Children's development as readers is a complex and multifaceted process. Rather than emphasizing individual components of reading instruction, Melanie R. Kuhn and Katherine A. Dougherty Stahl argue that it is more effective to view the reading process as a reciprocal or interactive one in which readers' development in one component of reading can…

When Trudy Knowles needed a change in her elementary curriculum class, she decided to teach her students to juggle. Her excuse was that juggling would impress their future students, but she soon realized that learning a skill like juggling can give teachers a better understanding of how students feel when they learn something new. Here, she shares…

A state legislator who played a key role in enacting the nation's first charter school law in Minnesota tells the story of shaping the ideas and the bill. She now looks for ways that charter schools can coexist with traditional public schools to deliver a better education for all children.

Argues that it is both possible and desirable to teach history to children in the elementary grades and that it would be educationally beneficial to substitute a history curriculum for the present elementary social studies curriculum. Contends that those who infer curricula from psychologists' findings are confusing concept and content. (Author/WD)

Sensory thinking is the process of bringing experienced aspects of the child's world into his focal awareness, usually through a medium such as language. (Author/IRT)

Despite widespread consensus that children's social, ethical, and intellectual development are equally important, many school-improvement efforts still fail to grapple with all three facets. This article describes how an award-driven science fair was redesigned to challenge and motivate students, encourage cooperation and problem solving, and…

Interaction with animals has important implications for child development in the areas of social growth and communication. Although pets are common in classrooms, research on educational benefits is scarce. A survey shows that classroom animals are often studied directly and used as prompts for creative activities. (Contains 13 references.) (MLH)

A longitudinal investigation of the ways policymakers and practitioners in California, Michigan, and South Carolina view curricular reform in elementary mathematics and literacy instruction shows the complexities involved in "updating" teachers' professional development. Curriculum standards and frameworks are no substitute for the…

The key questions in reading are: Do school beginners need to be taught anything about reading? How do people adjust their reading process to their purpose? Why is reading proficiency predictable? (Author/IRT)

Six years ago, students at Birch Meadow Elementary School (Reading, Massachusetts) were polite to adults, but callous and uncaring toward each other. Today, thanks to a "Just Community" approach modeled on Lawrence Kohlberg's philosophy, students feel a sense of school ownership and responsibility for their classmates. (MLH)

Perhaps the most important implication of the metaphor is to suggest that it may well be the main purpose of education to provide conditions under which each child will identify and find satisfaction through a chosen field or fields of work. (Author)

Contrary to most theories, the child's concept of self crystalizes during the early school years, during which period a massive process of psychological and social maturation takes place. (Author/IRT)

Describes features of an educational program incorporating a continuum of learning experiences, providing personalized learning more tailored to the child's own interests and learning capabilities than the standard graded curriculum or individualized instruction not incorporating the continuum concept. (JK)

Describes an 18-month program for improving science teaching in Texas elementary schools. Designed for teachers from schools of all income levels, the program stressed inquiry learning methods. Teachers learned to write constructivist curriculum modules, which they later piloted at a summer science camp that stimulated children's creative…

To take elementary compositions beyond sloganeering and interior decorating, teachers should use many processes to help students render experience and knowledge into writing. A writing curriculum should emphasize student ownership, the translation of experience into text, the primacy of narrative, the importance of context, cooperative learning,…