New directions in home economics practice related to values are considered: human ecology, critical reflection, practical problem approach, global perspective, families as social institutions, and political involvement from a social change perspective. Practitioners are urged to undertake the tasks of value reasoning, transformation, and judgment.…

Learning-centered teaching links learning and development by creating a climate of exchange; using assessment to increase awareness of learning needs; promoting learning to learn; holding learners accountable; using multiple strategies for different learning styles; and involving learners in realistic and challenging goals. (SK)

Schroots reviews historical models of age, aging, and the aged and suggests that differences in the aging process can be explained by a branching theory based on gerodynamics. Charness's comment suggests ways to improve gerodynamics as a form of inquiry about human development and aging. (SK)

Adolescents are working more and longer, and more advantaged parents want their children to work. However, jobs available to youth are age segregated and declining in quality. Although student employment can develop self-discipline, responsibility, motivation, and other lifelong skills, its consequences include competing school, work, and family…

Comments on van Geert's mathematical model of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, in this issue. Supports van Geert's use of a nonlinear model, noting that linear statistical models overlook variability in psychological phenomena. Discusses the time asymmetry in van Geert's model, which does not account for a subject's "developmental…

Describes the use of caring groups in which nursing students and faculty learn to give and receive care, develop self-awareness and empowerment, and strengthen coping skills. Discusses the centrality of caring in nursing. (SK)

An example application of latent growth methodology used to analyze developmental change in adolescent alcohol consumption is presented. Findings are discussed with reference to the utility of latent growth curve models for assessing developmental processes of both the inter- and intra-individual level across a variety of behavioral domains. (SLD)

Mentally handicapped clients improved their self-image and self-reliance as a result of involvement in outdoor activities. The staff currently takes six clients out weekly to nine different venues within a two-hour drive of the clients' residential facility. Addresses leader qualifications, special equipment, and transportation. (KS)

An account of personal reasons for participating in the craft of smocking leads to generalizations about the social and cultural meaning of crafts as a community activity. (SK)

Examined which aspects of counseling process, in which process was defined as participants' covert responses to one another during verbal dyadic interactions, describe different racial identity relationship types. Findings from 66 mental health workers (simulated counselors and clients) supported Helm's assumption that specific dimensions might be…

A mentorship model to provide leadership for staff development has five key steps: engender trust, understand learner movement in a development framework, introduce conflict and encourage learner voice, emphasize positive movement, and attend to the relationship. (SK)

Outlines themes from L.S. Vygotsky's writings. His claims about the social origins of individual mental functioning have implications for the definitions of cognition and memory and for the pursuit of research on mental processes. His understanding of culture is derivative of his account of the mediation of mental functioning. (BC)

Maintains that "Individual Development and Evolution: The Genesis of Novel Behavior" (Gilbert Gottlieb) is one of the most creative, integrative, and important works in the field of developmental comparative science. Gottlieb's work has provided scientific basis for the concept that developmental systems, and not genetic reductionism, is the only…

Used empirical example of longitudinal experimental prevention study with two groups to illustrate use of structural equation modeling, first, to systematically test measurement invariance across groups at each wave of measurement, and second, after establishing measurement invariance, to test structural invariance longitudinally. (Author/NB)

In 1945, the Conrad (Montana) Study Group began a commitment to long-term community action that illustrates the principles of transformative research: awareness, active involvement, and social reconstruction. (SK)