The influence of orthography on children's online auditory word recognition was studied from the end of Grade 4 to the end of Grade 9 by examining the orthographic consistency effect in auditory lexical decision. Fourth-graders showed evidence of a widespread influence of orthography in their spoken word recognition system; words with rimes that…

Critical thinking is the sort of mental activity that uses facts to plan, order, and work toward an end; seeks meaning or an explanation; is self-reflective; and uses reason to question claims and make judgments. Any subject--be it physics, algebra, or auto repair--can promote critical thinking as long as teachers teach the subject matter in…

Education and business leaders as well as the public at large have grown increasingly concerned about the achievement disparities that children from at-risk backgrounds manifest at a young age. Early childhood initiatives that take into account the entire preschool period of 0 to 5 years need a better understanding of the disparities which may be…

Intelligence and creativity are concepts used to describe the efforts of human beings to achieve the highest aspirations of the human brain-mind-spirit system. Howard Gardner, intelligence and creativity researcher, applied his Multiple Intelligence theory to case studies of creative masters from seven intelligence domains developing a template…

Aims: To investigate cognitive abilities and adaptive skills in children and adolescents with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) and correlate the findings to the cytosine-thymine-guanine (CTG) repeat expansion size. Method: Cognitive level was assessed in 55 children and adolescents with DM1 (31 males, 24 females; mean age 12y 1mo, SD 5y 1mo; range…

Purpose: This paper aims to determine educators' perceptions about the benefits of contact with nature for children's mental, emotional and social health. Design/methodology/approach: The approach was exploratory using qualitative methods. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with school principals and teachers as well as professionals from the…

Perhaps more than any other academic discipline, physical education holds the highest potential for teaching affective skills. By its very nature, the typical physical education setting offers countless teachable moments and opportunities to capitalize on the development of affective skills. The seeming lack of attention given to affective…

Early learning guidelines (ELGs)--documents that describe the skills, characteristics, and dispositions adults seek to foster in young children--are increasingly common. Although less prevalent than ELGs for 3- and 4-year-old children, ELGs for infants and toddlers have been developed in more than half of the 50 states. Given this momentum, a…

Martial arts have recently gained the attention of physical educators as a viable activity in their physical education curriculum. However, physical education teachers may have difficulty teaching martial arts because they have little pedagogical content knowledge and no experience, and because they perceive martial arts to be dangerous and…

The limited number of organized sport and exercise programs available in urban areas in comparison with more affluent communities, as well as the limited resources, the low pay of service providers who offer the programs (especially in youth work), and the besieged mentality of many professionals require our attention and assistance. Our field…

Previous research published in this journal found broad-based negative effects of Greek affiliation on standardized measures of cognitive development after 1 year of college. Following the same sample, and employing essentially the same research design and analytic model, the present study found that the negative effects of Greek affiliation were…

This article discusses traditional and contemporary definitions of middle childhood play, the value of such play for children's development and learning, the implications of home, school, and societal practices that have resulted in changing the play scenario of middle childhood, and suggestions for assuring that play's value will be maintained…

This article traces the evolution of the English language curriculum for senior secondary school in China from 1949 against the background of national developments in China. The latest English language curriculum (2003) is then introduced and discussed in comparison with the 1993 syllabus. The comparison suggests that the 2003 curriculum…

This dissertation is an empirical investigation of educational policies, practices and organizational settings that shape the schooling experiences of Chicago Public School (CPS) students. The first chapter, "Educational Choice and Student Participation: The Case of the Supplemental Educational Services Provision in Chicago Public…

As most psychological research and theory has overlooked the differing roles of conscious and unconscious processing in cognition, a short historical review of the topic is presented. It is argued that a functional approach to research and analysis of cognition, particularly of knowledge acquisition, may reveal that the mode of…