Aspects of daydreaming and associated mental activity were examined for sex differences in well-educated middle class Whites aged 17 to 92 years. Females reported daydreams of a problem solving nature, and lower levels of daydreams of a sexual, bizarre-improbable, heroic and achievement-oriented nature. Daydreaming contents decreased with age.…

Techniques that can be used to make the lecture method of teaching more effective include using pictures or objects to facilitate memory, using guided fantasies to stimulate students' imagination of processes, and the suggestopedia method for memorizing facts, principles, and vocabulary. (MSE)

Outdoor education facilitates the use of both cerebral hemispheres. The right side, which is often ignored in traditional education, is the location of intuitive, imaginative, and metaphoric thinking and can be used in conjunction with the left side, the base of logical and analytic thought. (CJ)

Suggests that the twin roles of self-exploration through writing and the development of public discourse may be viewed in terms of three stages of the composing process. (DD)

Discusses research into the bi-modal nature of the human brain and what it suggests regarding the inclusion of feeling and imagination in the teaching of English. (DD)

Self-images expressed in response to the Draw-A-Story task were examined for differences in gender, age and delinquency. Subjects included 64 adolescents in detention and 74 normal controls. No significant differences were found in gender and delinquency. Significant gender differences were found in both solitary and assaultive content. Discusses…

Three strategies are suggested for teachers to use in developing the critical imagination of students: (1) the deconstruction of lived and told storylines; (2) the development of reflective ethical practice in line with post-structuralist understanding; and (3) the writing, telling, and adapting of stories that interrupt binary thinking. (SLD)

Notes that there are certain books in children's literature that have stood the test of time. Explains that these books not only have artistic and literary merit, but also generate strong personal response and have universal appeal. Presents an annotated list of 17 such children's books, published between 1719 and 1985. (PM)

Examines significant influences that shape the identities of primary-school principals in Ireland to gain insight into the process of identity construction and its relationship to the educational change process. Includes theoretical perspectives, policy context, methodological considerations, and ethos and identity. Concludes that principal…

Examines the role of metaphor and narrative in the interpretive organization of feelings and knowledge, especially in children. Looks at a particular case of figurative speech--a child's storytelling--to show how imaginative narrative may carry important clues about the child's inner world of experience. (MG)

This study compared 40 high-frequency and 40 low-frequency daydreamers from a group of hearing-impaired college students. The study analyzed daydreaming frequency, where daydreaming takes place, central characters in daydreams, continuity of daydream themes, time tense of daydreams, existence of an imaginary companion as a child, discussion of…

Two studies examined 19 preschoolers' ability to distinguish between pretense and reality, testing whether emotionally charged events can cause children to lend probability to pretense. Subjects were assigned to various conditions including termination or no termination of pretense and emotionally colored pretense play scenarios. Found that, even…

Standards in art education contradict the nature of art: the unexpected, the imagined, the explorations and creative discoveries. What must be communicated is the importance of the arts and aesthetic education, the nurture of informed understanding of art, and meaningful standards that emerge intrinsically and are not imposed extrinsically (SK)

The existential contexts of education reach far beyond the conceptions of Goals 2000 or the appalling actualities of family breakdown, homelessness, violence, and other "savage inequalities." Classroom encounters with the arts can move the young to imagine, extend, and renew. If the arts' significance for growth, inventiveness, and…

Autobiography is the imaginative construction of one's life story and the creative expression of lifelong transformative learning. Its use in studying adult transformation raises political and ethical questions and concerns about qualitative methods; it demonstrates the usefulness of conversation as a research process. (SK)