This book provides an overview of ways in which the psychology of child development can improve education and promote children's competence. Part 1 of the book examines individual differences in children. Chapters in this part discuss: (1) the roots of children's competence, and particularly the influences of the environment, heredity, and…

This instructor's guide consists of four modules teacher educators can use in preparing prospective teachers to teach basic vocational education students. The modules cover the following topics: (1) characteristics of basic vocational education students or students at risk for dropping out of high school; (2) program requirements of the basic…

This manual provides guidelines for early childhood programs and public school systems wishing to establish or formalize a transition process to meet the needs of preschool children moving into the public school system, based on the STEPS (Sequenced Transition to Education in the Public Schools) model developed in Kentucky. The manual begins with…

Disparities between Whites and African Americans exist in many areas in U.S. society. These disparities are exacerbated by social ills, including the Persian Gulf conflict. Positive change on the part of African American educators is required to combat these problems. The following four postulates for teaching African American youth are provided:…

This digest examines changes that are involved in an elementary school library media program when the school's instructional methods move from a basic skills to a whole language approach. These changes are discussed in terms of three curricular foci--theme studies, process writing, and literature-based reading--and new demands that are placed on…

This paper describes an interactive strategy for the instruction of critical thinking taking place in a middle school in Dade County, Florida. The project involves integration of critical thinking and brainstorming, using the quality circle approach. Based on developmental characteristics, certain principles impact middle school curricula: (1) the…

This curriculum guide outlines two one-semester home economics courses that students can take to fulfill requirements in social studies or vocational education. The courses, Money and Your Future and Consumer Skills, contain the academic competencies from the Connecticut Common Core of Learning required for credit in social studies. The curriculum…

The purpose of this resource guide is to assist educators of limited English proficient (LEP) migrant students in the primary grades in language and mathematics instruction. The stages of language acquisition are described along with practical suggestions for teaching strategies to be used at each stage. Information about Mexican-American and…

This paper examines theories on metacognition and instructional strategies for developing metacognitive processes. These strategies were then implemented in an inner-city grade 6 classroom in a low-economic, multicultural section of Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), in which 33 students kept journals that were studied for evidence of…

This learning module for a 12th-grade course in communications technology is designed to help teachers lead students through typesetting and laying out a brochure using Pagemaker and other computer programs on a Macintosh computer. The module contains eight competencies, a description of its content, suggested instructor methodology, worksheets…

This report examines factors contributing to grade repetition in rural elementary schools in Honduras. Forty schools in four Honduran departments were randomly selected from lists of schools with the highest and lowest repetition rates. Subjects were 1,854 students in Grade 1 or 3 during the 1990 school year who were still in the school in March…

This curriculum guide is composed of 16 lesson plans about terminology and concepts relevant to the four major methods of handling solid waste problems: (1) reuse; (2) recycling; (3) conversion of waste to energy ; and (4) landfilling. Games, investigations, a play, projects, a slide presentation, and skits are some of the teaching techniques…

This book was written to help teachers gain a better understanding of children who are failing in school and to provide a systematic process of attacking their learning problems. The text presents workable principles for determining probable causes of learning problems and for selecting suitable, effective remedial activities. Learning problems…

This practicum was devised to promote academic achievement by reducing problem behavior in third graders. Students developed behaviorally correct options to promote prosocial behavior and avoidance of hostile situations in their social context by identifying social deficits and using discovery and transfer-learning techniques. Student pre- and…

This book provides teacher lesson plans that are designed to help teachers of computer literacy courses make appropriate use of instructional materials. It is designed to help inservice teachers with the day-to-day challenge of assisting a wide range of students in becoming more computer literate. In addition, the book is useful for educators who…