Teacher education faculty and library reference services personnel collaborated to introduce teacher education students to the use of modern technological resources and to encourage systematic thinking processes to address pedagogically based educational problems. Undergraduate students enrolled in an educational psychology class piloted the…

In plain language, these six ready-to-copy briefs state what researchers and practitioners have learned about various ways parents can help their children do well in school. "Calculating the Risks: When Should Parents Add or Subtract?" discusses the normal risks of life, the intensification of risk by poverty, and how parents can keep…

This paper discusses the challenges facing teacher education programs to produce highly sensitive student teachers who are motivated to reflect on their own work, to develop during the preservice process and later as teachers within the professional frame of reference, and to capture a coherent picture of the course of professional development.…

Many educators believe the role of vocational education is to prepare students for work in a given trade or vocational area with the focus on job skill training. Some contend vocational education should concentrate more broadly on all aspects of students' career development, including lifelong learning, employability, and cognitive skills. One way…

The existing education indicators for performance and achievement fail to provide relevant information about what young adults at the end of education need in terms of skills, and in particular, whether they will be able to play a constructive role as citizens. Does education provide the basic knowledge and skills needed for living an individually…

This manual specifically addresses teaching middle level students and offers teachers a variety of activities that were selected and edited to reflect middle level philosophy. It is divided into five chapters each with a different focus that contain hands-on activities designed to provide many exciting and fun experiences for adolescents. Every…

Based on experience with non-native English speaking students, this book connects classroom practice to critical theory and provides a clear vision of alternative classroom environments in action. In the form of letters from a teacher-educator to her students, the book urges teachers to review and reevaluate their classroom practices to create an…

This book explores the concept of combining effective classroom techniques for teaching students to become good thinkers with effective strategies to engage students in thoughtful learning of the regular elementary school curriculum. The technique of lesson design and instruction that results is called "infusing critical and creative thinking…

One component of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) is the state's performance-based assessments, criterion-referenced tests that require students to apply what they know and can do to solve problems and display other higher-order thinking skills. This document helps parents, teachers, students, and other citizens…

This research digest reports on the efforts of Socratic Seminar methodology at Lookout Valley Middle School, a small middle school in Chattanooga (Tennessee). An integral part of the Paideia Schools Movement among public schools in Chattanooga, Socratic Seminars are well-planned opportunities for middle school students to engage in intelligent…

Most restructuring efforts focus on changing the "how" of education. The articles in this book argue that redesign of the curriculum--the "what" of education--should be the main component of school revisioning. The book proposes a new framework for learning communities that views life as an intellectual and personal quest for knowledge and…

College students in a Foundations of Education class at Rust College (Mississippi), a small historically black liberal arts college, were required in 1993 and again in 1994 to develop a modified personal strategic plan using critical thinking skills. The plan had four components: a family history; a present situation; a strengths, weaknesses,…

This report is the result of an independent evaluation of a project conducted during the 1990-91 school year with 56 teachers and over 1,800 students from 28 elementary schools in Iowa. The goals of the project were to demonstrate the effectiveness of new technology to improve science and geography instruction at the elementary level; train…

An attempt was made to increase selected aspects of critical thinking skills of children in a school-age child care program through staff planning of specific program activities using typical activities that would normally occur in these programs. Increased staff members' awareness of their role in facilitating the development of children's…

Bibliographic Instruction (BI), which focuses on the need to make library patrons become more proficient in locating and using information, is a major contributor to information literacy. The 14 papers and essays in this volume describe approaches to proactive interaction with library users with the single goal of achieving an information literate…