nonhistorical science of…

Summarizes how teachers may implement the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework as they design and teach courses in Western civilization and world history, focusing on the integration of history, geography, and the social sciences. Suggestions are given for approaches to common problems. (SLD)

Presents a collaborative, writing-across-the curriculum staff development training model developed by Central Michigan University and a rural school district. Details the following: (1) the need, commitment, and delivery system; (2) team selection; (3) team training; (4) development of workshop schedules, content and formats; (5) implementation;…

Explores changing curricular designs and the differences between traditional and authentic learning. Identifies significant design features of authentic design, and provides examples of these features with instructional units. (AEF)

Notes the importance and use of interviewing skills. Discusses technologies used in interviewing; use of interviews in the curriculum; ways to contact potential interviewees; and planning, conducting, and ending the interview. (AEF)

Examined whether brief, take-home fitness and wellness lessons given to college physical education activity classes could teach students lifetime fitness concepts. Pre- and post-intervention surveys found that intervention students showed significant cognitive improvements compared to controls. They engaged in regular physical activity and…

The influence of curriculum control policies on sense of autonomy and job satisfaction was studied for 195 high school mathematics and social studies teachers in California, Florida, and New York. Teachers reported high personal control over content and pedagogy, and there was little evidence that constraints affected efficacy or satisfaction.…

Discusses the role of middle school curriculum reform, including disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and integrated perspectives, that will improve students' social, intellectual, and personal development. (JPB)