This theme issue on staying current in horticulture includes articles on sex equity in horticulture, Future Farmers of America, career opportunities in horticulture, staying current with your school district's needs, staying current in horticulture instruction, staying current with landscape trade associations, emphasizing the basics in vocational…

The author examines the actual concept of a practical curriculum. He notes that educational planners, especially in the Third World, have argued for a strong vocational element to curricula (often with an emphasis on manual skills) and yet, historically, this has often conflicted with parental perceptions of the value of schooling. (Editor/CT)

Describes corrections officers' work environment and the need for guard training that includes instruction in handling the social-psychological problems of the job. (Author/ABB)

Compared responses of Type A people who received either cognitive-behavioral or values-clarification treatment in combination with anxiety management training (AMT) with those of a control group that received AMT alone, all blocked on the variable of self-monitoring. Type A behavior was reduced in all participants wih anxiety significantly…

Analyzes three approaches (physical, mental, combined practice) to improving freshman chemistry psychomotor laboratory skills. Although no significant differences were found between treatments, there were significant differences when each was compared to the control sections. Mental practice appears to offer an efficient methods for reinforcement…

The author presents the case for new ways of learning that help people develop specific skills to increase their ability to be more self-reliant, to live more fulfilling lives, and to help others. These skills include learning for economic sufficiency, practical life skills, community contribution, and becoming a fuller human being. (CT)

This article examines the role that handedness may play in skill development in typewriting and shorthand courses. Teaching procedures that appear to discriminate against the left-handed student will be examined. Also, the positioning of supplies--left or right side--and the use of right-handed equipment are examined. (CT)

A traditional instructional format that provided instructor-generated terminal knowledge of results was compared with one that also trained students to generate continual knowledge of results using two sections of an operative laboratory. (Author/MLW)

Describes a laboratory exercise that introduces physics students to graphing. Presents the program format and sample output of a computer simulation of an experiment which tests the effects of sound intensity on the crawling speed of a snail. Provides students with practice in making exponential or logarithmic graphs. (ML)

Discusses the responses of science graduates (N=34) to control of variable problems. Two content areas (biological/plants and physical/pendulum) and two formats (experimental planning and data interpretation) were employed in their study. Results suggest that different problems elicit a variety of solution procedures and are affected by prior…

Focuses on the various social work skills, roles, and tasks that are useful for shock-trauma service. Discusses strategies and techniques that social workers who are beginners in trauma work can call on to enter this medically oriented system. (Author/ABB)

Describes a study skills course designed for freshman students in the lowest third of their class. Concludes that the strengths of the course were the use of direct instruction, the provision for in-class applications of study techniques, the stress on self-responsibility, and the demonstration of several study strategies. (FL)

Concludes that providing students with direct instruction on a selected strategy may result in their active use of this strategy to enhance their learning.

Studies abacus calculation to explore the development of skills and the resulting consequences. Consideration of the effects of abacus training, transfer of the skill to other tasks, and the contexts in which abacus skill develops demonstrates the multiple ways in which specific skills can contribute to cognitive development. (ETS)

This study investigated whether computer science educational background makes secondary students more adept at using word processing capabilities, and compared computer science and non-computer science students' writing improvement with word processing use. Computer science students used more sophisticated program features but student writing did…