Childhood Education articles from August 1996

Childhood Education archives from August 1996

Piagetian perspectives on understanding children's understanding.
August 6, 1996... While most of us would agree that we should teach for children's understanding, we would not all agree on what we mean by "understanding" and we certainly would not agree on how we should teach for it. Constructivist teaching, a popular but...

Basing technique on Piaget's constructivism.
August 6, 1996... Constructivism, the view that much of learning originates from inside the child, has become increasingly popular in recent years. Many educators, however, use the term "construct" loosely without knowing, for example, that children construct a...

Assessing interpersonal understanding in the classroom context.
August 6, 1996... As the movement toward developmentally appropriate practices has grown over the last decade, teachers' focus has shifted from content knowledge to development. This shift in focus requires teachers to recognize changes that reflect development....

A child constructs an understanding of a water wheel in five media.
August 6, 1996... One might conclude that first we learn, then we report our understanding to others. This proposition sounds direct, almost uncontroversial. Yet it ignores a common feature of human intelligence: the anticipation of our report before it occurs. As...

Understanding through play.
August 6, 1996... A visitor walks into a kindergarten classroom and observes the children scattered about the room, playing in various areas. In one area a child is playing with a magnetic toy. The toy consists of four magnets embedded in a plastic base and...

The development of Scrap's understanding of written language.
August 6, 1996... A Piagetian perspective maintains that children continuously test hypotheses they construct about print. They first become curious about print when they see those around them using it. Eventually, either their perceived need to know about it or...

Understanding friendship and social interaction.
August 6, 1996... Friendship, for most adults, is so much a part of our daily lives that we tend to take it for granted. We interact with our friends so automatically that we often overlook the complexities of those interactions. Few of us take the time to examine...

Using games to understand children's understanding.
August 6, 1996... When I was an elementary school student, my teachers often allowed us to play games on Fridays as a reward for good behavior. Now, as a teacher myself, I use games for evaluation and instruction. Playing games with children is a way of holding...

Reduce, reuse, recycle.(Classroom Idea-Sparkers)
August 6, 1996... At school, home, work and play, each U.S. resident throws away 4.3 pounds of waste per day - more per capita than citizens of countries with comparable standards of living. As garbage becomes increasingly expensive and difficult to get rid of,...

Changing children in a changing society.(Issues in Education)
August 6, 1996... The nature of childhood is undergoing a change that has profound implications for the future. Increasingly, a different kind of child is being referred for help. Traditionally, services have been directed to "high-risk" children: those seen as...

Let's take a trip!(For Parents Particularly)
August 6, 1996... A family trip or vacation can be either the highlight of the year or a nightmare. With a little research and planning, however, getting away from it all can mean getting to it all. You will have enough experiences and excitement to remember and...