Summarizes findings of report "Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development," released in 2002 by the Arts Foundation Partnership. Report describes certain important relationships between the arts and academic and social skills. Describes what principals can do to link the arts with other subjects. (PKP)

Describes a series of eight guides, "Key Skills in Geography in Higher Education," published by the Geography Discipline Network. States that the series is produced by the United Kingdom Department for Education and Employment's "Key Skills in Higher Education" development fund. (CMK)

Focuses on the pre-sea and in-service education and training provision for those employed as unskilled, semi-skilled workers in the three main departments in merchant ships, such as the deck department and the engine room. Discusses the emergence of the British National Sea Training schools. (CMK)

Presents an art activity in which first grade students draw dinosaurs in order to learn about the concept of warm and cool colors. Explains how the activity also helped the students learn about the concept of distance when drawing. (CMK)

Describes an art project suitable for middle and high school students in which they either combine identifiable parts from different animals to create one creature or take one animal and creatively distort it. Explains that this lesson enables students to be satisfied with their animal-inspired artwork. (CMK)

Focuses on the discussion of whether "none of the above" (NOTA) questions should be used on tests. Discusses a study in which a protocol analysis was conducted on written statements of examinees while answering NOTA items. Explains that a multiple-choice test was given to university students finding that NOTA options seem to be more attractive.…

Presents the results of a study that trained ten and eleven year old children to improve their argumentative abilities. Explores whether didactic sequence with oral exercises and co-operative oral debate affected the children. Explains that the children were required to produce three argumentative texts before and after each training phase. (CMK)

Reports on author's experiences using lower-division developmental education (DE) students as teaching assistants in developmental social science courses. Includes benefits, such as assisting in students' socialization and dispelling DE stigma, and drawbacks, such as tension created by authoritarian role. Also includes comments made by students…

Discusses seating arrangements in small developmental classes, suggesting that having students sit in a semi-circle or work in small groups can be effective ways to keep students from attempting to disappear in the back of the class. Also offers ways to deal with this issue in a computer classroom. (NB)

Argues that, although most people dislike writing, instructors can make the task less onerous for young students. Suggests that the presence of both feeling and awareness of an audience can facilitate writing. Includes segments of interviews with professional writers and samples of seven-year-olds' writings. (SG)

The Independent Living Project for Deaf/Blind Youth emphasized the teaching of home management, personal management, social/emotional skills, work skills, and communication skills to increase low-functioning teenagers' autonomy. The project included an independent living apartment in which a video monitoring system was used for indirect…

Guidelines are offered for modifying the classroom environment to develop better listening skills in children with poor listening skills. Included are general considerations about the characteristics and needs of children with poor listening skills, specific activities in the classroom to enhance skills in these children, and whole-class listening…

Five young adults and three junior high students, with moderate mental retardation, were trained first to label characters verbally and then to enter the characters into computers, calculators, or checkbooks. Almost all subjects were able to generalize the use of verbal labels and key-entry skills across tasks and settings. (Author/JDD)

Identifies how the number of practice and feedback sessions affects the development of select interpersonal communication skills. Finds that acquisition of interpersonal communication skills can be positively affected by the use of behavior modeling that includes video feedback, behavior rehearsal, or a combination of both. (MS)

Describes a college-level skills training program for reticent communicators. Details major aspects of the program, including recruiting students for training, screening students for admission to the program, training instructors, and organizing and teaching the course. (MS)