Issues in open education and environmental design

This article presents a theoretical overview of the complementary relationship between open education and environmental design. An elementary education program called the Open Corridor serves as a concrete example. The Open Corridor program dovetailed many aspects of open education and environmental design. Students, teachers, administrators, parents, and consulting psychologists served in the roles of planner and implementer. A review of open education and environmental design approaches is followed by a sketch of the Open Corridor program and a discussion of issues. A bright future exists for programs that carefully open their educational processes and plan their environments.     

Roosttime restlessness in captive American Robins (Turdus migratorius)

All-day observations of captive American Robins (Turdus migratorius) revealed that the birds became extremely active at dusk, the time when wild Robins typically fly some distance to a communal roost site. This roosttime restlessness occurred during every month of the year, and so was distinguishable from the migratory restlessness that the birds displayed during early morning hours of spring months. The present observations also uncovered a recapitulation effect, in that the changes in activity level that occurred within any single day (from dawn through dusk) tended to parallel the changes in activity level that occurred across the year (from spring through winter).     

Planar asymmetry tips the phonological playground and environment raises the bar

Reading readiness varies as a function of family and environmental variables. This study of 11-year-old children (N = 39) was designed to determine if there was an additional or interactive contribution of brain structure. Evidence is presented that both environmental and biological variables predict phonological development. Temporal lobe (planar) asymmetry, hand preference, family history of reading disability, and SES explained over half of the variance in phonological and verbal performance. The results demonstrate a linear association between cerebral organization and phonological skill within socioeconomic groups. These data provide concrete evidence to support the commonly held assumption that both environmental and biological factors are independent determinants of a child's ability to process linguistic information.