Results of the 1990-91 product evaluation of the Saginaw, Michigan School District's state-funded prekindergarten program are reported. In 1990-91, the program served 285 pupils enrolled at 8 sites. The purpose of the program is to provide at-risk 4-year-olds with an environment that will enable them to develop school readiness skills. The…

Oriented toward a direct instructional routine in preparation for regular school, the Philadelphia Prekindergarten Head Start Program (PKHS) provides experiences to counter-balance effects of social and economic disadvantagement; parent involvement; staff development; and special supportive services. It employs five instructional models: Bank…

This program, included in "Effective Reading Programs...," serves approximately 800 four-year-old children enrolled at 26 public schools. The program was begun in 1965, and in 1971 major revisions were made in it. Children attend prekindergarten classes for two and one half hours a day, five days a week. Specific written objectives for…

Children's self-control behavior in motor and cognitive tasks was examined in a series of two studies in which modeling and self-regulatory mechanisms were varied to assess the influence of each. In the first study, 6-, 7-, 9-, and 11-year-old children individually played a 20-trial game of 'Simon Says' (involving activation and inhibition trials)…

Describes a pilot study, involving 48 institutionalized infants and toddlers, which aimed to treat iron deficiency anemia and to discover other factors contributing to the problem. Results indicate improvement in cognitive development after the administration of iron among three groups, while no significant differences were observed in psychomotor…

Sex differences in cognitive skills, grouped into motor, spatial and linguistic areas, are assessed in relation to current theories of cerebral lateralization. Few convincing sex differences exist, either overall, or in interactions with functional localization. Qualifying criteria include age, birth order, culture, sex of experimenter and sex…

Argues that since 17 percent of a child's growth occurs between four and six, kindergarten programs should stress all aspects of child development; cognitive, social, affective and psychomotor, rather than being school readiness programs. (MS)

Discusses utilization of the book, Knowledge and Understanding in Physical Education." (AN)

Movement is motivated, encouraged, and governed by psycho-social development, motor development, and humanistic principles as well as by exercise physiology and kinesiology. The Basic Stuff series identifies the body of knowledge which underlies purposeful movement and can be integrated into concept or fundamental skill curricula. (JN)

The mental and psychomotor development of 35 severely malnourished infants in Chile were examined during nutritional and psychological treatment. There was a significant difference between younger and older infants in their response to the treatment. (Author/DLS)

Presents a general theory of instruction which suggests that the teacher's function is to create a new environment in which effective instructed learning occurs. Illustrations for this theory with reference to science instruction and a review of prior statements identifiable as theory are also included. (HM)

Used heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) assessed at 33 to 35 weeks gestational age to predict developmental outcome at 3 years for very low birth weight infants. Found that RSA measures predicted developmental outcome beyond effects of birth weight, medical risk, and socioeconomic status. For infants < 1,000 grams, RSA maturation…

The aim of this article is to introduce readers to an alternative way of applying U-shaped functions to understand development, especially cognitive development. In classical developmental applications, age is the abscissa; that is, in the fundamental equation B = f(A), some behavioral variable (B) plots as a U-shaped or inverted U-shaped function…

This study examined the electrophysiological differences between baseline EEG frequencies and EEG frequencies obtained during a psychomotor response to musical stimuli. Subjects were 9 children, with mean age of 5.2 years old. Electrophysiological differences between two different musical conditions were also compared. EEG was recorded during 3…

Within the multidisciplinary setting of the Brookline Early Education Project, the present investigation examined the relationship between observations of parents, pediatricians, psychologists and teachers. The study was designed to examine two questions: (1) Are systematically collected parent reports of their children's current development…