Two studies were conducted to determine how students perform psychomotor tasks and how teacher behavior influences performance. Study 1, conducted with about 100 technical students in a metal working class in a technical school in The Netherlands, showed that a process-based heuristic approach, stimulating students to perform complex psychomotor…

A study compared how parents and teachers in the United States, Hong Kong, Nigeria, and Poland ranked in order of importance a list of 8 skills categories for 4-year-olds to learn in preschool. The categories were language skills, motor/physical skills, pre-academic skills, self-assessment skills, self-expression skills, social skills with adults,…

Research was performed in lower grade technical schools in the Netherlands to study complex psychomotor tasks requiring integration of several task-dependent skills. In two studies, students were observed performing metal work. They were assigned to instructional conditions of high, intermediate or low structure. Students in the high-structure…

Situational Reinforcement, a teaching methodology developed out of the cognitive-field theory of learning, is described. It combines many techniques and methods developed over the years. This discussion of it considers common learning problems: (1) boredom, apathy and passivity on the part of the student, (2) the teacher's preoccupation with…

Project D.A.R.E. (Development through Adventure, Responsibility and Education), an adventure-based outdoor program, uses a feedback/evaluation model, combining a learning component with a two-part participant observational model. The first phase focuses on evaluation of the child and progress made while he is in the program (stages one to four);…

A large percentage of American youth enters the job market ill-prepared and lacking basic skills; the majority of our working population is not adequately prepared for the occupations in which they find themselves. Too many job changes, dissatisfaction, and a lack of systematic preparatory and continuing education have led to the productivity…