INFUSING GERONTOLOGICAL CONTENT INTO THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION

The graying of the American population and the importance of religion in the lives of older individuals suggests that members of the clergy need to be well informed regarding the processes and realities of aging. For several years, gerontologists have been encouraging theological educators to place an increased emphasis on the needs and concerns of older adults in seminary curriculum. The purpose of the present study was to determine what seminaries are currently doing to prepare pastors for ministry with older adults and to compare the findings to a similar study undertaken more than a decade ago. The results of the current study are quite similar to those obtained in the past. Although several schools have added a course focusing on the needs and concerns of older adults within the last 20 years, gerontological content remains a minor consideration among the vast majority of seminaries. The major recommendation of the study is that seminaries need to infuse their curricula with gerontological content in order for their graduates to be adequately prepared for ministry in twenty-first century America.     

Beyond access: special education in America

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to examine the parallels between many aspects of conductive education and the conceptual framework of Feuerstein's theory of mediated learning. Conductive education is not a treatment administered to remedy some pathology, as is the case with many therapies, but rather a system of education aimed at developing the whole individual. How this process is achieved may be enlightened by reference to Feuerstein's model of mediated learning experience (MLE). Two key aspects of Feuerstein's theory are examined: first, structural cognitive modifiability (SCM), which maintains that every individual's cognitive structures are capable of modifiability, despite barriers of retardation ‐ very much in line with modern neuroscience and its model of the brain as a plastic and adaptable system; and secondly, mediation (MLE), which is the process whereby a more initiated individual acts as a mediator between culture and child and thereby directs the child into preparing an adequate response. A detailed examination with exemplars is then undertaken into the mediation of many different aspects of development, including the three essential mediation processes of intentionality and reciprocity, transcendence and meaning. Finally, the implications of Feuerstein's theory for models of research and evaluation are considered, particularly the need for more qualitative and interactional approaches which maintain ecological validity.     

The Highway Map Social Studies Resource

Teachers today are more aware of differences in the way students learn and that a wide variety of strategies must be employed when teaching. Major musical films, when appropriately excerpted, can provide an entertaining and unique way of addressing valid instruction objectives in both the cognitive and affective domains. In this article, the authors provide applications of specific Broadway musicals and films to everyday instructional practices.     

The Development of Gender Stereotype Components

Developmental research has been limited by a narrow concept of stereotypes. A more complex model is presented, and developmental changes in gender stereotypes were investigated using the new model. In 2 studies, children were told about several sex-unspecified children, each described as having 1 masculine or 1 feminine characteristic. The children then predicted the likelihood of each story child having other masculine and feminine characteristics. In Study 1, 56 children (4–6 years) were told about target children who liked either a masculine or feminine toy, and then children predicted the targets' interests in other toys. In Study 2, 76 older children (6, 8, 10 years) were told about target children with a masculine or feminine characteristic from 1 of 4 categories (appearance, personality, occupations, toys), and then they predicted the likelihood of targets having other masculine and feminine characteristics from the same and from different categories as the cue. 2 developmental trends emerged: ( a ) children appear first to learn associations among characteristics relevant to their own sex and, later, to learn them for the other sex, and ( b ) older children's stereotypic judgments are more extreme than those of younger children. The implications of these results for the development of stereotypes, assessing gender knowledge, and understanding social judgments are discussed.