America 2000 presents an educational reform agenda that neglects the arts. Prevailing misconceptions of the arts are based on a massive misunderstanding of their role in human development and education. The arts contribute significantly by celebrating the value of multiple perspectives and nuances in problem solving, relating form to content, and…

Ruskin College and Oxford City Council collaborated on a course to develop council employees' skills and confidence in 12 2-hour sessions in workplaces and a residential weekend at the college. The brevity and dual locations prompted a change to five full days entirely at the college. (SK)

Reviews research on stresses associated with normative developmental transitions, the effects of psychological stress on adult parenting and parent-child interactions, and stresses associated with transition to parenthood during adolescence, with emphasis on school-age parents. Provides suggestions for design of developmentally and ecologically…

Twenty-two siblings of autistic boys and 34 other siblings were compared on measures of depression, social adjustment, and family responsibilities. Results showed that siblings of autistic boys scored significantly higher on depression than the comparison group, but not on problems of social adjustment. There were no significant gender…

Four experiments examined sources of gender differences routinely found on the water-level spatial test. Undergraduates' errors offered no evidence that less accurate responses by females than males reflected a less developed Piagetian spatial system, and that females' requisite motor skills were poorer than those of males. (MM)

Used the confirmability model a method for assessing individuals' perceptions of other persons, to study developmental differences in the amount of information children and adults require to infer various traits. Found differences in the amount of information required to infer different traits and evidence of subjects' negativity and egocentric…

Summarizes current efforts to promote faculty and staff development in the nation's community colleges by describing a range of strategies from simple, one-purpose publications to multiyear consortia efforts. Provides brief descriptions of specific projects to meet faculty needs and improve instruction. (MAB)

This article describes techniques, used in a family-centered early intervention project, that both assist in accomplishing the goals of the Individualized Family Service Plan process and create opportunities for families to display their present competencies and acquire new ones to meet the needs of their children with communication disorders.…

Data from 48 infants revealed (1) that infants aged 1;2-2;3 failed to establish a stable word-object link even in follow-in labeling and (2) that only infants aged 1;6-1;7 could identify the correct referent during discrepant labeling. During the period between 1;2-1;7 infants are becoming increasingly adept at acquiring new labels under minimal…

This study examined four older adults at the time of retirement to determine the extent to which there was intraindividual variability and stability in self-concept during the retirement transition, and to see whether patterns of change were replicable across subjects. Results showed that three to four dimensions of self-concept variability…

Advocates focusing on personal and social education in outdoor education, before addressing subjects in the National Curriculum in Britain. Discusses the development of professionalism in outdoor educators. Provides an assessment of progress scale for the goals related to professionalism. Proposes that outdoor education may be more secure as part…

An art program at an alternative elementary school in Acton, Massachusetts, revolves around the belief that every person has an inner sense of self that should provide the direction for learning. The educational environment is designed to stimulate individuals to find their own personal direction. (SK)

Cites studies showing that U.S. students are inadequately prepared for competition with foreign workers and are uninformed about the international environment. Argues that the community college student population is an excellent target for expanding study abroad programs. Describes a program designed for the nontraditional, working student and the…

Describes interactive bibliotherapy and poetry therapy as services which use literature as a catalyst for personal growth and healing through a facilitator. Their use in schools, hospitals, nursing homes, adult education centers, prisons, and chemical dependency units is discussed; reading bibliotherapy is described; and use for spiritual growth…

Interviews with 43 mature women students were followed 10 years later by interviews with 23 of them. The experience of education provided them a means of self-evaluation. Most worked in teaching, social work, or the public sector, which reduced potential dilemmas about self-perception and enabled an expressive rather than an instrumental view of…