Examines 662 Arab adolescents' commitments to their own self-development, family, Arab people, and village along with the order in which these commitments are structured. Reveals that the two prevalent patterns of adolescent commitment, individualistic and collectivistic, demonstrate the adolescents' struggle with these value systems and the…

Racism is the current sociopolitical climate, the central bacteria, in our society, which prevents the possibility of social cohesion. This personal narrative explores a child's early experiences of racism and the development of a coping strategy. It calls for helping professionals to engage in "a lifelong critique of identity." (EMK)

Challenges some commonly-held beliefs about what primary children can and cannot learn about astronomy. (Contains 16 references.) (Author/WRM)

Describes the use of newspaper advice column letters as case problems in a human development course where students wrote weekly papers focusing on defining the problem in the letter, offering a solution to that problem, and relating the letter to course concepts. Reveals that students enjoyed and learned from the assignments. (CMK)

Examines how the Montessori community can work for peace within individuals, the schools, and the Montessori community itself by building school identity, creating family-friendly schools, building community within the faculty, and building a community of schools among the competing schools in the local area. Describes several peace programs for…

Analyzed self-perceived maturation associated with service in the Israeli army according to gender, rank, service trajectory (unit or role), and the socialization environment of the individual (urban or kibbutz). Results for 633 subjects suggest that army service contributes to the maturation of Israeli youth, and maturation is moderately affected…

This longitudinal study examined reciprocal growth in negative emotions between parents and adolescents, and their potential influence on the development of social relationships during early adulthood. Findings showed that both parents' and adolescents' initial levels of negative emotion toward each other predicted the rate of growth and rate of…

Reviews previous research and theory on teacher training and teacher development. Demonstrates the importance of a developmental model that accounts for teaching assistants' developmental needs by describing a training program that was implemented in the Department of Sociology at the University of Washington. Appends 2 questionnaires for teaching…

Hypothesizes that self-consciousness and perceived peer acceptance correlates with social anxiety. Focuses on 508 French fourth- to ninth-grade students who completed questionnaires that assessed their perceptions of social anxiety with peers, self-consciousness, and perceived peer acceptance. Discusses the results. (CMK)

Student affairs professionals are faced with the challenge of focusing on student learning. Through the implementation of a co-curricular activities program (CAP) model, described in this article, universities can develop a structured approach to programming that is based on students' developmental needs. This formalized co-curricular model…

This study focuses on observations of classroom conversation as an approach to assessment of relationships between a teacher's teaching and pupils' learning and identity-development processes. Detailed observation notes from two conventional conversation situations from a first grade classroom are written down as narratives and analysed within a…

American undergraduates are often enticed to study abroad by the promise that they will have the experience of a lifetime and the experience of the world. For example, one American university attracts participants by claiming that "studying abroad promotes cross-cultural understanding," broadens your worldview, and prepares you for your…

Recently, a young faculty member commented that e-mail and inexpensive long distance rates were hampering her first-year students' development by making it too easy for them to stay in touch with their parents. Similarly, Judith Shapiro, president of Barnard College, argued in her August 22, 2002, New York Times op-ed piece, "Keeping Parents Off…

Parents have a complex task of guiding a specific child to maturity by using the opportunities offered by the environment, while avoiding its detrimental aspects. This article develops a theory of the parenting process that describes components of the parental role; situations where development and, thus, parenting occurs; the responsibility of…

A longitudinal study examined relations between 2 approaches to identity development: the identity status model and the narrative life story model. Turning point narratives were collected from emerging adults at age 23 years. Identity statuses were collected at several points across adolescence and emerging adulthood, as were measures of…