Learning behavior of young children of contrasting socioeconomic backgrounds is examined in this study, which poses the question: what are the necessary or sufficient environmental conditions for the establishment of identifiable patterns of behavior? Socioeconomic level (SEL), the principal independent variable, was defined in terms of parental…

The handbook, capsulizing much of the growing body of research and writing on conceptual approaches, is designed to provide assistance to elementary teachers in giving students a conceptual perspective for dealing with social studies content. The handbook is arranged in seven sections. After a brief discussion of the rationale for teaching…

Student rights and responsibilities vis-a-vis knowledge (methods of study) and purposes of schooling are dealt with. In the area of knowledge, there are two important ethical concerns: students must be able to pursue truth and students have a right to privacy. Turning to the purposes of schooling, it is clear that in social studies education, the…

Evaluation results are reported for the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory's Thinking and Reasoning Program, designed to develop analytic thinking and problem-solving skills in young children in multicultural classroom settings. Results are based on a pilot test of the program conducted during the 1974-75 school year. Mastery activities,…

Discusses the importance of both formative and summative evaluation of instructional design technology in educational and business settings. Topics discussed include interactive video, computer assisted instruction, courseware, industrial training methods, cost effectiveness, learner performance data, current research, computer simulation, and…

Discusses some of the benefits of having students work cooperatively toward a shared goal. Suggests that teachers become involved in research in this area and become associated with the National Science Teachers Association's Every Teacher a Researcher (ETR) program. Lists various types of research projects teachers could undertake. (TW)

Presents an overview of a course on robotics and automation developed by the Organization for Rehabilitation through Training (ORT) to be offered through an open learning environment in the United Kingdom. Highlights include hardware and software requirements, an educational model, design principles, and future developments. (LRW)

Presents case study of an inservice training package designed to prepare teachers to implement proposed changes. Developed for an English as a second language (ELS) program for adult francophones, this package consists of workshops and materials which view implementing change as a learning process for teachers as well as students. (Author/LRW)

Deals with strategies for the fostering of the question-asking capabilities of chemistry students through the use of active, real-world problem-solving and decision-making processes. Suggests that appropriate teaching strategies do facilitate the students' question-asking abilities, and strengthen their confidence in applying them to…

Describes a self-managed learning approach designed to help engineering students take charge of their own learning. Discusses marker events, exploratory learning versus linear instruction, knowledge through self-discovery, information retrieval, production through writing and speaking, and promoting a mature response. (TW)

This discussion of educational decision making for the use of new information and communication technologies in elementary education focuses on the increase in home computers. Political and economic influences on German education are reviewed, as well as considerations relating to teacher qualifications and the teaching-learning interaction.…

Noting weaknesses in "standard" methods of measuring listening skills, developes a five-factor model utilizing three different kinds of memory and adding tasks requiring interpretation and concentration. Varying subscales--with the exception of the interpretive task--are found to be sufficiently reliable for research purposes. (NH)

Reports on a study designed to determine the relative effectiveness of different instructional approaches on chemistry laboratory achievement. Investigated differences in achievement in spectrophotometry among college freshmen who received either traditional, learning cycle, or computer simulation instruction. Results indicated that students…

Reports on a study to determine the effects of the presentation of questions inserted into texts for students in introductory biology. Results indicated that students reading the text with questions at the beginning of the paragraph scored significantly higher on achievement tests than the students reading without questions. (TW)

Describes the progress of a kindergartern child acquiring English as her second language. (DF)