Shinichi Suzuki, a master violin teacher, revolutionized violin teaching with his creation of the Japanese Talent Education Movement. The Suzuki Method he introduced has also been extended to other instruments viola, cello, bass, piano, flute, guitar and recorder with outstanding results. The Suzuki Method works on the principle that every child can learn music through the same process he learns his mother tongue language. With this approach, a child can develop his abilities during the early absorbing and sensitive years far beyond what most people previously imagined.
The Suzuki approach differs from other music education philosophies in that:
Just as in language learning, the parents’ role is vital in the development of early music learning ability. Parents attend lessons with the child and help with practice at home. At the same time, the parent's knowledge of the instrument and music is developed along with the child’s. The basic elements of the Suzuki Method are listening, motivation, proper technique, repetition and reinforcement. The underlying goal is to nurture a child not only in musical abilities but as a complete human being.


This course focuses on the writing process and its role in literacy development. As students become fluent readers, they need to balance their literacy time with various types of writing. Participants apply research-based instructional strategies to integrate writing into all subject areas. Specific techniques such as mini-lessons, error analysis, conferencing and using portfolios are addressed. Each step of the writing process is examined as participants design units of study for their teaching practice.
Participants will be able to:
• Identify, define and explain all stages of the writing process
• Create learning experiences in which students respond to literature before, during and after reading
• Employ the use of writing portfolios to measure the growth of writing ability over time
• Examine ways to support the independence of reading and writing in the classroom
Peter Hammer, Executive Dir. of Damon Keith Center, will speak on "Detroit Future City Plan", TONIGHT at 7 pm. http://t.co/wW9CUc222d
RT @MarygroveDance: Thank you for yet another AMAZING master class for our dance companies! This residency has been outstanding!... http://…


Commonly referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only continuing, national measure of the academic achievement of America’s public and private schools. For 40 years student performance has been measured in the following subjects: reading, math, writing, science and geography. The 2008 NAEP Arts Assessment, or the 2008 Nation’s Arts Report Card, is the fifth NAEP assessment in the arts. The next NAEP arts assessment is scheduled to take place in 2016.
How was the information collected?
The 2008 NAEP Arts Assessment was given to a nationally representative sample of 7,900 eighth-grade students from 260 public and private schools. The 2008 NAEP Arts Assessment was conducted in music and the visual arts. Approximately one-half of these students were assessed in music, and the other half were assessed in visual arts.
The NAEP Arts Framework serves as the blueprint for the assessment, describing the specific knowledge and skills that should be assessed in the four arts disciplines: music, visual arts, theater and dance. Additionally, three arts processes – responding, creating, and performing – are central to students’ experiences in these disciplines.
In 2008, due to budget constraints, only the responding process in music and both the responding and creating processes in visual arts were assessed. Theater and dance were not assessed. The responding process in music and visual arts was assessed with multiple-choice questions and constructed response questions that required students to produce answers of a few words or sentences. Creating questions required students to create works of art and design of their own.
Although the questions in the 2008 assessment were taken from those administered in the previous arts assessment in 1997, not all of the results can be compared between the two years. Only the percentages of students’ correct responses to the multiple-choice questions in 2008 can be compared to those in 1997.
NAEP 2008 Toolkit
The following national service organizations have collaborated on the NAEP Arts Assessment Toolkit: Americans for the Arts, Arts Education Partnership, Educational Theatre Association, The League of American Orchestras, MENC: The National Association for Music Education, National Art Education Association, and the Performing Arts Alliance.


