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We know that adult-child relationships, other early experiences, and environmental exposures influence child well-being. An increasing number of policies and programs around the world now reflect that understanding by supporting children's early learning and nutrition to improve their readiness to succeed in school. As scientific knowledge continues to grow, we also know more clearly than ever how the conditions and environments in which children develop affect lifelong health as well as educational achievement. Three key messages from this science can help guide our thinking in a time when innovation has never been more needed in public systems in order to improve both health and learning. [For the full report, "Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined. Working Paper 15," see ED607013.]

The primary purpose of this document is to provide accrediting organizations with guidance about how to engage evidence of student learning as they establish policies, standards, and approaches to review. As a result, it addresses three main topics: (1) accreditors must be clear about terminology when considering evidence of student learning outcomes; (2) accreditors have to face a number of policy choices about evidence of student learning outcomes; and (3) they will encounter a similar set of issues when examining student learning that need to be identified systematically. Accrediting organizations must be more aggressive and creative in requiring evidence of student learning outcomes as an integral part of their standards and processes for review. The accrediting community must become more vocal and articulate in talking about evidence of student learning outcomes, and each individual accreditor must choose a coherent rationale that underlies its approach to student learning outcomes, and then must use this rationale to explain the procedures it adopts. Accreditors need a language with which to talk with one another about what they are doing. All accreditors would benefit form the development of common resources. The growing body of accreditation experience should be organized for use by the community in common. (SLD)

Parents, educators, government ministers and policymakers in all contexts and countries around the world are concerned with learning and how to improve it. There are many reasons for this, but none is more important than the fact that learning is at the heart of success at the individual, community and global levels. Learning First is the title of this report, with the strong implication that learning should be the foremost goal of education policies worldwide. The present review seeks not only to explain why this is the case but also focuses on what education stakeholders need to know--that is, what research is needed--in order to improve learning in the decades to come, particularly among those children most in need. This question is addressed in the following six sections: (1) Learning Goals and Research; (2) Learning Definitions and Contexts; (3) Global Change and the Contexts of Learning; (4) Five Domains of Research on Learning; (5) Learning: A Proposed Research Agenda; and (6) Conclusions: Learning to Make a Difference. Appended are: (1) Boundary Constraints: Methodological Considerations for Cross-Cultural Research on Learning; (2) Research Proposal Sketches Based on three learning stories; and (3) Abbreviations used. (Contains 16 figures, 3 tables, and 199 endnotes.)

The purpose of this teacher resource paper is to assist preschool teachers in (1) interpreting the interactions of children in terms of educational growth, (2) insuring that planned interactions will stimulate growth related to program goals, and (3) developing realistic expectations of children. Three topics are discussed. In Topic A the reader is introduced to the notion that, while children have individual growth patterns, there are consistencies in the learning process which can be observed and which can serve as a basis for analyzing sequences in educational growth. The object of teaching when working with individual children, matching educational experiences to child interests and abilities, is the next topic (B) for discussion. In Topic B, readers are offered suggestions for observing and analyzing growth. Topic C provides information about different approaches to planning for sequence in educational growth in order to clarify thinking about the open framework approach to sequence. The appendix explores the parameters of the following growth areas: acting independently, problem solving, social communication and self-expression. (Author/RH)

This paper offers observations on how research and teaching can join forces to improve learning in the classroom by involving the faculty in classroom research. It explains the use of classroom assessment and techniques for gaining information on what students are learning and how well they are learning it. Classroom assessments are defined as efforts to understand learning, not classify the learners as is done through tests and quizzes. Two examples are provided of classroom assessments. The paper concludes by discussing the three major benefits that faculty reported as a result of their involvement in classroom assessment/research: the additional contact with colleagues about teaching and learning; the favorable student responses to the assessment process; and the enjoyment gained from studying teaching and learning in their disciplines and applying what they learn. (GLR)

Graduation 2010 is a public school curriculum project based on recent neurological research, the goal of which is to increase children's capacity to learn. The program consists of eight action plans, or strands: Arts, Music, Foreign Language, Reading/Language Development, Thinking Skills, Health/Emotional Health, Family Involvement, and Community Involvement. This is a report of the implementation of program goals during the first year of the project. Surveys were distributed to principals in the 12 elementary schools at midyear, and again at the end of the first year of implementation. Midyear surveys were open ended, and the end of the year surveys asked principals to rate the degree to which the steps of the plan had been implemented in their schools. Ratings were from 0 (no implementation) to 5 (fully implemented). After comparing principals' ratings with the list of 1997-98 goals for implementation, implementation was classified as low, medium, or high for each strand. At midyear, principals reported full implementation on two strands, and some implementation on all strands. Only a few schools reported no implementation at midyear. Strands for Art, Music, and Reading/Language Development had high implementation ratings at the end of the year, and the other strands had medium ratings. There was a clear shift from low and medium ratings at midyear to medium and high ratings at the end of the year. (Contains 10 tables and 56 references.) (Author/SLD)

Discusses Dewey's vision of the scientific mind and analyzes the stereotype of scientific thinking. Explains Dewey's notion of experience and clarifies the difference between ordinary experience and a Deweyan experience. (Contains 27 references.) (YDS)

Visualizes the future of learning and considers current and new paradigms concerning technology and learning. Recommends high interactive tutorial learning for very large numbers of students in distance learning situations. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/YDS)

Learning-centered teaching involves adopting teaching methods such as student-centered learning, active learning, didactic teaching, and problem-based learning where they are appropriate. Describes this process and makes recommendations. (Author/CCM)

