So much effort has been expended in identifying competencies needed for entry-level jobs, developing career ladders, and conducting task analyses that distributive educators, as other educators, have addressed consumer skills only slightly. Educators must help students develop those consumer survival skills, knowledges, and attitudes that will…

A cooperative effort between the local school districts, state departments of education, professional organizations, and institutions of higher education on in-service education would result in more efficient use of resources and in more competent teachers. It would also achieve the end result of a better education for the students. (Author)

When compared with a group of clients who had received work adjustment services and a placebo treatment (personal hygiene training), experimental clients given Personal Achievement Skills (PAS) and work adjustment services reported greater gains on self-ratings of life perspective (optimism), work-related attitudes, and goal attainment. (Author)

The effects of a structured instructional approach and of an inquiry-based instructional approach on the abilities of teachers to read and interpret research literature in education were examined in a study using 69 graduate students. Both methods proved effective, and the results indicate that improved interpretation skills can be taught. (LBH)

Underprepared students deserve targeted instruction and practical content to develop communication skills. To implement a narrow, traditional approach in teaching these skills would be shortsighted and ultimately disastrous. (Author/LBH)

A problem with current methods for teaching and evaluating interpersonal skills is addressed: the failure to include a wide range of behaviors reported in the literature as contributing to patient dissatisfaction and noncompliance. A comprehensive interpersonal skills training program and pretest-posttest evaluation are described. (Author/LBH)

MARC (Methodical Assessment of Reports by Computer) is a report-marking program which enables teachers to provide individualized feedback on reports written by engineering students. The MARC system is objective in its consistent application of the same programed criteria, but also allows individual markers to supply their own comments as required.…

Examines the socialization of student question-asking behavior. Documents students' self-initiated questions in an attempt to determine whether high- and low-potential students learn different questioning skills. Findings generally support the authors' passivity model, which claims that students learn to become passive in classrooms because of…

Five ideas for class activities at different levels and for various audiences are described. They include a card game, exercises on French wines, a personalities game, and study of a Baudelaire poem. (MSE)

Shows how clusters of short sentences found in basal readers can be combined into more complex structures, reinforcing reading skills as children write. (FL)

A teacher describes the development of and preparation for a "French Day" for secondary school students. The event focused on modern technological development and involved student projects such as videos, writing, computer activities, and reading sessions. (CB)

Questionnaire responses of Israeli headmasters (N=110) on the introduction of microcomputers in their schools for handicapped children revealed a common emphasis on cognitive skill training and basic skill development with the hope that the computer's characteristics (clear-cut goals, feedback, adaptable pace, high response rate) would facilitate…

Presents results of a survey that suggests that high school journalism courses help students gain language arts skills better than required or elective English courses. (JC)

Explains the Every Teacher a Researcher (ETR) program and invites teachers to participate in classroom research on students' problem-solving abilities. Reviews previous approaches taken to investigations of problem solving in science. Identifies characteristics of successful and unsuccessful problem solvers. (ML)

Reviews recent studies that examined blood-lead levels and childhood learning problems. Study findings involving Edinburgh school children suggest that body burdens of lead can diminish the cognitive ability and learning skills of children and that asymptomatic levels of lead can be neurotoxic. (ML)