Division of Arts Education News and Documents
The Arts Update below contains brief descriptions of initiatives and collaborations of the Ohio Department of Education's Division of Arts. The update is provided to Ohio's statewide arts organizations. Please click on the link below to open the PDF.
Documents Related to the Arts Education in Ohio
The documents below include images and statements by educators who participated in the 2010 Teachers as Artists Exhibit hosted by the Ohio Department of Education and the East Cental Ohio Art Education Association. View their creative images and their responses to the question: How do you use your imagination as an artist and teacher?
Below are the first place award essays from the 2010 and 2009 art criticism component of the Governor's Youth Art Exhibit that teachers may use as an example to encourage students to think and write about art.
Links and Threads ... A Newsletter for Arts Partners
Published by the Ohio Arts Council and the Ohio Department of Education, Links and Threads is an electronic newsletter for district and school leaders, educators and their arts partners. Its purpose is to assist school leaders in making arts learning a more integral part of the core curriculum and achieving the greatest advantage possible from the arts for their students.
The publication builds upon knowledge gained through the 2004 National Endowment for the Arts Summer Institute for School Leaders, promotes dialogue about the role of arts learning in school improvement, shares success stories and provides news about arts-related developments and opportunities. To open the PDF, click on the title below.
June 2009, Volume V, Issue 2
April 2009, Volume V, Issue 1
April 2008, Volume IV, Issue 2
October 2007, Volume IV, Issue I
August 2007, Volume III, Issue II
February 2007, Volume III, Issue I
Last Modified: 2/25/2014 3:28:48 PM
Pursuant to ORC 3301.079 (B) (3) and 3313.60, it is the responsibility of Ohio's local boards of education to vet and approve curriculum and educational materials for use in the public schools within their district. The use of any materials posted or linked to on the Ohio Department of Education website, including materials within the Common Core State Standards or Appendices or any state model curricula or other educational resource material, is entirely up to the discretion of each local board of education.


The Meaning Makers is about children’s language and literacy development at
home and at school. Based on the Bristol Study, “Language at Home and at
School,” which the author directed, it follows the development of a
representative sample of children from their first words to the end of
their primary schooling. It contains many examples of their experience of
language in use, both spoken and written, recorded in naturally occurring
settings in their homes and classrooms, and shows the active role that
children play in their own development as they both make sense of the world
around them and master the linguistic means for communicating about it.
Additionally, this second edition sets the findings of the original study
in the context of recent research in the sociocultural tradition inspired
by Vygotsky’s work and includes examples of effective teaching drawn from
the author’s recent collaborative research with teachers.


Majors > Chemistry
Chemistry deals with the study of matter and its interactions. It is a science that is considered the foundation of many other sciences. Chemists study atoms, molecules and the properties of compound substances. They study how they are structured, how they function and how they change energy when combined with other substances. Chemists conduct research in laboratories that has led to advances in food processing, agriculture and medicine.
The chemistry major at USAO receives theoretical instruction and laboratory experiences in each of the major disciplines of chemistry.
The laboratory experience covers standard bench chemistry and instrumental methods using the computerized instrumentation found in the industrial laboratory.
Students are prepared for careers in a broad range of chemical enterprises or for further study in graduate school. Students in chemistry find they are prepared for many vocations including work in chemistry, biochemistry, geochemistry, chemical engineering or medicine. They find their broad training useful in other fields such as teaching, business management, law, environmental consulting and government.
Note: Items on this page and page links are intended for informational purposes only. Please consult the current USAO catalog for actual class requirements for this or any other major field of study. Current USAO students should consult their advisor.
Career PossibilitiesBiochemist, Chemical Engineer, Chemist, Consumer Protection Specialist, Criminalist, Educator, Environmental Chemist, Materials Scientist, Nuclear Scientist, Patent Examiner, Researcher, Risk Manager, Soil Scientist, and Toxicologist
- American Indian Studies
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- Early Childhood Education
- Elementary Education
- Natural Science
- Physical Education
- Political Science
- Speech-language Pathology
- Teacher Certification- Art
- Teacher Certification- English
- Teacher Certification- Math
- Teacher Certification- Music
- Teacher Certification- P.E.
- Teacher Certification- Science
- Teacher Certification- Social Studies
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Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS)


