This research explored the thesis that mental model construction can be an effective instructional strategy for mental models learning by constructing a prototype that embodies this approach. The mental model to be learned was the Internet, including the components of the Internet, their functions, and their relationships to one another. To do…

Noting that the United States is the only developed Western nation with no national child care, this videotape examines the need for high quality, affordable child care available to all families. Drawing on personal narratives of working parents overwhelmed with balancing work/family and child care needs/costs, the 50-minute video examines the…

Over half of Finnish elementary schools are small schools employing 1-3 teachers. This paper examines the implementation of new national curriculum policies in two small elementary schools. The new policies, adopted in 1994, stress autonomous control of learning and encourage each individual school, in collaboration with the community, to draw up…

Originating 75 years ago as a means of safeguarding students from excesses in physical activities, the student-health service has had a phenomenal development. From an examination, by the methods then at hand, of heart, lungs, and spine and the prescription of gymnastic exercises according to the findings, this examination has developed, with the…

The present study of school building construction and school building needs was made at the request of school building experts from all parts of the country who urged the need of detailed data by cities as well as by counties and States, as to the types of schools for which buildings had been constructed during the past 3 years, the kinds of…

Comprehensive school reform calls for a "whole-school" and coordinated approach to improve schools. The strategy differs from piecemeal and fragmented efforts that also in the past have seemed only to lead to short-lived changes. To stimulate whole-school reform across the country, Congress appropriated funds in FY1998 for the U.S.…

This report examines college enrollment of students working and/or attending public post-secondary institutions in Texas for the AISD 1997-1998 senior cohort.

Describes Project EPIC (Educational Progress in Careers) in Florida, which was designed to develop measures of student behaviors considered necessary for competing in the economic world. Includes organizing a statewide committee of business, labor, and professional executives, an exemplary career education project, field testing, and project…

Describes an experimental program at the University of Surrey (England) to show children that education can be enjoyable and is not necessarily the regimented, apprehensive affair from which many suffer. The existing teenage program was extended to include younger children and school-vacation day programs were added to the evening classes. (MF)

Describes five successful geography courses centered around local studies for students in the lower ability range. Includes pollution, mapping, traffic surveys of cars and pedestrians, and discovering town trails. Journal available from Longman Group Ltd, Directories and Periodicals Division, 43/45 Annandale Street, Edinburgh EH7 4AT Scotland.…

Recounts the rocky development of a dominant common school system in London, Ontario between 1852 and 1860. Details the support and opposition to the move among the various social, economic, and ethnic groups in the provincial city. Even after the system implementation, school attendance indicated social differentiation. (MJP)

Discusses how the whole-language process provides an authentic approach to lifelong learning. Includes discussions of Cambourne's conditions for learning; Holdaway's natural learning model; Goodman's miscue analysis research; whole-language theory; the role of teachers, students, and the community in language arts; and the role of the classroom…

Addresses the critical need for culturally competent assessments of the risk of child maltreatment in African American families and the implications for both policy and practice. Advocates development of comprehensive, community-based, and culturally synthesizing approaches to evaluating potential and realized risks to the healthy development of…

The magnitude of juvenile violence calls for interventions that are part of a multifaceted, long-term approach toward violence prevention. This article outlines two versions of a school violence prevention program guided by developmental principles, including support and challenge, significant role-taking experiences, guided reflection, a balance…

In Bolivia, a third of rural children are stunted, and rural infants are twice as likely to die before age 2 than urban infants. National survey data indicate child survival and development are related to maternal education and literacy, community sanitation practices, access to health care, and socioeconomic status. Parental knowledge about…