Recently, there has been a rapid proliferation of lesson study groups in the United States. Since deep knowledge about lesson study is rare in the U.S., it is likely that some of these groups have an incomplete understanding of this Japanese practice. Some may focus on structural aspects of the process of lesson study or may mimic its superficial…

This study explores stages of professional development among Israeli school counsellors by investigating their attitudes toward evolving professional identity and professional patterns across the career span. We interviewed 15 school counsellors from different age groups, seniority levels, and school types (elementary, middle, high). A consensual…

Research suggests that, using representations from object-based attention, infants can represent only 3 individuals at a time. For example, infants successfully represent 1, 2, or 3 hidden objects, but fail with 4 ("Developmental Science" 6 (2003) 568), and a similar limit is seen in adults' tracking of multiple objects (see "Cognitive Psychology"…

When asked to recall their earliest personal memories, most children and adults have virtually no recollection of their infancy or early childhood. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as childhood amnesia. The fate of our earliest memories has puzzled psychologists for over 50 years, particularly in light of the importance of early experience…

This study examined children's reading performance and its developmental trajectories during the first and the second grade. Ninety children were tested five times on word reading and reading comprehension. Qualitatively different groups were identified through cluster analysis: Competent, Technical, and Poor Readers. The results showed that the…

Prekindergarten is becoming part of elementary school in the growing number of districts that treat the pre-K-3 years as a distinct learning period. Implementation of instructional connections is a primary goal behind a movement to make pre-K classrooms part of the regular life of elementary schools. Proponents of such efforts argue that children…

A developmental contextual test of a dual-cycle model of identity formation is presented. In addition to a commitment-formation cycle-represented by Marcia's (1966) classical dimensions of exploration in breadth and commitment making--the model comprises a commitment-evaluation cycle--constituted by 2 additional dimensions of exploration in depth…

This research was an investigation of children's performance on a task that requires memory binding. In Experiments 1 and 2, 4-year-olds, 6-year-olds, and adults viewed complex pictures and were tested on memory for isolated parts in the pictures and on the part combinations (combination condition). The results suggested improvement in memory for…

This study aimed to determine whether self-assessed puberty is sufficiently reliable and valid to substitute for physician examination when feasibility of physician examination is low (e.g., behavioral research). Adolescents (convenience sample N = 178 endocrinology patients and N = 125 from educational trial; mean age 12.7 and 11.3 years,…

Recent imaging studies have suggested that developmental changes may parallel aspects of adult learning in cortical activation becoming less diffuse and more focal over time. However, while adult learning studies examine changes within subjects, developmental findings have been based on cross-sectional samples and even comparisons across studies.…

As a follow-up to an earlier effort to distinguish schools by stages of development along the context of organizational learning (OL), this paper further targets the OL processes and outcomes to generate a more dynamic and functional framework for sustaining and refining the earlier version of the typology. It is hoped that through such a…

This eight-year study represents a pioneering effort to investigate color expression in children's graphic notations at two stages of development: "Pre-literate" (age: 7.0-8.5), before students received school music instruction, and "Post-literate" (age: 14.0-15.5), three years after students acquired Standard Notation in…

This paper summarises the results of a Learning & Skills Development Agency-funded research project that focused on the pedagogy of teaching younger learners in English Further Education colleges. It sets out the background and rationale for the research, the methods used, and the main findings. It concludes by suggesting some features of best…

Adolescent physical inactivity has risen to an alarming rate. Several theoretical frameworks (models) have been proposed and tested in school-based interventions. The results are mixed, indicating a similar weakness as that observed in community-based physical activity interventions (Baranowski, Lin, Wetter, Resnicow, & Hearn, 1997). The…

Objectives: To describe smoking and quitting history among multiethnic adolescent smokers and examine these as correlates of readiness to quit. Methods: Data were analyzed from 121 high school smokers. Sociodemographic characteristics, self-reported smoking history, number and duration of recent quit attempts, attitudes toward smoking/quitting,…