Recent research on adult skill levels in 24 rich nations sparked a rush of headlines on the inadequacy of our education system. England came 15th in literacy and 17th in numeracy in the global league table, based on a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The report also revealed that people aged 16 to 24 were less literate and numerate than those aged 55 to 65.
Predictably, the Conservatives pointed out that the younger cohort is a product of Labour policies, while the opposition was able to observe that those aged 25 to 34 were scarcely any better.
Since few people will read a densely-researched 500 page survey, early reports have, understandably, been selective in highlighting the most dramatic, high-impact findings from a rich, complex and sometimes contradictory mass of research.
Were a positive spin to be taken, for example, without any distortion it would be possible to celebrate the highly effective economic use made of England and Northern Ireland's highly-skilled talent pool.
What is clear though is that some countries, such as Finland, Japan and South Korea, may have lessons for the UK.
In South Korea, for example, there is a clear relationship between age and performance, with younger Koreans outperforming their parents and grandparents. What this suggests is that education reforms in South Korea have been consistently effective over a period of decades.
Adults in Japan display the highest levels of proficiency in literacy and numeracy and it is one of the countries where social background has the least impact on skill levels. An impressive feature of the country is how it's achieved high levels of literacy among people who have lower qualifications. It suggests that the wider differences in people education levels in the UK are not inevitable.
Japan is not without its own problems, however, the OECD says one in 10 Japanese workers are in jobs that they are too highly qualified for in terms of literacy.
With the culture and economic history of these Asian countries in the post-war period potentially accounting for their distinctive skills profiles, commentators might expect Finland to offer more transferable insights. But interestingly, the OECD does not touch on what many believe to be one of the secrets of Finnish success – the quality of its teachers.
The first important lesson to be learned in the UK is the need to improve the quality of secondary education, which consistently fails too many children. Part of this is likely to involve breaking the national fixation on progression to higher education as the only measurement of school success. To do this politicians need to better promote the value of vocational education.
A second lesson is to consider how best to ensure skills are used at work or in preparation for work. Surely this must mean weaning employers off the expectation that the state should pay for training people in employment. We need to equip adults with the literacy and numeracy skills to function as citizens for moral and economic reasons. There is a role for the state to facilitate young people's transition into work. But beyond this, we need to debate whether public funds are best routed through employers, colleges and other providers.
The overall message from the OECD is that, in an increasingly competitive world, the UK cannot afford to waste the potential of so many of its citizens. We need to support lifelong learning, not simply as a second chance to those failed by schools, but also to help individuals to retrain and up their skills, especially if they're employed by places unwilling to invest in their development.
Alastair Thomson is principal advocacy officer at the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education.


Contact: Science Press Package
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Evidence for unseen silver
Scientists studied a sediment core from Laguna Lobato in Bolivia to better understand the history of silver mining in the surrounding mountains.
Image courtesy of Mark Abbott.
Click here for a high resolution photograph.
After studying layers of sediment from the bottom of a lake in Bolivia, the authors of a new study think that people living in the Andes Mountains mined silver as early as 1,000 years ago. The report may help fill gaps in the archaeological record caused, in part, by the recycling and stealing of silver artifacts by later cultures. The researchers think that large-scale silver mining in this region began approximately 400 years before the documented Incan silver industry.
Mark Abbott from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA and Alexander Wolfe from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada analyzed a sediment core from Laguna Lobato, a lake near the largest silver deposit in the Bolivian tin belt. From this core, they think they can identify the time that soot and dust produced during the silver separating process started falling into the lake. This research appears in the 26 September issue of the journal, Science published by AAAS, the science society.
Back to Science for kids
Science is published by AAAS, the science society.


