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Truly sound teacher education curricula are those which consciously work toward making connections: connecting practice to theory; curricula to life; courses to clinical work. Teaching should relate to a concept formation cycle involving real-world and simulation experiences through which students learn. (JN)

The article evaluates the teacher education curricula. The author aims to emphasize the discrete courses which typically make it up. effective teacher education curricula are considered as those which consciously work toward making connections. He believes that environment has an impact to teacher behavior than individual personality or intelligence factors. Teacher education programs need to help their students create environments which encourage intellectual and affective learning. It is called collaborative learning, placing people where they want to be and learn.

The article focuses on the cross-age tutoring program in a public school. The program is part of a methods course that offers college students an opportunity to teach youngsters, to study their own teaching and the teaching of an older child as he tutors a younger child. The program involves 31 Hunter College students and fifth and sixth-graders and second and third-graders. College students involved in the cross-age program stated that the program was a good learning experience for them and that youngsters are looking forward to the tutoring sessions of the program.

The article presents several experiments and surveys related to education including "An Investigation to Determine Most Effective Means of Dissemination of a Curriculum Innovation for Elementary Science," by Earl Brakken, "An Exploration of the Relationship Between Teacher Creative Ability and Teacher-Pupil Classroom Behavior," by Charles D. Castelli, "Exploratory Studies of a Teaching Situation Reaction Test," by James K. Duncan, John B. Hough and James Thompson, "The Relationship of Parental Acceptance to the Professional Attitudes and Academic Achievement of Students in Teacher Education," by William J. Gnagey and "A Comparison of College Students' Preferences for Methods of Teaching Reading With the Methods Actually Used by Them as Teachers," by Elizabeth Hunter.

The article focuses on areas of experimentation and innovation directly related to the future role of direct experience in teacher education. The fields of experimentation include: the expansion of direct experience with children so that it occurs throughout the professional sequence; the use of new media such motion pictures, tape recorders and television; the cooperation between school and college in providing quality direct experiences for future teachers; aids in financing for student teaching programs; varying approaches to full-time experiences with children; and the emphasis upon the study of teaching and the use of systems for analyzing the verbal behavior of student teachers and pupils in the classroom.

The article discusses the issues faced by teacher educators in relation to information technology in the U.S. The author stresses that the present computer programs that have been developed are weak. Education students are needed to be taught to design programs. Such would provide some of the most useful computer fallout in the exploration of programs that cause students to use logical thought processes. The use of computers by the teaching curriculum to design courses might provide qualitative difference that would guide students to productive curricula.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to Larry Shaw's article which describes his 1975 visit to Nanking Teachers College.