Prevailing conceptions of young children's mental life represent children's thinking as confused and lacking western rationality. Instead, we should consider their mental life as a positive oral culture, and evolve a new science of early childhood education based on understanding of peoples in oral cultures. (MSE)

For two decades, Bates seriously challenged educational administration's value neutrality as ideological and concerned with protecting vested interests and class divisions in society. This article explores intellectual influences shaping Bates's critical-theory approach, examines similarities to Thomas Greenfield's ideas, and evaluates critics'…

Society's demand for specialization discourages teachers from becoming skilled generalists. The result is intellectual impoverishment for schools and children. The greatest challenge is teaching students to think in holistic terms. Students must look beyond telecomputing to explore ideas and discover how technology itself is shaping their…

Recent research has revealed remarkable data about the intricacies of brain-based learning and the integration of this knowledge into the academic setting. Prudent educators can create a brain-friendly classroom by developing an emotionally and physically safe environment, using laughter and simple exercises to eliminate mental cobwebs, creating…

Traces evolution of the medieval university's role in providing professional education. Argues that medieval universities evolved from two types of institutions--guilds and cathedral schools--into institutions that offered training in intellectual professions (theology, medicine, and law) but required prior mastery in liberal arts. The European…

Not all learning activities are worth keeping. For kids to know and understand important curriculum concepts, hands-on activities should also be "minds-on." Backward Design is a three-step curriculum model that helps teachers identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence of student learning, and plan learning experience and…

This article explores what the concept of intellectual character offers that traditional views of intelligence based on abilities do not. The origins of the concept of thinking dispositions are traced and various views regarding the dispositions that might comprise and define one's intellectual character are investigated. Educational implications…

Teachers and longitudinal researchers have observed that the long-term benefits of participating in a quality early childhood program are more social than academic. Early childhood is a unique stage of life, not an opportunity for intervention and remediation. Kindergarten and first-grade environments should be flexible, activity-oriented, and…

Suggests that John Dewey developed ideas regarding reflective thinking and the challenges to it that are relevant to our times. Asserts that education is intended to provide a repertoire of intellectual activities for systematic and disciplined thinking that can counteract assaults on reason. (EV)

In this article, the author discusses Robert J. Sternberg's theory of "successful intelligence," which theorizes that intelligence consists of three parts: analytic, creative and practical abilities. Sternberg argues that intelligence can be fostered in the right educational environment by encouraging students to develop and exercise their…

This guide is designed to teach foster parents, direct care providers, and house parents how to help children develop interpersonal relationship skills. The book focuses on developing the whole child through intellectual, psychological, and moral development. Specific techniques for creating a nurturing environment for children are discussed, as…

This paper presents a model of adult reasoning that is consistent with a set of related psychological theories of learning known collectively as constructivism. Three general factors comprise the model: (1) personal epistemology (defined as beliefs about learning, dispositions toward thinking, and assumptions about knowledge itself); (2) sustained…

A discussion of functional language proficiency considers several widely-accepted theories of cognition, draws parallels between specific stages of intellectual maturity and development of second language proficiency, and suggests ways in which teachers may be able to help students progress from one stage to another within the context of foreign…

This study examined the comprehension of Wh-questions in English in children between the ages of 5 and 9. The study showed that difficulties with Wh-questions are not overcome by the age of 9. (Author/RM)

Systematic and intensive interviews with 68 men in their early thirties suggested that the principal effects of a liberal education were the stabilization, symbolization, and integration of values; the effects of graduate and professional school were the integration and allocentric maturation of intellect and the symbolization of self-concept.…