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Welcome to our world of fun trivia quizzes and quiz games:
Science for Kids
"I'm sure every one of you have seen a beautiful rainbow way up in the sky. Do you know the order of the colors and a few other facts about rainbows?"
15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit
In what movie is there a song called "Somewhere Over the Rainbow?"
The Sound of Music
The Wizard of Oz
Which color is on the inside part of the rainbow's arch?
Which color is on the outside part of the rainbow's arch?
Stepping away from science for a moment, according to the Bible, for which person did God place a rainbow in the sky as a promise to never flood the world ever again?
What is rumored to be at the end of the rainbow?
A pot of silver
A golden egg
A bowl of cereal
A pot of gold
What is the children's Public Television show with the word rainbow in the title about?
What usually happens right before a rainbow shows up in the sky?
There is a tornado
It rains lightly
It snows really hard
It is nightime
Which of these colors is not in a rainbow?
Which little magical man is always trying to find something at the end of a rainbow?
What shape of clear block can you use to help make a rainbow on a wall indoors?
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In order to be able to make sound health decisions, patients need to understand the risks and the benefits that come with medical treatments, screenings, and lifestyle choices. But many people have difficulty understanding the numerical concepts that are essential for understanding risk-benefit information.
In a new article, researchers Rocio Garcia-Retamero of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and Edward Cokely of Michigan Technological University discuss the important role that visual aids can play in communicating health-related information. The article is published in the October 2013 issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.
The researchers note that a visual aid can be any graphical representation of a probabilistic concept related to health, which can include pie charts, bar graphs, icon arrays, and other kinds of displays.
Studies have shown that people consider risk information easier to understand and recall when it’s presented using a visual aid. Furthermore, it typically takes people less time to understand information when it’s presented visually than when it’s presented numerically.
Research by Garcia-Retamero, Cokely, and others shows that well-designed visual aids can be particularly effective for vulnerable populations, such as older adults, high-risk patients, immigrant populations, and those who have poor numeracy skills and little medical knowledge.
“As long as vulnerable people have moderate levels of graph literacy, appropriate visual aids tend to dramatically improve comprehension and decision making,” they note.
But that doesn’t mean all visual aids are equally effective.
According to the researchers, “[v]isual aids tend to be most effective when they are transparent – when their elements are well defined and they accurately and clearly represent the relevant information by making part-to-whole relationships in the data visually available.”
To the extent that they influence the way people encode and contextualize information, visual aids can even lead to enduring changes in attitudes and behavioral intentions toward certain health behaviors.
Garcia-Retamero and Cokely note that the next step in advancing risk communication is to integrate visual aids with information technology. Adaptive, Internet-based tutoring programs and custom-tailored educational brochures are currently being developed to aid the assessment and enhancement of patients’ risk literacy.
“These interactive educational and decision aid technologies hold great promise for leveraging what we already know about communicating risk, improving risk literacy and supporting informed decision making,” the researchers conclude.
Garcia-Retamero, R., & Cokely, E.T. (2013). Communicating health risks with visual aids. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22 (5), 392-399. DOI: 10.1177/0963721413491570
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Web site makes teaching grammar easy, period
March 20, 2005
KALAMAZOO--Remember diagramming sentences in middle school English class?
Research has shown there's a better way to teach grammar, and a new Web site put together by faculty and students at Western Michigan University shows how it can be done.
"We took a more productive stance that grammar is a tool you can use to become a better writer," says Dr. Jonathan Bush, a WMU assistant professor of English, who led the grammar Web site initiative. "We look at grammar as a way of enhancing writing."
The more modern approach to teaching grammar has been pioneered at WMU by Dr. Constance Weaver, professor of English and an internationally known expert in reading education and authority on teaching grammar in the context of reading and writing.
"The best way to teach grammar is to first get them writing and then conduct mini lessons on grammar and give them the skills they need to take their writing to a higher level," Bush says. "Grammar is alive and well, but the way to teach it is different from when we were in school."
The effort was a class project for a teaching writing class, English 574, last fall. The class was composed of both graduate and undergraduate students and included five current teachers. Most of the students were in secondary education, but a few were in elementary education.
Response to the new Web site has been good, Bush says. All teachers have to do is go to <homepages.wmich.edu/~jbush/grammar> to learn more effective ways to teach the ins and outs of periods, hyphens, commas, verbs, adjectives and past participles.
"We've gotten a lot of teachers e-mailing back, saying that it's been a good resource for what they're doing in their classes," Bush says.
The Web site gives some good tips on how to teach grammar without resorting to sentence diagramming, says Paula Fox, a Spanish teacher at Plainwell (Mich.) High School who assisted with the project.
"I really like the site," Fox says. "It puts quite a bit of useful knowledge at your fingertips, something that is essential for young grammar teachers just starting out and for us old folks who are hoping that we don't have to reinvent the wheel."
Media contact: Mark Schwerin, 269 387-8400, email@example.com


