An evaluation was made on the effects of an improved staff ratio in New Zealand kindergartens. Aspects of four typical kindergartens staffed by two teachers were compared with aspects of four kindergartens that were provided with a third teacher. Data were collected from teachers, kindergarten children and parents. Findings indicated that the…

This discussion compares Japan and the United States in terms of: (1) perceptions of children and childhood; (2) parents and parenting; (3) the preschool system; and (4) the social structure of child care settings. It is asserted that the most profound difference between Japanese and American perceptions of children may be that in Japan the…

The critical and creative thinking dispositions which are intrinsic to children's critical thought may reflect the standards of an adult culture which values verbalized thought over other kinds of human intelligence. Primary critical and creative thinking dispositions are those which help the child explore the world. These are biological processes…

This booklet describes research carried out under sponsorship of the Psychological Sciences Division of the U.S. Office of Naval Research during Fiscal Year 1985. The booklet is divided into three programmatic research areas: (1) Engineering Psychology; (2) Personnel and Training; and (3) Group Psychology. Each program is described by an overview…

This personal narrative recounts the experiences of a group of adult learners six months after they completed a graduate diploma in adult education. They speak of their discovery that empowerment, in terms of enabling and energizing, involved a seeming contradictory sense of vulnerability in terms of "the paradox of empowerment." The…

A study examined the phenomenon of burnout in social service agencies, approaching burnout as a symptom of organizational communication patterns rather than a characteristic inherent in or developed within a particular individual. Sixteen working teams (defined as three or more people in a person-oriented service, who are perceived as a team by…

A participant observation study was conducted to address socialization, cultural, and values questions related to high school students' interactions with microcomputers. Specific issues addressed included: (1) student social patterns in microcomputer interactions; (2) cultural and sex differences in microcomputer interactions; and (3) student…

Eighty Singapore teachers voluntarily participated in the evaluation of three new scales: (1) the Responsibility Scale, which measures the teacher's sense of responsibility, willingness to take on additional new duties, and perception of being assigned duties; (2) the Change Scale which measures the teacher's acceptance of changes in life as…

Designed for parents with handicapped children, this manual provides current information on the development and growth stages of all children to serve as a basis or guideline for comparison. First, introductory comments focus on skills needed by all parents to help their children build feelings of self-worth and to grow. Next, an overview is…

This collection of papers describes a way of viewing and caring for infants. Part I begins with practical suggestions for parents on such topics as loving, quality time, and day care centers. Part II explores Magda Gerber's work with Dr. Pikler, the Loczy Model of infant care, respecting infants, the Demonstration Infant Program, language…

This paper discusses the southern approach to education during the period of 1700 to 1860. During this period there developed in the South three culture-specific institutions that helped delay the growth of Common Schools, and later Public Schools. Those institutions were the following: (1) a code of honor; (2) the development of a structured…

The premise for an exploratory study of classroom instructional activities was that a positive and substantial correlation exists between achievement and instructional time. The proportion of time that teachers spent on instruction was compared to time devoted to student discipline and control. Three contextual variables were measured through…

Part I summarizes data on the final version of the Student Self-Report, an affective, multiple-chioce questionnaire developed to measure the kinds of behavioral and attitudinal chanqes which elementary counselors most often attempt to produce when providing services to students in Grades 3-6. Part I contains reliability and validity data for the…

If organizations are to measure and use worker performance information effectively, they must distinguish between two components of performance appraisal: performance data (recorded information for comparing workers) and performance development (the process of improving human assets by discouraging ineffective and reinforcing effective job…

Teachers' thinking and thought processes should be regarded as essential subject matter for teacher preparation courses concerned with teaching and teacher effectiveness. A second-year course in "Learning and Teaching," offered at Waikato College of Teacher Education (New Zealand) is based on two interrelated premises. The first premise…