Variation in mothers' child-directed speech and in their children's rates of language development are examined as a function of childbirth order and family socioeconomic status. Findings suggest that language experience plays a non-trivial role in language development, and that the nature of that role is different for different components of…

This study investigated the social integration of fifth-grade children with emotional disabilities in the educational setting. Results suggest that children with emotional disabilities benefited from their participation in the school setting. Able children participating in the study also benefited from their interaction with special-needs…

Reports on the effectiveness of a prejudice prevention intervention that was used among a culturally diverse group of students in Hawaii. Results indicate that teachers observed significant improvement in the students' cooperative social skills as a result of participating in the multicultural guidance activities. Discusses implications for…

Within the field of community services it is widely accepted that reflection is an important factor in personal and sociomoral development. The purpose of this research was to determine if a particular form of reflection-decision making with an emphasis on the ethical nature of community-has special value in achieving service-learning goals. (BF)

Discusses the need to study the social interactive dimension of learning, attempting to formulate a definition of togetherness on a theoretical basis. Explores processes in early childhood that relate to understanding how children learn to maintain togetherness in their group activities, and how a strategy for togetherness may prepare children for…

Examined observational data on daily activities in a day care center to articulate different manifestations of playful actions and analyze their role in creating and maintaining togetherness. Found that, in their play, children were subjects and active agents in creating their own culture, realized throughout the day by means of humor, fantasy,…

The production of tangential language during conversations was studied with people with fragile X syndrome (n=10), autism (n=10), and mental retardation not caused by fragile X (n=10). Tangential language was found to be more prevalent among those with fragile X compared to the control groups, especially within unsolicited comments. (Contains…

We examined 7-month-old infants' responses to 6 joy-eliciting episodes. Three episodes included and 3 did not include a major social-interactive component. Confirmatory factor analysis of infants' joy reactions in these episodes revealed that a 2-factor model significantly improved the fit over a single-factor solution. Those 2 factors represented…

The development and promotion of the "expanding communities" curriculum design model for teaching elementary school social studies was a crucial episode in the history of social studies. This article profiles how the model developed in the mind of its most effective promoter, Paul Robert Hanna. Paul Hanna understood early in his career the…

No observer of research currents in the human sciences can fail to detect a new appreciation for the contribution of emotions to descriptions of such wide-ranging psychological phenomena as moral judgement, personal and social development and learning. Despite this, we claim that educating the emotions as a dimension of moral education remains…

This article defines media education and places it in the context of contemporary research on the arts, culture, and economic and social development. The author reviews current instructional settings where media analysis and media production activities are now occurring in K-12 education in Pennsylvania. This article then describes how other…

This article describes the main findings of a study of youth theatre commissioned by the National Association of Youth Theatres (NAYT), funded by Arts Council England (ACE) and carried out by the Centre for Applied Theatre Research (CATR). The study explored the impact of taking part in youth theatre on young people's personal and social…

Promoting moral, language and literacy development is particularly important for children in inclusive early childhood programs serving disadvantaged children. In the first section of this article, the author: (1) summarizes research about the gap between typically developing children in professional families and most disadvantaged children and…

Aggressive behaviour of learners in the relationship with peers and educators might influence their social, academic performance, professional relationship, and their mental health. Peers are a group of people who socialise together. The educator is a person who is having knowledge and skills therefore responsible for guiding and teaching others.

In this article, Mary Kellett, of the Children's Research Centre at the Open University, draws on case study evidence to illustrate how an 11-year-old girl's quality of life was transformed in the last few months before she died when an Intensive Interaction intervention approach was adopted. The study raises issues about the way we respond to…