Queensland school system
Queensland schools provide quality education in a safe and supportive environment—providing the skills, values and knowledge students need for lifelong learning, employment and to participate in society.
You can choose to enrol your child in:
- Queensland state (public) schools (international programs are delivered through Education Queensland International)
- Independent schools
- Catholic schools.
Schooling in Queensland starts with a preparatory or Prep Year followed by 12 years of primary and secondary school.
Over the 13 years of schooling, students' studies are focused on the following learning areas:
- studies of society and the environment
- personal development
- health and physical education
- languages other than English (ESL).
Many Queensland schools also offer English language support to international students.
Contact your school to find out what kind of English language support is available.
The Prep Year is a 1 year (full-time) program available to children in the year before they start primary school.
Students are encouraged to engage all 5 senses to form a solid foundation in social, motor, literacy and numeracy skills.
Find out about enrolment age requirements for the Queensland Prep Year.
Students form foundational skills and knowledge based on the Curriculum.
Students are educated from Year 1 to 7.
Find out more about the Curriculum and how it relates to student learning.
Secondary or high school is the final period of compulsory education for Queensland students.
Students are educated from Year 8 to 12.
The senior years of education (Year 10–12) are very important for students wishing to progress to university or further study.
Find out more about the senior years of education in Queensland schools.
Students who have completed all 12 years of compulsory education from Year 1 to 12 will be eligible to qualify for the Queensland Certificate of Education.
An Overall Position or OP is also awarded to eligible students and contributes to a student’s university eligibility.
Find out more about student OPs and tertiary entrance.
Students are assessed on their performance through tasks including:
- written assignments
- oral presentations
- practical exercises and demonstrations
- texts and examinations
- subject specific tasks.


All over the world, compulsory education is divided into three stages. The first stage is pre-school education. Pre-school education is followed by primary or elementary education. Secondary education or middle school is meant function as preparation for high school. Most of the countries around the world have compulsory primary education but there are some regions where they have granted permission to the parents to provide primary education to their children. The age at which a child transfers from primary to secondary or high school education is different in different places but mostly around age 11 or 12.
American InterContinental University Online
What is Elementary Physical Education?
The main aim of primary education is to provide children with the basic knowledge of literature, mathematics and lay the foundation of other social sciences like geography and history etc. Usually children receive their primary education in elementary or primary schools, where they consistently advance in classes and finally reach high school. Children are usually placed with one teacher who is responsible for their education for the whole year. That teacher is assisted sometimes by other teachers for the subject areas that don't come under the expertise of that teacher.
In the USA, primary school is more commonly known as grade school or grammar school. Primary education is comprised of either 6 or 8 grades and sometimes includes kindergarten as well. In elementary schools, teachers usually imply a looping strategy, in which the same teacher teaches the same group of students for two years. For example, if a teacher teaches grade 2 the whole year, then the teacher would go on and teach those students in grade 3 as well. And after that the teacher would revert back to grade 2 and repeat the whole process again.
Keeping the body active is important for the health of growing children; this may be done by offering recreational or sporting activities which may include jump rope or team sports like football, baseball or basketball etc. According to NASPE's recommendations school-age kids should avoid a sedentary lifestyle and should engage in physical activities lasting up to 60 minutes per day.
According to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), every child in USA has a right to have quality physical education and physical activity. Physical education is by far the best way to teach them the techniques and skills required for a healthy and active lifestyle by providing them physical activity. Teachers for Physical education assess different knowledge of the student and also their social and motor skills, and provide them the physical education accordingly. According to NASPE's recommendation, elementary school children should be provided with at least 150 minutes physical education per week, and as for middle and high school students the duration should be 225 minutes per week.
Compulsory Elementary Physical Education is the best way to ensure that school age children are getting the recommended daily exercise.


