In this article, the author talks about the Critical Friends Group, which she and her colleagues at Souhegan High School created. They hold monthly meetings in order to help everyone with their work. Here, she discusses her experiences of CFG, as well as that of her colleagues' experiences and what they had to say about the CFG. Among other…

The primary goal of this study was to assess the ability of maltreated school-age children and adolescents to understand the thoughts, feelings, and points of view of others. Level of egocentrism and social perspective-taking coordination were assessed in a group of 49 maltreated and 49 demographically matched nonmaltreated children. Twenty-six…

Working with early childhood colleagues in other countries can be enlightening and enriching. This paper offers seven insights gained from the international experience: (1) "What It Feels Like To Be a Teacher" discusses observations of student and teacher behavior and attitudes in classrooms in China, a Caribbean island, and India; (2)…

The goal of the study described here is to develop a research agenda for more in-depth analyses of the relation certain teaching characteristics may have to student outcomes. Rating and ranking scales were designed and administered to examine perceptions about teaching characteristics held by administrators, academic department chairpeople…

This conference focused on critical thinking, language, and inquiry across the disciplines through the perspectives of scholars and practitioners within a variety of academic disciplines. This volume reflects the thoughts of 48 authors representing 20 academic fields; it is divided into two main parts. The first part is composed of papers that…

This symposium addressed key findings of the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development-sponsored book "Promoting the Health of Adolescents: New Directions for the Twenty-First Century." A panel of experts focused on science policy implications of critical issues in adolescent health promotion that have proven difficult to address such…

The point of view that teachers use in responding to students' writing affects the kinds of dramatized presences that teacher responses create. Such presences make available a range of reading and writing roles that students may adopt or reject. For a dramatic presence to be felt by a reader, a writer must select and sustain a clear means of…

Based on S. Chaffee and J. McLeod's coorientation model of communication, this paper addresses the question of individual and cognitive versus social and communicational comparisons in order to further elaborate the theory behind the coorientation model. The paper argues that, in a situation which includes two individuals and a topic, both…

A study was made to investigate the hypothesis that the ability to determine, on a map, where one is located and in which direction one is headed, requires an understanding of the ways in which views change from different locations and orientations. Approximately 200 kindergarten through second-grade children were first tested individually for…

Argumentation courses, which emphasize the theories of argumentation, and debate courses, which teach competitive debate, can effectively teach critical thinking, training students to see situations from a variety of perspectives and then to evaluate those perspectives for their relative merit. William G. Perry maps out nine stages by which…

When handled well, description can give poetry and prose a quality of immediacy and accessibility by creating a dramatic context in which the writer's ideas and feelings can be shared by the reader. The use of perception stimulation can aid the student in producing effective images that lead to this dramatic context. To begin this learning…

In order to determine whether egocentrism can be conceptualized as a unitary construct, 100 children (51 four-year-olds, 37 five-year-olds, and 12 six-year-olds) were administered a visual/spatial perspective task, a cognitive/communicative task, and an affective task. All tasks were designed to measure different facets of egocentrism. The 50…

This paper describes a simulation experience to help people understand the feelings of the elderly through a program conducted by the Jewish Center for Aged in Chesterfield, MO. The four-hour program is divided into four sections: (1) a true-false test is given to assess participants' concepts of the aged; (2) inhibitors are applied to limit…

The effects of self-oriented and other-oriented questions on moral reasoning scores for two moral dilemmas involving stealing and school cheating were investigated. The reasoning scores of elementary school-aged children increased on other-oriented questions by the fifth grade. Females' scores showed consistent reasoning on self-oriented and…

Perspectives on the profession of guidance and counseling during the 1970's are discussed and reviewed. Major topics focus on licensure, government relations, counselor renewal, collective bargaining and counselor competence. Also included is a survey of the 1980's, focusing on testing programs and their potential future, emerging sex roles, and…