Plan a parent meeting

Patsy Allen has taught in and directed preschool, secondary, and college early childhood education programs. Currently, she is writing, consulting, and practicing her parenting skills with her three children in Friona, TX.     

The acquisition of basic multiplication skills

Children learning the basic multiplications, use knowledge which they acquired in former stages. Certain additions, for instance the doubles, known by heart, can support the learning process for multiplication. It makes a great difference in cognitive achievement whether children know multiplication facts by heart or whether they are able to figure out basic multiplications. If education supports the development of informal thinking strategies, children become so skilled at this, that the border between figuring out and knowing by heart will gradually disappear. By using informal strategies children will acquire a flexible mental structure of multiplication facts instead of a collection of rules.     

The relationship between attributes of a children's radio program and its appeal to listeners

An approach was developed to investigate the link between attributes of a children's radio program and children's judgments of appeal. Program tapes were divided into 28 segments and were rated for the presence of 30 attributes. Through multidimensional scaling analysis, attributes were organized into six clusters of Superattributes on the basis of their co-occurrence across the 28 segments. Superattributes were labeled and assigned scores that reflected the degree to which each was present in the 28 segments. A sample of 42 children 8–12 years old listened to the test tapes and provided a written judgment of their interest in the program at each segment. Results revealed that the Superattributes Instruction, Intro Talk, and Jokes were negatively associated with children's interest, while Popular Music was positively correlated with interest. In planning programs and understanding the effects of radio on children, designers and researchers should pay special attention to those formats in radio programming that are familiar to children, especially popular music and instructional material.     

Clark's invitation to the dance: An instructional Designer's response

He would like to thank his colleague, Walter Dick, for suggesting he examine this issue from the point of view of an instructional designer. He would also like to thank his medical consultants—Dr. Mark Shamis, Dr. William Kaufman, and Linda Reiser, RN.     

Deep Valley revisited: The Betsy-Tacy stories of Maud Hart Lovelace

Suzanne Rahn is an associate professor of English at Pacific Lutheran University, specializing in children's literature. She is the author ofChildren's Literature: An Annotated Bibliography of the History and Criticism (Garland) and is currently at work on a book of Rediscoveries in Children's Literature.     

Young children's combinatoric strategies

Children aged between 4 years 6 months and 9 years 10 months were individually administered a series of novel tasks involving the formation of different combinations of two items, selected from discrete sets of items. An analysis of the children's performance revealed a series of six, increasingly sophisticated, solution strategies ranging from a random selection of items through to a systematic pattern in item choice (cf. Piaget and Inhelder's, 1975, combinatoric operations). A significant number of children independently adopted more efficient solution procedures as they progressed on the tasks, with many displaying an algorithmic procedure reflecting the odometer strategy (holding one item constant while systematically varying each of the other items). Given that children as young as 7 years demonstrated this systematic strategy, it would appear that, within the appropriate learning environment, young children can discover a procedure for forming n x n combinations prior to the stage of formal operations postulated by Piaget and Inhelder. The findings support the inclusion of the combinatorial domain as a topic of investigation in the elementary school curriculum.     

Polishing up the pattern: The ending ofThe Owl Service

Andrew Taylor has worked in both Primary and Secondary schools and now teaches at North Riding College, Scarborough, in North Yorkshire, England. He is soon to begin a secondment to the National Curriculum Council in York, as a Professional Officer for English. He has published previously on the Real Books controversy in the teaching of reading and is interested in the use of literature as a support for young children's writing.     

In the news

Patsy Allen has taught in and directed preschool, secondary, and college early childhood education programs. Currently, she is writing, consulting, and practicing her parenting skills with her three children in Friona, Texas.     

Ghosts as rhetorical devices in children's fiction

The relationship of past and present and the linking of characters through time and place are themes that underlie the work of many writers for children. This article considers the use of the Ghost as a literary device to allow the exploration of what is, what has been, and what might have been, particularly in the 1973 Carnegie Medal Winner,The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, by Penelope Lively.Judith Armstrong was brought up in Lancashire. She has travelled widely, and taught young children in England and Ethiopia. She is currently working on themes associated with the supernatural in children's books.     

The Social Adjustment of Three, Young, High-Achieving Korean-English Bilingual Students in Kindergarten

This research article describes the English acquisition of three, young, high-achieving, Korean, bilingual students, their academic development and their social/psychological adjustment in school. All observations and interviews were conducted in the natural classroom setting. The Korean children underwent different school experiences, partially contingent upon their English proficiency, but they generally demonstrated rapid English acquisition and healthy adjustment to school. The study findings suggest that teachers and parents play an important role in supporting their bilingual children's adjustments to new environments while preserving fundamental aspects of their original culture. Recommendations for both mainstream andbilingual teachers are suggested to further an understanding of Korean children, as English language learners and enable these children to become bilingual in Korean and English.     

