This experimental study has three aims: (1) to give a detailed description of imitative behavior as it develops during the first six months of life; (2) to compare imitative responses perceived through visual, kinesthetic and auditory modalities; and (3) to describe and explain the regulating mechanisms and processes present in the early…

Forty-eight special class educable mentally retarded (EMR) students, 9 to 12 years of age, from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were examined to determine effects of communication training and learning potential (LP) training on tasks in the Communication Test Battery (CTB) and on scores in the Raven Progressive Matrices (RPM). The Ss were…

The objective of this study is to estimate and analyze the relationship between learning inputs and student achievement. Emphasis is given to separating the impacts of school and non-school learning inputs. Student study time has a positive impact and time watching television a negative impact on learning practical skills such as arithmetic…

Reported are development, implementation and results of a 6 week summer training program in 1972 (funded through Title I) for 120 underachieving educable mentally handicapped children, 6 to 13 years of age, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Emphasized are learning processes and learning strategies in the daily instructional skills related to reading,…

Learner-controlled instruction (LCI provides a model for developing the self-directed learners modern society requires. LCI allows the student to specify goals, to control significant resources to attain them, and to choose learning strategies, thus enabling him to learn how to learn. It appears that the environment needed to support this model…

Presented is the final report on development of an aural study system which involved approximately 1000 visually handicapped elementary, secondary, and college students. Given is background information such as the relative effectiveness of reading and listening during study, and factors that affect listening comprehension such as learner…

A Piagetian analysis of social development focuses on the changes in children's social concepts and the social factors which facilitate these changes. Piaget's early analysis of children's language into a 3-stage transition from egocentrism to fully socialized speech led to more general study of social behavior. Observations of children playing at…

Funding of much creative effort to solve educational problems is riding on effective states needs assessment and, therefore, suggests a model for accountability as well as identification of cognitive and affective needs. Concepts for model constructs are several, including the learner's unique self-social system: the school and classroom with its…

This document explicates what is involved in educational performance contracting. Four basic types of contracts can be used to procure goods and services: fixed and performance contracts for resources and fixed and performance contracts for results. The basic considerations in choice of type are risk, relative technologies, management skills…

Arthur R. Jensen's article presented no new data: it only reorganized a biased sample of already existent data. Nevertheless, it has been taken by opponents of school integration as definitive scientific evidence of the innate inequality of black and white students. Jensen and Van Den Haag advocate additional studies on individual learning ability…

Two studies are reported. The first is based on Piaget's assertion that the child's representation of his world is dependent on the level of cognitive development at which he is currently functioning. Forty-eight normals and 48 retardates were given a visual memory task. They were asked to recall a configural presentation in a number of ways,…

This semi-annual publication is concerned with sharing ideas on childhood education by printing: 1) articles which deal, in layman's terms, with all areas of study representing artists, mathematicians, biologists, physicists, philosophers, and teachers of children; 2) letters from readers on topics of general interest; and, 3) reviews of timely…

This is a survey of techniques that have been used to test language comprehension. The study of research completed in this field points up the fact that there is no single technique that universally gives valid and reliable information. Various definitions of language comprehension are examined with special emphasis placed on implications for the…

A study is reported in which the effects of 2 competitive treatments on mean classroom performance, interest and retention were examined with the use of a 10-day vocabulary-learning task. Sixty-six 5th grade classrooms were randomly assigned to one of 3 conditions: (1) control; (2) competition with reward; and (3) competition in a game setting.…

The ideas for innovations in learning systems in this report are based on a scenario being developed for the Minnesota Experimental City. The primary function of the new system being developed in Minnesota is to assist the individual learner to discover his interests, assess his needs, set his learning objectives, and pursue these objectives. The…