A review of research indicates that current beginning reading practices typically emphasize discrete skills that fail to take advantage of young children's emergent literacy abilities. Suggestions for strengthening the match between young children's emergent literacy and instructional experiences are offered. (RH)

Examines the argument that accelerated learning occurs in the presence of music. Summarizes animal and human research findings relating music exposure to enhanced learning, the role of introversion/extroversion on learning environment preferences, state-specific learning, the use of music to enhance second-language learning, and the impact of…

Opportunity to learn is considered an important contributing factor in learning outcomes. In some of the latest international comparative studies of mathematics achievement, such as SIMS and TIMSS, painstaking efforts have been made to find out what the participating students' opportunities to learn mathematics had been. However, there have been…

During the past twenty years, the accountability movement and its attendant testing have raised fears in the arts education community that schools will feel pressure to divert instructional time and resources toward tested areas of the curriculum, such as reading and math (Eisner 2000). This paper presents the results of studies on the impact of…

A study critically reviewed 14 dissertations that explore adult women's perspectives on their learning in higher education. The dissertations were examined using two levels of analysis: descriptive and critical/comparative. The studies varied considerably in the aspect of learning or learning experiences that they examined. Twelve focused on adult…

The study of reading-writing connections involves appreciating how reading and writing work together as tools for information storage and retrieval, discovery and logical thought, communication, and self-indulgence. There are numerous benefits that can be accrued from connecting reading and writing. Thus far, for example, the research data have…

Explores several issues related to the study of students' academic careers and the cumulative impact of their learning experiences across grade levels. Building on recent work in cognitive psychology, develops academic "tasks" for the study of inter-grade connections. Identifies areas for future research. (Author/LHW)

Results from recent studies on the effectiveness of Ritalin for "hyperactivity" show that this treatment is dubious at best. This article presents an alternative treatment approach, placing emphasis on devising an appropriate learning situation that meets the needs of the so-called hyperactive child. (Author)

Author describes four significant themes that highlight adult students' descriptions of how they experience learning on campus. Three themes address the negative side of the experience (sense of impostorship, exclusion from the cultures that have previously defined them, and notion that college will turn their life around). The hopeful theme that…

This conference presentation describes how students develop the cognitive processes through which they acquire knowledge from their classroom experiences. The data were taken from five studies of individual students' classroom experience and its relationship to the learning of curriculum content in typical science and social studies units in the…

In 1997, the Danville City Public Schools opened four focus schools at the high school level, adding 2 more schools in the next 2 years. This booklet relates the efforts of this small urban school district to bring educational choice to its students, parents, and teachers, while having to grapple with issues of autonomy and governance, innovation…

Responding to an article by Donald Vandenberg (Educational Theory, Summer 1980) on the meaning of the phrase "educative experience" in John Dewey's "Democracy in Education," Chambliss says that Vandenberg misunderstands Dewey's conception of both education and experience. Social and educational implications of Dewey's thought…

Highlights ideas of Paulo Freire that are relevant to the meaning of democratic teaching. Freire believes that the traditional curriculum leads teachers and students to conform, and he advocates "conscientization" or a democratic approach to teaching in which the learner actively participates in understanding and defining the personal…

Ralph W. Tyler's paper on "Curriculum Development and Research" contains examples of research findings which were or were not used in efforts to change or develop curriculum. The roles, use, and importance of action research, formulation of objectives, planning and organization of learning experiences, program assessment, relationship…

The presuppositions that favor firsthand experience over secondhand information, as pertaining to learning and education, are questioned. It is noted that, when education and firsthand experience are described as if equivalent, a presumption is made that a commonsense theory of knowledge and mind is valid. Research on the social psychology of…