Maintains that the works of Grazyna Bacewicz foster musical growth and appreciation, increase students' technical skills, and expand their cultural horizons by acquainting students with the traditions of Poland. Explains that her compositions can be adapted to many different teaching approaches and tailored for students of all ages. (CMK)

Sports participation can help young people appreciate health, exercise, and fitness; learn about themselves and handling adversity; and experience teamwork and sportsmanship. The key to a good high-school sports program is not winning, but student improvement. Athletic participation and achievement should not determine kids' social status. (MLH)

Changes in safety knowledge and skills and self-esteem of 339 Irish children (ages 7-10) who participated in the Stay Safe Programme were compared with those of 388 controls. Trained children showed significant improvements in safety knowledge and skills and these gains were maintained at 5 month follow-up. (Author/CR)

Maintains that students who decide to become music majors must realize that they have to grapple with music theory, music history, applied studio study, and keyboard skills in order to succeed in a university music program. Provides recommended experiences for high school students and guidelines for successful completion of music programs. (CMK)

Focuses on the research done on children learning the tabla, a northern India drum, and the role of the bols system, or mnemonics, that provides a means for memorizing musical material, generating improvisation, and developing rhythmic skills. Discusses the structure of the tabla lessons and the type of materials taught. (CMK)

Investigates the development of rhythmic perception in Italian primary school children and its correlation to other subjects. Demonstrates a significant improvement in fourth graders' ability to discriminate duration and rhythms and indicates very few correlations with other types of school learning. Believes that the results emphasize the special…

Describes how best to prepare camp staff to put the kids first by developing a mindset of believing in children. Gives practical suggestions to camp staff, including advice that supervisors commit themselves to identifying at least one positive counseling experience each day and acknowledging that success publicly or privately. (CDS)

Explains that in order for students to understand statistics, they must develop their spatial and visual skills for manipulating numerical data. Describes the use of an inexpensive, low-tech teaching device that is constructed of modeling clay and cardboard in order to overcome this visual barrier when teaching a blind student statistical…

Presents a two-phase instructional design model that focuses on optimizing step size in whole-task approaches to learning complex, mainly non-recurrent, cognitive skills. Step size in a multiple-step whole-task approach-needed for the process worksheets-is determined on the basis of estimated part-task complexity. A developmental study of the…

Proposes that conceptual and procedural knowledge develop in an iterative fashion and improved problem representation is one mechanism underlying the relations between them. Two experiments were conducted with 5th and 6th grade students learning about decimal fractions. Results indicate conceptual and procedural knowledge do develop, iteratively,…

Examines the effectiveness of a commercially available social skills training program plus classroom reinforcement for use with preschoolers with developmental delays. The combinations of training plus classroom reinforcement resulted in statistically significant increases in sharing behavior. Social skills interventions were viewed favorably by…

Examines the need for teaching Web site evaluation and discusses varied approaches to Web site evaluation. Focuses on the course module "Evaluating Web Resources." Poses a possible format for citing Web sites. Describes an assignment that provides a way for assessing students' ability to evaluate a Web site. (CMK)

Discusses an art project in which students created drawings of mop heads. Explains that the approach of drawing was more important than the subject. States that the students used the chiaroscuro technique, used by Rembrandt and Caravaggio, in which light appears out of the darkness. (CMK)

Describes a girls' computer club started at one elementary school as an action research project. Discusses research findings about girls and computer technology; getting started; building community and establishing communication; activities and projects; using games to build computer fluency; involving volunteers; and success of the club. Includes…

Presents an activity for beginning drawing classes in which students design and draw a composition of at least three candy wrappers. Explains that the project addresses form, techniques for overlapping, folding, and crinkling the candy wrappers, and adding proportion to give the illusion of three-dimensional space. (CMK)