Born: August 22, 1847; Edinburgh, Scotland
Died: April 28, 1935; London, England
One can be forgiven for not recognizing the name of composer Sir Alexander Campbell Mackenzie. He was championed by one of the greatest violin virtuosos (and composers) of the nineteenth century, had commissions from some of the most prestigious festivals in the British Isles, and was a sought after violinist in his own right. But in the twentieth century, the world of serious music became intellectualized, and somewhere amidst that change inRead more taste and outlook, Mackenzie's music passed out of the repertory and memory.
Alexander Campbell Mackenzie was the eldest son of Alexander Mackenzie (1819 - 1857), who was the principal violinist of the orchestra at the Theater Royal in Edinburgh. It was intended that the younger Mackenzie follow his father's career path, and he was given a serious music education, including study in Germany. He played second violin in the ducal orchestra in Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and availed himself of exposure to the most progressive music of his era, including Wagner.
On his return to England, Mackenzie became a student of Prosper Sainton, who had previously taught his father, at the Royal Academy of Music and earned the King's Scholarship. He taught for a time in Edinburgh after graduating from the Academy and played in various chamber groups before becoming a first-chair violinist in orchestras in Glasgow and Edinburgh. He did find time to compose and saw some of his chamber works performed by groups of which he was a member.
Mackenzie also found a favorable reception for three early orchestral pieces, the two Scotch Rhapsodies and a ballad for orchestra entitled La belle dame sans merci, which encouraged him. Good fortune struck Mackenzie the aspiring composer in the form of bad luck for Mackenzie the working musician. While still in his 30s, he was forced to rein in his activities after suffering from exhaustion. A doctor advised him to give up his teaching and performing work, so Mackenzie left Scotland and the British Isles altogether, retreating to Tuscany, where he began pursuing a full-time career as a composer. Mackenzie never returned to performing full-time, preferring instead to create his own works, which ranged from chamber pieces to full orchestral compositions and opera (The Troubadour).
As one would expect, some of the best of Mackenzie's works favored the violin. One of his most enduring works, is the Violin Concerto in C sharp minor, commissioned by the Birmingham Festival in 1885 (written with Joseph Joachim in mind, but ultimately premiered by Pablo de Sarasate). The falling out of favor of Mackenzie's music reflected nothing on the merits of the music itself. A rediscovery of Mackenzie's music began in the closing years of the twentieth century, more than 60 years after his death, as part of a general reassessment of British music and the Romantic repertory. In 1997, violin virtuoso Malcolm Stewart made the first modern recordings of Mackenzie's Violin Concerto in C sharp minor and Pibroch (Suite for Violin and Orchestra) -- both favorites of Sarasate -- for the Hyperion label under conductors Vernon Handley and David Davies. Audience reaction to these works and Mackenzie's Scottish Rhapsody No. 2, among other orchestral pieces recorded for Hyperion, has been very positive. Read less
There are 14 Alexander Mackenzie recordings available.
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The best dyspraxia treatment depends largely on age of the person diagnosed and what symptoms are manifested. Dyspraxia, which has also been called “clumsy child” syndrome affects each child individually and may have many different aspects. Among these are pronounced delays in gross and fine motor skill development, but speech is another area that may be affected. Additionally, dyspraxic children and adults have higher incidences of conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and they may have difficult relationships with peers or be subject to social ostracism for which they’ll need help and support.
Ideally, dyspraxia treatment begins in very early childhood, with the condition diagnosed because of fine and gross motor delays and speech problems that become evident during the first few years of life. Some children don’t receive any formal diagnosis until reaching school, and some people aren’t diagnosed as children even if the bear all the signs of the condition. Early treatment may take several different forms, and the most common of these would to work from three areas simultaneously. In early childhood, this could mean having a combination of physical, occupational and speech therapy.
These therapies don’t fully make up all the deficits of the dyspraxic child, and they’re only needed if a child shows problems. For instance, some children don’t have speech delays and wouldn’t require speech therapy. Assessment of the child’s individual manifestation of symptoms is the best way to determine most appropriate dyspraxia treatment.
It is very likely, since fine and gross motor skill delays and speech issues will continue into school age, that dyspraxia treatment would also continue into the school years. To minimize stress on the child, individualized education plans (IEPs) are usually created. These help to change school requirements so they are friendlier to a child with continuing deficits, and they often mandate continuing services such as speech therapy. In many countries, these services are given freely in public schools as part of individualized education plans.
The tendency for the dyspraxic child to develop ADHD may suggest other forms of dyspraxia treatment, if this condition is manifested. One option is to give drug treatment to reduce symptoms, or people may alternately look to natural treatments like radical changes to diet. Any individualized education plan would take into account difficulties with ADHD and could proposed accommodations that help these children cope.
A different area of dyspraxia treatment could address the psychosocial difficulties of the condition and its effects on peer relations. Psychotherapy is definitely advised for people who were undiagnosed until adulthood because the constant sense of being different, and the negative results from peers and/or teachers can take a huge emotional toll. Children may also benefit from therapy, and therapy could not only focus on problems with peers but on issues like developing friendship and coping skills that may be of great use.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK!


