The "back to basics" movement has mistakenly pushed drama to the periphery of the school program. Direct communication of verifiable facts, once again so valued, actually militates against the personal creation of meaning. Always subjective, meaning develops through individuals' active encounters with events or situations--never through…

One of a series of activity guides, this publication offers a variety of learning activities and resource materials for primary grade students. The activities and resources include: science activities; word puzzles and other puzzles; a flannelboard story; dramatic play exercises; arts and crafts activities; language arts activities; poems; outdoor…

Relationships between mothers' behaviors and (1) their children's verbal and nonverbal cognitive functioning, (2) their children's level of play, and (3) mothers' perceptions of their children's task motivation were investigated. Forty-four mothers and their preschool children from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds participated in the…

Reports a series of studies conducted to investigate possible differences in the exploratory manipulation and play behavior of human infants 7-1/2- 11-1/2 months of age as a function of the attributes of the stimulus, the familiarity of the subject with the stimuli, the age and sex of the infants, and individual differences. (Author/CS)

Suggestions are offered to practitioners on how to consider situational variables in the assessment and remediation of childhood language disorders. Eight sociolinguistic principles, derived from research on normally developing children, are presented. Among the principles are those which state that sociocultural patterns may vary as a function of…

This study assessed the extent to which the emergence and maintenance of peer group-status and behavior reflect the operation of group processes and individual processes. Of specific concern was whether support could be found for empirical relations derived from the self-perpetuation hypothesis. The study, which concerned the constructs of…

In this investigation, methodological and substantive issues regarding early mastery motivation (also termed competence motivation and effectance motivation) were examined longitudinally using a primarily middle-class sample of 37 children observed at 1 and 3.5 years of age. Data on cognitive competence and mastery motivation were collected in…

This paper describes the work of a teacher at the Heartwood Dance Center, a school of dance and related arts in rural Calhoun County, West Virginia. The teacher also conducts freelance workshops in local schools of the region, where people are isolated and incomes are generally low. The extent to which children are talented is partially dependent…

The first of a series of four, this booklet is designed to interest and involve 9- to 11-year-olds in learning about human development. "Fun to Grow On" focuses specifically on helping elementary school children share and enjoy some simple activities with preschool children. The activities are intended to teach older children that (1) each person…

The effects of uninstructed and teacher instructed cooperative group learning on the interactive behaviors of 32 nonhandicapped and 16 handicapped (moderately mentally retarded) elementary students and also on the attitudes of nonhandicapped students toward handicapped persons were investigated. In the teacher instructed condition, the teacher…

The annotated bibliography of over 1,200 citations published between 1943 and 1983 is intended as a comprehensive reference guide to the scientific study of infantile autism. After a search of the literature was conducted, the information was organized by format and subject, first for journal articles (19 topics are concerned with general…

This paper describes a procedure used to locate pretend play episodes in streams of play activity of 4- and 5-year-olds. A story grammar was used to compare pretend play episode activity with story construction. Participants were five girls and three boys attending the same preschool. Pretend play schemes and episodes were defined in terms of…

Two projects at the Kansas Early Childhood Institute investigated characteristics of social interaction by handicapped, at risk, and nonhandicapped children. The first project examined patterns of social interaction and play behavior among preschool children in an integrated classroom. A longitudinal observation of four mild to moderately retarded…

Creative dramatics can be used effectively by the elementary teacher to help motivate students to become involved in various language arts activities. Dramatic play, pantomime, story dramatization, imagination exercises, creative movement, improvisation, and other structured activities encourage students to relate new experiences to old. As they…

This book describes the roots, culture and learning styles of black children. It is written to promote awareness that black children differ from other children in ways which are relevant to education. These differences must be known and acted upon in order to provide black children with an appropriate education. The book contains the following…