This study is aimed at comparing the effectiveness and efficiency of constant-time delay and most-to-least prompt procedures in teaching daily living skills to children with mental retardation. Adapted alternating treatment design was used. The outcome shows that both procedures were equally effective in teaching the daily living skills. However,…

Gee's Bend is a small community near Selma, Alabama where cotton plantations filled the land before the Civil War. After the war, the freed slaves of the plantations worked as tenant farmers and founded an African-American community. In 2002, the women of this community brought international attention and acclaim to Gee's Bend through the art of…

In this article, we examine the use of electronic textiles (e-textiles) for introducing key computational concepts and practices while broadening perceptions about computing. The starting point of our work was the design and implementation of a curriculum module using the LilyPad Arduino in a pre-AP high school computer science class. To…

This article examines the relationship between skill acquisition and the constitution of economic selfhood in Trinidad. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among garment workers in a context of industrial decline, I show how their formal, informal, and illicit means of acquiring sewing skills are inextricably linked to the fragmented and unstable…

A high school fashion design teacher has much in common with the ringmaster of a three-ring circus. The challenges of teaching a hands-on course are to facilitate the entire class and to meet the needs of individual students. When teaching family and consumer sciences, the goal is to have a learner-active classroom. Revamping the high school's…

This article concerns a central issue in education as an institutional activity: instructions and their role in guiding student activities and understanding. In the study, we investigate the tensions between specifics and generalities in the joint production of guided action. This issue is explored in the context of handicraft education--or more…

This paper profiles Faith Ringgold. The opening line of the beloved story "Tar Beach" resonates with the optimism that characterizes author-artist Faith Ringgold's outlook on life. Faith Ringgold has always cherished the inspiration found in stories of overcoming adversity--and her own family history is a revelation of strong women figures.…

This paper investigates the learning of young people involved in learning a trade in Senegal, West Africa. Fieldwork took place at two contrasting sites, one a workshop where young men were apprenticed to a tailor and the other a vocational training centre where young women were also learning tailoring. The research addresses the relationship…

Both science and quilting involve creating ordered patterns, and both are often communal activities. Examines these and other themes linking biology and quilting, including the importance of silence and touch to both endeavors, quilting as a female craft compared to science which tends to be viewed as a masculine endeavor, and biological themes…

This paper draws on Anglican mission archive material to uncover the extent to which girls' schooling in early nineteenth-century West Africa developed as a response to male interests and perceived male needs. The founding of the colony of Sierra Leone in 1787 as a home for freed slaves followed by the arrival of Protestant missionaries in 1804…

Instructions are provided for a four-week high school art project in creating soft sculpture figures out of fiberfill and cloth over wire forms. (SJL)

Describes the history of the development of the paper sewing pattern, discusses the role personal communications with consumers played as the genre evolved, and offers observations on the kinds of instruction provided by sewing machine and pattern companies. Concludes that once a genre is sufficiently established to become a standard, industries…

Investigates the design history of women's household sewing patterns as that history is recorded in United States Patent Records. Finds that the history of home sewing patterns illustrates a key aspect of usable design: the interrelationship between a device and its documentation and the way changes to both enhance overall product usability. (RS)

Describes the development and testing of instructional materials in clothing construction for blind students, including identification of basic concepts and skills, and tactile adaptation of equipment and materials. (SK)

The Alabama Cooperative Extension Service transformed a traditional textile/clothing program into a home-based business program. It was delivered by multiple methods including meetings, printed materials, audiovisual resources, and, in the second phase, videoconferencing. (SK)