“It's not what you expect”: teaching irony to third graders

Conclusions The purpose of the above analysis is to emphasize the crucial relationship between the teaching and theoretical research done at the university level and the teaching of literary criticism to children. The gaps between what is done in university and school classoroms can be bridged and should be bridged more often. An adult understanding of the nature and function of literary irony is crucial to an understanding of children's stories and is the first step towards the effective presentation of ironic stories to young readers. When I first taught Swift's A Modest Proposal to university freshmen, I was surprised to find that several were shocked at what they thought to be that essay's sadistic message: they had read Swift literally and not ironically. Should my third grade students become university students, they are not likely to make that mistake. As Kenneth Burke stated (in a quotation used as one of Wayne Booth's epigraphs) We cannot use language maturely until we are spontaneously at home in irony (p. xxvi). But preparing future university students is not the main goal. Rather, I want the school children I work with to be able to perceive the ironies inherent in the stories they consume and, as a result of their perceptions, to arrive at fuller understanding and, therefore, fuller enjoyment of those stories.He also teaches in a local elementary school.     

Have you heard of Robert Munsch?

Randa Roen Nachbar is the editor ofDay Care and Early Education. She is also a staff developer in the New York City Public Schools with the curriculum Resolving Conflict Creatively. She has read many Munsch stories to children.     

Print and reading: What do preschoolers know?

John Downing, an eminent reading researcher at Canada's University of Victoria, says that many children come to school in a state of cognitive confusion about the functions of reading and the terms we use when we start to teach them to read formally. Adults take for granted that young children know what they mean when they talk about a word, a letter, a sound, and other print-related terms. In his studies done in England and in Canada, Downing (1970; 1973–74) has found that many children, especially those who have not been read to regularly, simply don't understand the conventions of print and really don't understand what reading is all about.Joan T. Feeley is Professor of Reading and Language Arts at William Paterson College in Wayne, New Jersey.     

A Textbook Case of the Nature of Science: Laws and Theories in the Science of Biology

The two concepts law and theory are among the most important elements of the nature of science. They represent both the tools and products of science itself. Unfortunately, the variable meanings and use of these terms in general discourse and in other school disciplines results in much confusion with respect to their proper application in a science context. The project included the design of a six-part model definition for law and theory based on a review of the literature of the philosophy of science with special reference to biology. These model definitions were then compared with those provided in a range of U.S. secondary school biology textbooks. The majority of all current major U.S. secondary school biology texts were reviewed and analyzed with respect to how the concepts of law and theory were defined and applied, in an attempt to determine whether students and teachers using such texts would gain an accurate impression of these terms and the distinction between them. This study focuses on biology instruction since a life science course is completed as a graduation requirement by virtually all U.S. high school students and as such serves as a widely shared educational experience across the nation. The term law is rarely defined in any text but various laws such as those found in genetics are frequently included as examples. The term theory is frequently defined but with a wide range of completeness of the definitions. Only rarely are theories in biology included as examples.     

Three-dimensional art and sculpture

I am making it BIG (Evan). A secret slide with gold in there (Sydni). Look even a little car could fit in it (Joshua). This is a circle! Round, a tiger jumps through this hoop (Emily). Excitement runs high when children experiment with three-dimensional art projects using paper, boxes and styrofoam.Liz Seelhoff Byrum teaches four- and five-year-olds at a private school in New York City.     

Insights fourth and fifth graders bring to multiplication and division with decimals

This study was designed to gain information about the understandings children in Israel and the United States have about multiplication and division of whole numbers that may be useful in building accurate understandings of these operations with decimals and the extent to which they hold conceptions about these operations that may interfere with their work with decimals. Data from interviews of the fourth and fifth graders indicate that students of this age already hold misconceptions such as multiplication always makes bigger. However they also hold conceptions that are prerequisite to understanding the area model of multiplication and the measurement model of division. These early conceptions might be used to build understanding of multiplication and division by decimals. Implications for the content and sequencing of instructional activities are presented.     

Educational “excellence” versus teacher “professionalism”: Towards some conceptual clarity

The educational literature of the last several years is replete with both continuing calls for educational excellence reforms and for enhancing and upgrading the teaching profession. Importantly, both types of calls rely on the contribution of science. The educational research-and-development community continues to push for and believe in the notion that educational innovation is based on scientific advances in understanding child development and school functioning. Similarly, many teachers and teacher educators continually call for increased classroom autonomy and social status among teachers, based upon the supposedly scientific nature of their professional training. This paper takes issue with both of these points, arguing that the origin and success of most educationally innovative policies have as their origin the changing political, economic, and social forces visible in the country during the history of American education. Relatedly, since the science of teaching and learning takes a back seat in issues of school policy, teachers cannot and will not be able to convince the public and those in authority in the school that their insights and practices derive from any privileged understanding of the real needs of children. Arguing that teachers should, in fact, have more input into policy decisions in education, the paper concludes with a review and discussion of various strategies currently visible for improving the autonomy and control of classroom educators.     

The curriculum potential of Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Unity and diversity are best reconciled by Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Two major dilemmas related to the study of Evolution are described. The first, concerning pedagogy, can be solved by teaching the topic at an elementary level in the middle school so that the Theory may serve as an advanced oragnizer and returning with in-depth study in the last two years of high school. The second, concerning Faith, is a sensitive issue. Some successful approaches are discussed. The place of Darwin's Theory in the all-elective high school biology curriculum is described as well. The role of the Theory regarding explanations is especially highlighted.     

The writer and the reader inCarrie's War

Barbara Freedman has for several years been a combination children's librarian/branch library manager. She authors theDraw Me a Story series of draw and tell story collections, as well as articles on children's literature and programming, and conducts workshops on children's programming techniques.