Argues that assessment in early childhood special education needs to go beyond diagnosis of the child in isolation and include evaluation of the child using an ecological perspective. Three aspects of ecological early childhood assessment are discussed: (1) the family interview; (2) the evaluation of adult-child learning styles; and (3)…

Opinions of professionals from 16 agencies were obtained to identify techniques that agencies serving adults or adolescents with mental retardation could utilize to provide systematic sex education and counseling. Recommendations are offered in five areas: self-advocacy and self-determination, individual design, staff training and support,…

An interview with Guy Roy, adjunct minister of education and professional education in Manitoba (Canada), explores the role of French, French language instruction, and French-language education outside Quebec Province, and specifically in Manitoba. Issues discussed include language and cultural maintenance, immersion education, language attitudes,…

Examines some of the ways in which young children learn about aspects of economics and industry, and discusses some of the reasons that have been advanced in the United Kingdom for the encouragement of this learning. (MDM)

Describes the development and use of computer-based teaching (CBT) at the University of Liverpool based on interviews with faculty members. Topics discussed include why CBT is used, including cost effectiveness and remedial instruction; how courseware should be developed; and case studies in a variety of subject areas. (Contains 20 references.)…

Based on interview and survey data from 220 upper- and middle-level managers within a Fortune 500 manufacturing firm, this case study describes how differences in organizational values influence the frequency with which decision makers use oral, written, and electronic sources of information for environmental scanning. (91 references) (LRW)

Investigated (n=124) preservice school teachers' reasoning and concepts of invariance of fractional numbers under numeration systems in different bases. The majority of students believed that fractions change their numerical value under different symbolic representations. (Author/MKR)

Tom Corddry, Microsoft Corporation's Creative Director for the Consumer Division, is interviewed about the Microsoft Home line of products and the development of related CD-ROM and multimedia products. Reasons for Microsoft's entry into the content market and its challenges, the market's future, and the company's interest in developing online…

Explores community, contrariness, and cottage farming with author Gene Logsdon. Discusses the value of living, working, and playing with one's children (including home schooling) and the pitfalls of careerists isolating themselves from the community. Maintains that diversity is an essential part of the cottage farming lifestyle and leads to…

An interview with a Japanese professor of education, Nubuo Dobashi, compared characteristics of Japanese and American higher education systems, concluding that Japan is doing an exceptional job of educating average public school students, but the system has problems of access to higher education and lack of educational opportunities for some. (MSE)

New York City is establishing a number of new small high schools. Implementation of this reform effort is described through the example of the Legacy School for Integrated Studies, a school committed to providing an intellectually responsible education that is sensitive to issues faced by people of color and the poor. (SLD)

This paper describes techniques used to investigate cognitive gain by children interacting in a fossil display area of the Liverpool (England) Museum. Interviews and videotaped observations demonstrate learning by the 51 subjects (average age 8.7 years). Children spent more time with activities when an adult demonstrator was present. (SLD)

Describes the Information Technology (IT) in Mathematics Project in Great Britain, which surveyed the extent to which IT was used in the teaching of mathematics and examined the extent to which IT skills could or should be taught within mathematics. Experiences with spreadsheets and LOGO are described. (seven references) (LRW)

Student satisfaction with 8 methods of collecting college student evaluations of instruction was studied by asking students in 32 classes (ranging from 20 to 110 students) to rate the methods. Students prefer interview methods at midterm followed by instructor reaction to traditional approaches such as standardized end-of-course rating forms. (SLD)

A naturalistic approach to evaluation is illustrated through the description of the evaluation of a small-scale agricultural project in a village in Mali, West Africa. The evaluation considered program impact as well as the quality of the conclusions drawn using the illuminative model of evaluation. (SLD)