This module on assisting special needs students in vocational education is one of a set of seven on vocational students and is part of a larger series of thirty-four modules constituting a core curriculum for use in the professional preparation of vocational educators in the areas of agricultural, business, home economics, and industrial education. Following the module objective and overview and a bibliography of suggested resource materials (readings) for the entire module, three lessons are presented: (1) studying characteristics of students with special needs; (2) identifying students with special needs; and (3) determining education strategies for teaching students with special needs. Each lesson contains the objective, overview, a list of suggested learning activities, and a list of suggested resources (readings). Concluding the module is a pre/posttest and an answer key. (The modules have been field tested in various educational settings, including bachelor and masters degree programs, and are considered adaptable to many instructional styles and student entry levels. CE 018 935-937 contain working papers and other materials used in the development of the module series.) (JH)

This Unified Sciences and Mathematics for Elementary Schools (USMES) unit challenges students to learn or teach someone certain things (spelling, geometry, metric system). The challenge is general enough to apply to many problem-solving situations in mathematics, science, social science, and language arts at any elementary school level (grades 1-8). The Teacher Resource Book for the unit is divided into five sections. Section I describes the USMES approach to student-initiated investigations of real problems, including a discussion of the nature of USMES "challenges." Section II provides an overview of possible student activities with comments on prerequisite skills, instructional strategies, suggestions when using the unit with primary grades, a flow chart illustrating how investigations evolve from students' discussions of teaching/learning problems, and a hypothetical account of intermediate-level class activities. Section III provides documented events of actual class activities from grades 2-5, 4, and 6-8. Section IV includes lists of "How To" cards and background papers, bibliography of non-USMES materials, and a glossary. Section V consists of charts identifying skills, concepts, processes, and areas of study learned as students become involved with activities in teaching/learning. (JN)

Explains a writing assignment in which students select chemical reactions relevant to their lives and use them to write a critical analysis paper. (YDS)

Mathematical skills and reasoning and their applications are considered as forming one of the basic and essential areas of knowledge and experience that should be available to all Australian children. This collection of essays explaining problem solving in mathematics as an organizing theme for current and future curriculum development is a means of informing people of the centrality of the theme and of beginning the essential task of teacher development. Essays consider real problem solving and a problem-oriented curriculum approach; how habituated behaviors and memory contribute to the development of heuristic strategies; using developmental efforts to emphasize problem solving; criteria for real-life problems; important variables in increasing school emphasis on mathematical modeling; and selecting content based on adult needs and immediate interests. Finally, a position paper on problem solving is given. (MNS)

This report resulted from work with primary grade children and teachers in Kankakee, Illinois. Essays by four resource persons and two observers are included, each expressing insights and feelings in order to share ideas with resource persons for primary mathematics teaching in other schools. A main objective is to represent the ways elementary school teachers think while teaching mathematics. The essays consider: general comments on learning and working with teachers, some difficulties experienced in teaching mathematics, classroom etiquette or management, a lesson on multiplication with fractions, lessons with Cuisenaire rods, equity in mathematics education, an overview of instructional policy, an in-service teacher training project, an idea about the mode of learning school requires, a report about a lesson on numeration, developing schema when teaching place value, and suggestions for resource persons. A list of references is included. (MNS)

This paper summarizes the indicators of extraordinary ability in young people; selects for more careful scrutiny some characteristics of the talented and gifted that would influence the content, sequence, and methods of sex education; and suggests the broad outlines of a differential curriculum of sex education. Data documenting advanced physical, intellectual, emotional, social and creative development provide parallel inferences about the sexuality of a gifted population. Guidelines for differentiating sexuality curriculums include the following: (1) exposure to experiences, materials, and information which are outside the bounds of the regular curriculum; (2) opportunities to elaborate on the regular curriculum through additional working time, materials and experiences; and (3) self-initiated study, projects and activities. (Author)

This monograph is one of 12 that address various topics in the area of CETA/education linkages. They were designed to provide those individuals interested in the development and implementation of CETA/education linkages with information that will serve to enhance the quality of existing programs and facilitate the efficient and effective development of new programs. This monograph describes the concept of adult basic education (ABE), and is divided into four sections: (1) a definition of ABE, (2) needs and characteristics of adult learners; (3) methods of instruction, and (4) program design. While the focus is on ABE, the role and responsibility of CETA programs in incorporating it where necessary is also discussed. (CT)

This book presents information to help teachers turn research on brain function into practical classroom activities and lessons, offering: brain facts; information on how the brain processes information; tips on maximizing retention; an information processing model that reflects new terminology regarding the memory systems; new research on how the brain learns motor skills; implications of the arts in learning; and an expanded list of primary sources for reviewing core research. After an introduction, there are eight chapters: (1) "Basic Brain Facts and Brain Development"; (2) "How the Brain Processes Information"; (3) "Memory, Retention, and Learning"; (4) "The Power of Transfer"; (5) "Brain Specialization and Learning"; (6) "The Brain and the Arts"; (7) "Thinking Skills and Learning"; and (8) "Putting it All Together: Planning for Today and Tomorrow." Each chapter includes a Practitioner's Corner, with activities that check for understanding of major concepts and research within the chapter or interpretations of how the research might translate into effective classroom strategies to improve teaching and learning. At the end of each chapter, a page called "Key Points to Ponder" offers an organizing tool for remembering important strategies, ideas, and resources. Notes which contain additional information, references, and resources are included. (SM)