Describes a five-month study unit for eight to nine-year olds that integrates the Native Peoples of Manhattan, New York, into social studies, science, the arts, and literature. The unit includes the area's environment; the area's people; a harvest festival; tribal legends and traditions; literature to expand student's work; and science class…

Ninth graders explored the theme of power and ambition by reading William Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar," studying daily life in ancient Rome, comparing the play's plot to the attempted overthrow of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, examining other power struggles, and developing scripts for modern-day "Julius Caesar"…

This chart presents the focus, format, status/timelines, implementation plan, dissemination plan, professional development, and contact information for standards in arts, civics/government, economics, English, foreign languages, geography, history, mathematics, physical education, sciences, social studies, industry skills, and health. (SK)

This article reports on implementation of the Early Literacy Project with primary level students with mild disabilities. Special attention is given to one preconventional writer whose performance was advanced by involving him in literacy activities in advance of competence, using meaningful text representations to scaffold performance, and…

This article addresses the critical role of caregiver interaction styles in the language development and treatment of infants/children with developmental disabilities. An approach to measuring and guiding adult interactive styles is proposed and related to research in parent-child development and intervention. The approach examines five…

Teaching children to think critically about the media, particularly television, is discussed in terms of research on children's understanding of television; the interrelationships between cognitive, affective, and social factors; and the nature of child discourse and audience response to the media. Development of a more complex theoretical basis…

Examines educational film and video as an affective or cognitive learning tool. Suggestions are given on how to select a film for a particular lesson; how to prepare students for viewing; how to structure a lesson including the language arts; and how students can be led to improved visual literacy though analysis of form and structure. (Author/KRN)

This paper examines the development and testing of a machine-translation program designed to translate English text into Portuguese. A comparison of machine- and human-translated texts, using Brazilian secondary school students as readers, found that they were equally understood, both in terms of main ideas and details. (six references) (MDM)

Twenty-nine Australian children (ages 6-9) with learning difficulties participated in 23-week programs involving music, storytelling, or both. Students participating in the programs improved in listening comprehension, phonological processing, and receptive vocabulary skills. Some effects were not evident until posttesting seven weeks after…

This study examined the arithmetic calculation abilities of kindergarten and first-grade children (n=108) with different patterns of cognitive functioning: low language, low spatial ability, general delays, and nonimpaired. Nonverbal, story, and number fact problems were differentially sensitive to variation in cognitive ability. (Author/JDD)

Describes the physical and linguistic structure of subcommunities of Hmong students in northern California with emphasis on communicative channeling and cultural mechanisms regulating information dissemination. Hmong students and their teachers use cultural/linguistic brokers extensively to communicate. (nine references) (Author/CK)

Describes how Butner Elementary School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, transformed a courtyard into a nature learning center, complete with three-tiered pond, fish, animals, and plants. The project, funded through the collection of aluminum cans, is used for science, archaeology, language arts, and social studies activities. The high level of…

Examines how one teacher's way of knowing mathematics was reflected in language used in teaching concepts of rate to one student. The teacher's conceptualizations of rate were encapsulated in the language of numbers and operations which undermined his effort to help the student understand rates conceptually. (Contains 27 references.) (Author/MKR)

Describes a qualitative case study of the total classroom environment created by an exemplary whole-language teacher. Emergent categories and member checks indicated that the classroom environment was organized according to three major principles (collaboration, student independence, and student self-evaluation). This classroom environment is…

Presents a case study of a nine-year-old boy's reading and writing difficulties. Notes that instruction grounded in sociopsycholinguistics, whole language, and emergent literacy helped the learner overcome his difficulties. Provides an account of alternative approaches in assessing written language difficulties; and the role of the reader's belief…