Improve Middle and High School Reading With Ultimate Phonics
Ultimate Phonics improves the key phonics skills that lead to higher reading achievement for your weak readers in middle school and high school. It's an easy, affordable way to provide the remedial phonics instruction necessary to strengthen the basic reading skills many students are lacking.
Phonics is key for reading achievement
Scientific research has shown that strong phonics decoding skills are a key factor in better reading achievement. Your students will never achieve good reading comprehension and high test scores without fluent and accurate decoding.
You can easily assess phonics skills
You may think your students already have good phonics decoding skills. This is probably not true for your weakest readers. For a quick and easy assessment, download and administer our free 10 minute reading test to your students ranking in the bottom 25%. You will see that many of them have weak fundamental decoding skills.
How to improve reading comprehension and raise test scores
Students in middle and high school who lack fundamental phonics decoding skills can't achieve good reading comprehension and high test scores until this underlying problem is fixed.
There are two basic elements that make a good reader:
- Fluency in the spoken language
- Fluent and accurate decoding of written language
If your students are weak in these basics you must make them your highest priority. It is impossible to make major improvements in reading comprehension, writing, and spelling until these basics are learned.
Ultimate Phonics doesn't address the issue of spoken language fluency, although it may help with pronunciation. We do however specifically target the problem of slow and inaccurate decoding, especially in older students.
Start with your weakest readers
Using our reading test or your own testing, identify your worst readers. These are students that can clearly benefit from additional help, so start using Ultimate Phonics with them. As you become familiar with the program and see the results, you can expand the number of students using the program according to your judgment.


This course is designed to introduce students to the different components resulting in a finished work of art with an emphasis on experimentation with media and techniques used by professional artists during their progression from idea to finished product. Students will be given presentations in digital media that will serve as guidance for the class projects.
Through integrated reading, listening, discussion, musical participation, and concert attendance, students will identify, experience, and understand the elements of music and basic notation and will apply active listening skills to the study of global and Western music from the Middle Ages to the present day in this course. A class fee is required to cover the cost of concert attendance (as indicated in the Master Course Schedule).
An activity-oriented course designed to acquaint students with the ephemeral and experiential nature of the theatre, including play-going, play-making (i.e., scene work), rudimentary play analysis, discussion, and direct participation in on-campus production work.
In this course students will explore the developmental stages of art in children at different levels that will aid in curriculum development and give students the opportunity to experiment with various art activities to develop skills needed for the effective teaching of art in the elementary school. Prerequisite: Art 101 or consent of instructor.
Identifying, understanding and working with the music capabilities of children; approaches, activities and materials for teaching music to children; development of preschool through grade 8 general music curriculum. The two-credit option is available to multiple-subject teacher education candidates interested in incorporating music into the self-contained classroom as well as others interested in musical development of children. The three-credit option is required of music education majors and available to others interested in developing curricula and/or other special skills and projects. Prerequisite: Mus 101 or equivalent; music reading ability and musical experience recommended.
Emphasis upon personal dramatic experience and drama as process instead of theatrical product. Principles and procedures for utilizing creative dramatics activities in educational and other settings, as expressed through individual and group movement, sound and improvisation. Practicum lab hours required.


Youth and adult literacy programs support young people preparing to enter the labour force, through to adults who have retired and want to maintain their skills. Literacy skills enable people to participate fully in their families, communities, and workplaces. In each situation, they need different forms of literacy, and different skills.
Youth and adults’ interests, needs and learning styles are different from those of children. As a result, we need to use different approaches to teaching and learning. The work we do in youth and adult literacy is community-based.
Youth literacy and adult education programs are vitally important in the NWT to support literacy development among people who may not have the skills they need for today’s world.
To support youth and adult literacy development, we:
- Develop a wide-range of learning materials for instructors and learners. (See our resources section.)
- Develop and deliver a range of workshops and training for youth and adult literacy development. These include: literacy and essential skills; youth literacy; financial literacy; digital literacy; health literacy; workplace literacy.
- Promote the value of literacy.
- Monitor government policy and funding for adult literacy.
Conduct research in the adult literacy field.
The NWT Literacy Council can help community-based organizations, including adult educators, to offer youth and adult literacy programs in their community, through our workshops, training and free resources.


