Asserts that student-role redefinition is a critical linchpin between adult educational reform behavior and student success. Failure to acknowledge the need for students to redefine themselves is a flaw in promoting understanding of reform and effective change initiatives. Students need to be deeply involved in the change process. (SLD)

Discusses differences between instructional efficiency and instructional effectiveness, and proposes that environmental analysis should be incorporated into the front-end analysis stage of instructional design to increase instructional success. Highlights include the teachers' role; the students' role; physical aspects; use aspects; and management…

Discusses different teaching methods beginning with the least effective to the most effective and addresses some general weaknesses and strengths of each of the styles as a means of moving from the traditional mode of teaching and learning to a more active engagement with students. (CMK)

Maintains that standardized testing undermines efforts for quality teaching and learning in public schools. Discusses the misconceptions behind the focus on testing and why testing does not improve student achievement or schools. Reviews the efforts and sacrifices teachers, parents, and students have made in resisting standardized testing. (CMK)

Discusses the implementation of a standards based mathematics curriculum at the middle school level that engages students' active learning. Considers obstacles to this reform, including traditional beliefs, student initial reactions to new teaching practices, parental perceptions, transition from middle grades to high school, assessment of student…

For those who consider themselves teachers, "cultural literacy" is an issue worth pondering. In "Education for Critical Consciousness," Paulo Freire deplores the "banking concept" of education, in which a teacher "pours" knowledge into "passive receptacles," because Freire believes that texts have…

Two recent reports, the Association of American Colleges'"The Challenge of Connecting Learning" and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's "Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate," urge higher education to reshape the college curriculum and refocus its attention on what constitutes faculty…

Discusses changes in models of education and teaching that affect the roles of educational technologists. A review of schooling models of the past, present, and future emphasizes a shift from traditional teacher and student roles to more democratic, individualized instruction; and McBeath's transformational model for change is considered. (15…

Asserts that arts programs must be strong in themselves in order to survive; arts programs thrive through the collaboration of teachers, administrators, parents, students, and the community. Gives a multitude of steps, from program quality to informing the community, as a way for arts educators and advocates to take a stand. (CMK)

Describes a study that examined teacher's and parents' beliefs across several dimensions of the classroom learning environment, including assessment, knowledge, student role, and pedagogy. Discusses results that indicated parents held more traditional views than teachers, and considers implications for instructional designers, curriculum…

Argues that reform in curriculum and instruction should be based on students resolving problems rather than mastering skills and applying them. An alternative is proposed that builds on John Dewey's "reflective inquiry," arguing that this approach would facilitate students' understanding. This proposal is compared with other views on the…

Discusses the reform of the middle school science curriculum to engage students in their own development, represent the ethos of contemporary science, recognize social changes and cultural shifts, and assure productive learning, all focused on the welfare of young adolescents. (JPB)

This ERIC Digest describes how experiential education can help in designing a curriculum that young people find significant. It also describes ways experiential education can help educators make the transition from a traditional program to an activity-based program. Experiential education differs from traditional education in that teachers first…

Most of this book's 22 chapters were written as background papers that were presented at a national conference on restructuring schooling held at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, August 18-21, 1987. Framing the chapters of this book is the notion that if rational management systems and theoretical treatises about promoting school…

The purpose of this book is to present the major methods and strategies employed by elementary and secondary schools during the past decade for enhancing the individualization of instruction. The concept of individualization is treated in a broad context. Program descriptions and techniques are described encompassing topics such as…