Originally written for students at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, this guide to child development offers an overview of child development for parents, teachers, and all adults concerned with raising children. Many of the book's ideas come from direct work with children and draw on Rudolf Steiner's approach to child development. The book's…

A simulation experiment demonstrated that the perceptual sensitivity of Swedish and Danish students at upper secondary school level varies systematically concerning the basic conditions for "personal growth." An attempt is made to constrain this concept contextually, in such a way that it can be described behaviorally. It is made evident…

Although Kohlberg and others have proposed that various social psychological and cultural factors may influence a person's level of moral reasoning, most work in this area has been conducted among relatively well educated persons in so called advanced societies. These two studies investigated stages of reasoning about moral dilemmas among…

Social scientists and educators who favor the developmental approach to values acquisition focus on the individual and his or her own psychological growth as the means to acquiring a healthy set of values. On the other hand, those who favor the transmission approach to values acquisition focus on the instillation of societal and group norms in the…

This study examined individuals' concepts of human nature in Germany, the United States, and Indonesia. Three procedures were used with about 100 subjects in each country. Only the second procedure, a presentation of a story involving a character's dilemma that has moral and social consequences, is reported here. In each culture, there were some…

To negotiate a balance between an ideological concern for society's historical-economic development and an understanding of the individual's need for a sense of self-realization, social theory researchers should look to B. Dervin's "gap theory model" of communication. Adapted from Kenneth Burke, it offers a dynamic means of understanding…

This paper is based on a retreat in which vocational rehabilitation professionals examined their own developmental experiences in community settings and related them to their professional role. Vocational rehabilitation professionals are required to act as leaders as they facilitate the process by which people who have experienced traumatic loss…

This research examined Chickering's psychosocial developmental characteristics of nontraditional aged (25-45) university freshmen and compared these developmental characteristics with those reported for traditional aged (18-24) freshmen to determine if significant differences exist between these groups of students. The Student Developmental Task…

A professor of outdoor and experiential education reflects on the development of group relations and on lessons in outdoor ethics learned during a canoe trip in the Canadian Arctic. Written to celebrate a transforming experience, this paper illustrates the experiential learning and individual development that can result from intensive outdoor…

This report discusses the advantages and disadvantages of non-formal education (NFE) compared to the formal school system in Ganjam, a rural district on the east coast of Orissa, India. The aim of the research was to investigate whether or not NFE, would be a worthy target of aid from the Swedish aid organization SIDA (Swedish International…

This paper reviews human development theories that could be utilized in the study of museums as well as theories or approaches to curiosity that appear to be of significant interest for museum exhibit designers and educators. An overview of each theory is followed by a general evaluation of the theory and research that appears relevant. The…

This book presents a look at methods of performance enhancement, examining basic issues of performance through a series of papers which evaluate several popular self-improvement approaches by weighing the evidence to determine what works. The first of the book's four parts provides an overview of the volume with two chapters describing the history…

In this investigation of the relationships among selected aspects of normal language development, emerging metalinguistic skills, concepts about print, and literacy experiences, 19 children 3 years of age were given 4 tests of language development, 12 metalinguistic tasks measuring phonological awareness, word awareness and structural awareness,…

School psychologists engaged in ecological assessment need to measure the degree to which children's behaviors fit the demands of the school environment. Although no standardized instruments serve that purpose, rating scales and simulation/role plays can be adapted to measure the person-environment (PE) fit. Although most behavior rating scales…

Focusing on parents' most persistent concerns about their children's growth and development, the 54 brief articles collected in this volume first appeared as monthly columns in "Parents Magazine." Section 1, "The Challenges of Parenthood," includes essays on alternative approaches to discipline, the limits of openness, teaching…