Teachers who design meaningful and developmentally appropriate tasks will motivate their students to engage in the content and as students work through the Big6 process, interacting with the content, they learn and practice information and technology skills. A valuable task definition technique is to develop questions that students in each group…

Teachers of very young children have the awesome task of providing rich information and experiences that build skills and understanding in the context of every day routines and within intentionally-designed play opportunities that capture children's interests, wonder and curiosity so they want to know more. Pennsylvania's learning standards join…

Criteria for the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools that allow educators to justify what they do are described within a wider framework of learning theory and research into best practice. Based on a meta-analysis of best practice, results from a three year project designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a secondary school…

The loss of a child during pregnancy or infancy raises challenging questions about how to communicate with very young siblings about the family's loss. What to say and how to say it varies with the developmental level of the child and the circumstances of the loss, as well as the family's culture, values, and beliefs. Children need open and honest…

The "Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century" provides a mandate for discussion of the spiritual within secular state schooling, but this discussion has never occurred. This is a serious omission given what could be called an "undercurrent of concern" for the ways in which young people…

The number of children diagnosed with autism is on the rise, and teachers are seldom prepared to teach children with autism in their classes. However, it is possible to successfully include children with autism in general physical education settings by understanding inclusive physical education, individualizing instruction, targeting…

It is generally acknowledged that a child's primary caregiver acts as a spring board to independence. By encouraging the child to explore their world, parents and guardians are instrumental in developing the child's sense of self-esteem, self-worth and sociability. Less fortunate, however, are the increasing numbers of young children born with a…

There has been little attempt to relate well-known educational approaches in autism to increased psychological understanding about the condition. This paper addresses that gap. Four discrete educational approaches to autism (Higashi, Lovaas, Option, TEACCH), and two "eclectic" approaches (SPELL, one LEA specific), are explored within the context…

Advocates of children's right to play are caught between the need to provide developmentally appropriate and challenging places for play and restrictions that result from fears of liability. It may be that implementation of the suggestions of research on playground safety has resulted in the creation of playgrounds that are colorful, cute, and…

This practicum was designed to help principals who supervise school district prekindergarten classes become more knowledgeable about developmentally appropriate educational practices by using the Head Start On-Site Program Review Instrument (OSPRI). Inservice training was designed and presented in three segments and included an independent…

Position paper argues in favor of developmentally appropriate kindergarten programs. Paper examines program goals and content, and provides suggestions about learning environment, curriculum, and staff. Includes statements concerning purpose of kindergarten, importance of play in learning, and need for program support. (PCB)

One of the most important tasks in working with teachers is helping them develop their own abilities to create developmentally appropriate curriculum for young children. This paper reflects on, from two perspectives, the ongoing process of teachers developing an understanding of how children learn and how that process affects curriculum…

Inspired by Lilian Katz's lectures and books, the staff of Hollywood Elementary School in southern Maryland embraced Katz's philosophy of developmentally appropriate programs, project learning, and multiage grouping. This paper describes Hollywood's journey as a school community to implement these strategies, discussing the multiage organization…

Designed for use in in the home and in professional child-care settings, this program presents developmentally appropriate activities to support development of infants from 1 to 2 years of age. Each of the six 2-month long units contains 24 sets of activities call Activity Plans, with the suggestion to use three activity plans per week. Each unit…

The cornerstone of the High/Scope approach to early elementary education is the belief that active learning is fundamental to the full development of human potential and that active learning occurs most effectively in settings that provide developmentally appropriate learning opportunities. This guide and accompanying videotape are intended to…