Reviews "Rethinking Innateness: A Connectionist Perspective on Development" by Elman and others (1996). Maintains that the authors argue forcefully that the nature-nurture conflict is a false dichotomy and that they present convincing existence on the possibility of qualitative change. Argues that the authors do not succeed in proposing…

Discusses research identifying and examining specific "developmental assets": positive building blocks that all children and youth need for success. Discusses the role of these assets in health promotion and risk reduction. Outlines specific actions educators can take to build 12 of these developmental assets. Notes the special place of health…

Employability is becoming the predominant aim of education. Using Aristotelian and existentialist perspectives, employability may be seen as only one goal in the overall development of the individual for the well-being of society. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)

Notes how adolescents through young adult literature begin to discover the meaning behind the words and to explore their own emotions. Describes the use of small groups and an introduction of the concept of a literacy community. Discusses a whole-class reading and response to S.E. Hinton's novel "The Outsiders." (SC)

Discusses the need for workers to acquire more information at an increasing rate in response to changes and developments in the workplace and proposes three variables that affect an individual's participation in an organization's development process. Considers learning participation and implications for human development practitioners. (Author/LRW)

Focus groups with 30 participants in a residential adult learning program identified descriptive themes of the experience: building relationships, learning, and individual change. Two overarching themes distinguished the phenomenon: detachment (physical and psychological isolation for the world) and continuity (uninterrupted learning). (SK)

Argues that dynamic systems approaches may provide an explanatory framework based on general scientific principles for developmental psychology, using principles of self-organization to explain how novel forms emerge without predetermination and become increasingly complex with development. Contends that self-organization provides a single…

Presents an essay review of "Conflict and Connection: The Psychology of Young Adult Literature" by Sharon A. Stringer. Considers how teens are victims of a culture that superficially embraces what their youth represents in image, but abandons them in what their age requires in substance. Discusses how Stringer's book suggests a way to…

Everyone has multiple identities, socially constructed in society by way of discourses. Dominant discourses across race, gender, sexual orientation, class, and ability, and their consequences are explored. A model is provided for considering the interlocking nature of such socially constructed criteria. Examples involving implications for…

Examines the need for adult transformation proposed by Maria Montessori as a necessary step in seeing children's true spiritual essence and maintains that such transformation is necessary in work with adults as well. Suggests that individuals need to consider the body, mind, emotions, and spirit as interrelated, and notes that transformation is an…

This article uses Stonequist's concept of the "marginal individual" who lives in two different cultures to analyze the situation of gifted individuals who are also disabled. It considers typical phases in the life cycle of such individuals and identifies stereotypic expectations. Illustrations of the concept of the marginal individual…

Describes a teacher education program that provided inservice teachers with training in using the Internet through a summer InterNet Academy. Results of surveys indicated that personal growth was the main reason for participating, and that most teachers did apply what they learned to their classroom teaching. (Author/LRW)

Humans move through difficult transitions best when guided by ceremony and ritual. The components of traditional rites of passage mirror exactly many of today's most promising psychological theories. Four components of rites of passage that comprise life transitions are discussed: letting go of an old identity, the wandering, the new identity, and…

Investigates the question, Can the mathematics students are taught be cast in such a form that it can be apprehended with the abilities they have and if so, how? Focuses on the language of student abilities, the nature of abilities, and individual differences. (MM)

Few concepts in the German tradition of human studies--the so-called "Geisteswissenschaften"--have had the capacity to birth such intense expectations and hopes as the concept of "Bildung". There is general agreement that the concept of "Bildung" includes both an objective and a subjective component. The first refers to "culture" in its broadest…