Since May 1980, participants in the Early Adolescent Project at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York have studied the early adolescent as a learner in a series of colloquia, discussions, and observations. The purpose of the study has been to develop recommendations for schooling of the early adolescent and for continuing and…

This document presents four symposium papers on the theme of what might happen in teacher education program research and development if educational psychology were replaced by other bodies of theory, proposition, and research findings. Maxine Green's views, presented in "What the Known Demands," center around the necessity of considering teaching…

For the individual, gender difference falls along the feminine-masculine continuum with strong neurodevelopmental influences at various points throughout the lifespan. Neurodevelopmental influences are conceptualized in a vector model of sex difference. Vector attributes, direction and magnitude, are influenced initially by differences in levels…

Techniques for encouraging young children to discover the purpose and use of maps are discussed. Motor activity and topological studies form a base from which the teacher and children can build a mapping program of progressive sophistication. Concepts important to mapping include boundaries, regions, exteriors, interiors, holes, order, point of…

Action research conducted by teams of university professors and middle school teachers investigated the relationship between teachers' developmental stages, collaborative research, and individual teacher change. Section 1 describes the study's purposes and objectives and the methods used in analyzing teachers' stages of development. An overview of…

Play is the spontaneous or organized recreational activity of children; it is at the heart of the preschool curriculum. Play aids in the development of physical, intellectual, and social skills. Children's play progresses through three developmental stages: solitary, parallel, and social. Preschool teachers should arrange for four kinds of…

Suggesting that perhaps teachers have been overlooking the role of drawing in children's communication development by concentrating on the verbal aspects of language, this paper discusses aspects of verbal and graphic language and looks at the interrelationships between these elements in the process of communication. Selected picture stories of a…

The TADPOLE (Tech Assessment and Development for the Preparation of Optimal Learning Environments) Research Project assessed areas of parental competence in setting up home learning environments for children from birth to three years of age. Six half-hour videotapes were made of each of 30 families in their homes. Two instruments, Parent…

To determine which types and qualities of science teaching strategies stimulate students to become involved in learning, middle and high school students (N=147) were observed for time-on-task (time actively spent by the student in learning) and off-task during periods while being taught by five student teachers. The "Teaching Strategies…

The problems and challenges of teaching adolescents are discussed in this collection of essays on middle school education. Part I introduces five basic themes that underly suggestions and considerations offered in subsequent writings. These basic themes--Community, Caring, Connectedness, Color, and Collaboration--are the "Five C's" that form the…

Dramatic accounts of adolescent turmoil may confuse psychopathology with normal development if derived from the study of clinical populations. To compare the development of normal adolescents, 108 students aged 17-22 from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Western Samoa were studied. Results of three different personality measures…

Socially rejected students are actively excluded for long periods of time by many of their peers at school and are often the recipients of verbal or physical abuse. Although most consideration of this problem has focused on rejected students, social rejections could be considered as a group phenomenon, determined by the structure of the social…

School guidance and counseling programs have been quite effective in providing vocational guidance and counseling for mental health, but the effectiveness of these programs in the future is cause for concern as rapid scientific and technological advances influence youth's creation of ideas and values. Adults today have experienced such rapid…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of selected science experiences on fourth-grade students' concepts of Piagetian physical causality, namely, animism and dynamism. Vocabulary ability and Piagetian developmental stages were assessed by the "Concept Assessment Kit Conservation" and "Metropolitan Achievement…

This guidebook is designed for teachers of physical education at both the elementary and secondary levels. It is divided into six sections. The first section presents an overview of the scope and purpose of physical education in the schools. Discussions are included on developmental objectives, growth characteristics, physical fitness, safety in…