A teacher/storyteller recommends story creation by students to encourage creativity and pleasure in developing language skills. Suggested exercises include combining random nouns (e.g., "le fer et le bois") and creating a proverb about them, creating a story using names of consumer products, and developing a story using only body-language idioms…

Discusses factors that contribute to students with learning disabilities having difficulty acquiring and retaining math skills. Factors include national reform movements that have influenced math instruction, inclusion, characteristics of students with learning disabilities, and poor mathematics curricula and instruction. Recommendations for…

Analyzes a broad range of data examining the relationship among basic skill development, behavior problems, and later negative social development. Results strongly corroborate assumptions that low levels of basic skills at an early age are not per se a precursor of later maladjustment. Includes statistical data and tables. (MJP)

Social problem solving, effectance motivation, and information processing were studied with 38 Finnish eight-year olds using the LOGO computer programming language learned through discovery learning. Results suggest that LOGO promotes the development of problem-solving skills if each student receives sufficient support from the teacher. (SLD)

Explores three lessons that can be learned about arts education during the twentieth century: (1) the decentralization of education in the United States; (2) developing student competence in performing and creating art; and (3) the importance of quality above quantity. (CMK)

A Web-based curriculum requiring critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills was developed. A multidisciplinary team of educators created the "virtual exchange." Students are assigned a scenario character to portray in their interactions with the other characters (students). They interact on the Internet to promote critical thinking…

Addresses the issue of foreign language instruction for elementary and junior high school children in Texas, and describes and assesses a five-week workshop that was designed to help teachers improve their language skills and instruct them in teaching methodology. (10 references) (GLR)

Presents a study addressing the confusion over social studies skills. Documents the historical background leading to this confusion by reviewing the professional and research literature from the early 1900s to the 1980s. Stresses the problem of imprecise terminology, pointing out that the citizenship, inquiry, study, and thinking skills movements…

Outlines three learning activities for elementary level comparative cultural studies, focusing on developing nations cultures. "School Artifacts Box" develops observation and inference skills. "Proverbs" directs students to compare/contrast African and Western proverbs. "Improvising Social Studies Media" suggests…

This paper reviews 27 studies that taught community skills to persons with moderate to severe mental handicaps and tested the generalization of these skills. The review, which analyzed the degree of generalization that occurred and the effect of different strategies used, concludes that the general case method is the most effective strategy.…

This position paper of the Council of Executives of American Residential Schools for the Visually Handicapped calls for stronger emphasis on instruction in literacy skills; individualized selection of the mode of reading, writing, and computing; technical assistance; continuing education; emphasis on literacy skill teaching methodology; and…

Three adolescents with developmental disabilities and severe behavior problems received eye-contact skill training using a contingency management approach in a community-based residential treatment center. The intervention produced significant increases in positive eye contact across two social settings. Staff reports of increased social…

Studies of deinstitutionalization for individuals with developmental disabilities show positive effects on skills, behavior, activity level, social interaction, and quality of life. Effects are clearest in adaptive behavior. Outcomes for individuals with severe or multiple disabilities are less positive. Implications for Australian policy are…

Study of children who go through a "silent period" early in the course of second language development found that most of the children engaged in extensive private speech, including: repetition of others' utterances; recall and practice; creation of new linguistic forms; paradigmatic substitution; and rehearsal for overt social…

The relative effectiveness of staff tutors and student tutors in teaching higher level cognitive skills to University of Limburg (Netherlands) law students appears to be similar, but staff tutors are felt to be better because they are experts in their field. (Author/MSE)