The Role of Women in Music in Nineteenth-Century
PhD thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
During the nineteenth century the position of women in music grew throughout
Europe, and Ireland was no exception. In Dublin, women went from participating in
the city's musical culture as performers to participating as teachers, composers,
organisers, performers and writers.
In the first half of the century, private music teachers such as Mrs Allen
represented women's first steps into promoting Irish music. With the re-organisation
of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 1856, women were given a new outlet for
their talents as students and teachers. The employment and fair treatment of Fanny
Robinson, as the Royal Irish Academy of Music‟s first female teacher, set a
precedent for equal treatment of women in the music profession. The Royal Irish
Academy of Music continued to employ women as teachers, such as Mrs Scott-
Ffennell, Margaret O‟Hea and Edith Oldham. The nineteenth century saw Dublin's
first female composers, Fanny Robinson, Elena Norton and Annie Patterson,
publishing and performing their music. Women began writing about music as a
means of improving music education and public understanding. One of the greatest
outcomes of the promotion of music by women was the founding of the Feis Ceoil by
Annie Patterson and its organisation and promotion by Patterson and Oldham. The
musical culture of Dublin was given a means through which it could develop while
reviving native Irish music.
This thesis evaluates the contribution made by women to music in nineteenth
century Dublin and examines the areas they were involved in, how they were
perceived and how their important work has been neglected and often forgotten in
accounts of music from that period. It argues their worthiness of an important place
in Ireland's music history.
||Role of Women in Music; Nineteenth-Century Dublin;
||Arts, Celtic Studies & Philosophy > Music
||30 Nov 2010 15:08
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ESERO Ireland promoting space as a resource for teachers
European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO) Ireland promoting space as a theme to inspire and engage young people in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Space is fascinating to people of all ages, it is all around us and inspires us in many different ways. Space is the ultimate cross-curricular theme cutting across history, geography, science, maths, literature, religion! ESERO Ireland makes space themed resources accessible to teachers as a tool to engage their pupils.
|Register for 2014 summer courses|
|Sign up for the “Maths – it is Rocket Science” or “Junior Rocket Scientists” summer courses. By signing up to a course Primary Teachers can gain key insights into using Space across the curriculum to develop numeracy skills.|
|Provides a curriculum led sign-posted set of space related resources for primary teachers, junior science teachers and transition year.|


Page 4 of 5
By Linnea C. Ehri, Ph.D.
In languages with a higher degree of spelling regularity, such as Spanish, it is much easier for a student to figure out the correct spelling of an unfamiliar word. But in English, a speller must encounter, notice, and pronounce specific words to remember how to spell them. As noted earlier in this article, the same phoneme may be spelled one way in some words and another way in other words, for example, the long /a/ sound in "mail" versus "male," or the /s/ sound in "sit" versus "city."
It is especially hard for a student to guess the spellings of longer words correctly. One reason is that a long word may contain letters that are not heard in its pronunciation. A common example is the "schwa" vowel in unstressed syllables, which is pronounced like the sound "uh," for example, the last two syllables in med-i-cine. It is harder to remember these letters when they do not represent their proper, distinctive sounds. Other cases of letters that are not heard in pronunciations are doubled consonants, for example, those in "difficult" or "dessert"; and vowels that precede "r" within a syllable, for example "ar" in "collar" and "or" in "color."
There are strategies a teacher or parent can use to help students remember the spellings of some longer words, for example by:
Finally, spelling should always be included as part of vocabulary learning because research has shown that spellings help a student secure the pronunciation and meaning of a new vocabulary word in memory1. To take advantage of this, a teacher or parent should not only provide a definition but also should show and analyze the spellings of a new vocabulary word when a student asks about its meaning.
To summarize, in the primary grades, spelling instruction should provide a foundation for remembering spellings that includes:
Young students with LD need these foundational skills to remember spellings of simpler words that predominate in their reading and writing lessons. As a student advances through the grades, the words he needs to spell become more complex. Without a solid foundation and without continued instruction in word spellings and regularities, a student will have difficulty sustaining strong spelling skills as he progresses through school.
Parents can help their children become better spellers. Of course, how much help you can provide depends on your own spelling skills. It is not unusual for the parent of a child with spelling problems to have those problems as well. If this is your situation, you may want to encourage the school to increase efforts to help your child build spelling skills or you may request that the teacher provide spelling exercises for your child to practice at home. Or you might seek help for your child from a private tutor with expertise in spelling instruction.
If your child's school does not teach spelling as part of comprehensive literacy instruction, you might join with other interested parents to persuade the school or school district to include explicit, systematic instruction in spelling in its literacy curriculum throughout the elementary grades.
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These are the I can posters for First Grade English Language Arts only. Update: I added the math posters to this pack.
This super hero theme represents the I can. phrase.
This zip file includes the following 3 documents:
1- PDF document with I Can posters (89 pages)
2- