Use of the term "acceleration" to describe interventions to enhance children's intellectual potential is inappropriate, as the term cannot by justified from the standpoint of mental measurement, mental growth, genetics, or education. Maximizing a child's potential through creation of stimulating environments is recommended rather than…

Today's children are being forced to achieve more and at an earlier age than ever before in society. Previously "natural" rites of passage into adulthood come too early for children, and they often do not get the chance to appreciate and experience the highly important period of life called childhood. (CJ)

Perceives an increase in adult expectations of children's competence and a concomitant narrowing of what is considered normal child behavior. Questions the growing practice of placing children in "transition,""pre-K," and "pre-first" classes, and in pull-out "gifted" programs. Calls for greater acceptance of variety among children. (PAA)

Young children think and learn differently, yet early childhood education is now subject to new pressures. Many believe that early exposure to technology accelerates mental development and improves sensory and mental capacity. There is no factual support for this idea. Children who grow up with technology are not necessarily more proficient with…

This collection of essays reflects the notion that perceptions of children and childhood shape approaches to education and child rearing. The essays include: (1) "The Child Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow," on how children have been regarded throughout recorded history; (2) "Piaget and Montessori in the Classroom," examining the…

The author introduces some constructs that provide a linkage between the Piagetian theory of cognitive development and curriculum analysis: externalization and automatization; the intellective unconscious; and the logical substructure of the task. He then offers some examples of developmental analysis of secondary level curriculum materials.…

This article elaborates on three principles which are the foundation of the developmental approach to early childhood education. These principles are multiage grouping, nongraded curricular materials, and interactive teaching. (IAH)

Discusses the relationship between child development and early childhood education. Focuses specifically on the issue of socialization and current research on mediated learning experience. (Author/CM)

Addresses the concept of "play as a child's work," from the viewpoints of Montessori, Freud, and Piaget. Contends that children's play: (1) like adult play, may be individual or social; (2) has immediate value for the child as a way of expressing feelings; and (3) is a healthy counterpoise to work. (SD)

Social philosophers and educators of the past are compared with clockmakers. In the metaphoric sense, the biological clock is the child, the child's behavior is the action, and the maturity of the child is the "Swiss movement". With the biological clock, it is the teacher, not the child, who must learn to tell time. (JN)

Stresses the development of complex cognitive processes during adolescence and sees the challenge of the curriculum in the question of greater match between the learner's cognitive level and the material to learned. (JOW)

Examines three philosophical traditions and their implications for early childhood education. Links Montessori to the empirical tradition. Considers the influence of the nativistic tradition of Plato and Rousseau on Froebel, the originator of the kindergarten, and Steiner, the founder of the Waldorf Schools. Discusses Piaget's ties to…

The question of how to integrate developmental (Piagetian) and psychometric conceptions and assessments of intelligence is considered. A solution which incorporates the contributions of each position--intelligence as forms and as traits--is offered. Premises and objectives of each tradition are reviewed and compared. Overlaps make synthesis…

Discusses problems in both the "unfolding from within" and "enforcement from without" theories of children's cognitive development. Suggests that "mediation from above," which assumes that children are not independent beings, at least in the beginning, offers additional insight into children's interactions with adults. (WD)

Considers the information revolution a force for social change which will transform family structure, educational modes, and increase pressure on young adolescents to grow up quickly. (Author/DB)