Learning activities in environmental education require the use of the physical environment or moving into nature and natural settings to explore issues of the environment. These approaches are sometimes labeled as "nonformal." This informational bulletin examines a taxonomy of four learning environments and explore the application of nonformal…

This fact sheet on mental retardation is offered in both English and Spanish. First it provides the federal definition of mental retardation and discusses components of the definition. Causes of mental retardation are briefly noted, and incidence figures are provided. Typical characteristics of people with mental retardation are mentioned.…

A review of data that have been used to evaluate college teaching suggests that the definition of teaching used for those evaluations has been very incomplete. An expanded definition includes the following seven components of college teaching: (1) subject matter mastery; (2) curriculum development; (3) course design; (4) delivery of instruction;…

The four issues of "Perceptions" published by the New York State Educators of the Emotionally Disturbed (ANYSEED) contain the following major articles: "Changes Required to Implement Social Skills Instruction in Schools" (Richard S. Neel); "Critical Issues Related to Social Skills Training" (Ellen McGinnis); "Facilitating the Integration of…

This practitioner's monograph concerns instructional practices for developing self-directed learning among middle-school students. The monograph provides a definition of self-directed learning, a review of the developmental needs of middle-grade students, a description of a classroom environment designed to facilitate self-directed learning, and…

A review was made of literature about individual differences in learning style. Four related topics were investigated: (1) learning style as the factor constituting individual differences among students; (2) the necessity of diagnosis to the learning style paradigm; (3) elements making up individual learning style differences; and (4) the…

The assertion that productivity is declining in education, economists' work on educational production functions, and definitions of efficiency and productivity are discussed in three reports on the economics of education. The measurement and aggregation problems in the determination of productivity changes in education are explained, and three…

Investigates whether students could more easily remember synthetic words by rehearsing with definitions, examples, or sentence composing. Concludes that students who used sentence composing performed better on a posttest than those who had rehearsed using examples and definitions. (SRT)

Shows how conceptions of literacy in reading have changed and what sorts of instruction best suit each conception. Identifies four conceptions of literacy: (1) decoding, (2) structural comprehension, (3) elaborative comprehension, and (4) critical thinking, and argues that each is best allied with a certain form of instruction. (FL)

Integration in nursing curriculum, its effect on performance of students and faculty, and its application to clinical experience, team teaching, and curriculum structure are examined. (TA)

This fact sheet, written in both English and Spanish, provides a definition, information on incidence, typical characteristics, and educational implications of emotional disturbance. The definition is from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and incidence in 1999-2000 is reported as about 470,000 children and youth. Educational…

This monograph deals specifically with the challenge of recognizing or assessing creativity. Following an introductory chapter, chapter 2 focuses on definitions and characteristics of creativity to help clarify the nature and meaning of creativity and creative thinking, and to consider the implications of those definitions for assessment. The…

This guide is intended to help schools and classroom teachers in Alberta provide successful school experiences for gifted and talented students. Section 1 focuses on program administration, including Alberta legislation, policy, and regulations; district administration of programs; and school administration of programs. Section 2 identifies an…

Discusses developmental, values clarification, actionist, and rationalist strategies in moral education and the problems associated with each strategy. Explores the question of whether schools should offer moral instruction. Outlines criteria for selecting a moral education program and emphasizes that moral issues raised in the classroom are…

Reports the major findings of the Pedagogical Relations between Adult Literacy and Communication project, which examined the relationship between the fields of adult literacy education and communications. It was found that the knowledge each field has of the other is, overall, very limited and often erroneous. (six references) (MDM)