When Teaching Interferes With Learning: Balancing Accountability With the Unique Needs of Every Child

This article highlights the practices of administrators and master teachers who are trying to balance the needs for accountability, prescribed curriculum, and learning standards with a broader view of education that gives equal importance to skills not so easily quantified by standardized tests. The author makes a case for the use of careful observation of children, and documentation and analysis of project-based activities as a way to create a more complete picture of a child's skills while at the same time, supporting the innate desire to learn with which all children start life.     

A Spanish Soldier Becomes Mr Universe

A Spanish soldier has battled his way to the top of the beauty charts having been crowned Mr Universe. But Ruben Lopez vowed not to let the title of hottest man in the world go to his head, instead intending to stand by his troops and stay in military.     

Activities You Should Avoid This Summer

Everybody knows that the colleges care about more than GPAs and standardized testing.They look at curriculum strength,e s s a y s,t e a c h e r r e c s（推荐信）a n d,i n particular,extracurriculars.It is no secret that the admissions committees are very concerned about what you do with your spare time-be it volunteering with lepers（麻风病）in India or interning as a flying artist with Cirque du Soleil（太阳马戏团）.     

A re-united pair: The conservation,technical study,and ethical decisions involved in exhibiting two terracotta orante statues from Canosa

The collection of the Worcester Art Museum includes two rare Magna Graecia terracotta funerary statues from Canosa, Italy dating to the third century BCE. Each depicts a female figure in prayer or lament known as an orante. The orantes were purchased by the museum in 1927, but shortly thereafter were separated. One was left in storage for nearly seven decades and the other was sold, and ultimately entered a private collection halfway around the world. The orantes were recently reunited under serendipitous circumstances and, after more than 80 years, will finally be placed on display at the Museum. As part of a comprehensive treatment, a technical study was carried out to identify the materials and methods used in their manufacture and in previous restoration campaigns. Materials were characterized by cross-section analysis, spot tests, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), neutron activation analysis (NAA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), thermoluminescence (TL) dating, and reflectance transformation imaging (RTI). The analytical findings helped inform the conservation treatments, which included structural work, surface cleaning using a Nd:YAG laser, and esthetic reintegration.     

Motivational and Cognitive Contributions to Students' Amount of Reading

The amount that students read for enjoyment and for school is a major contributor to students' reading achievement and knowledge of the world. Consequently, it is important to identify the factors that predict amount of reading. A literature review revealed that motivation, strategy-use, and past reading achievement all may be expected to predict reading amount. To examine these variables, a total of 251 students in Grades 3 and 5 was administered questionnaires of these constructs and a reading test. Results showed that amount of reading for enjoyment was predicted most highly by motivation, when all other variables were controlled statistically in multiple-regression analyses. In contrast, amount of reading for school was predicted most highly by strategy use, when all other variables were controlled. However, these predictions were different for students in Grades 3 and 5. Findings of the study indicate that amount of reading is multiply determined by cognitive and motivational constructs, which is consistent with an engagement perspective on reading development. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.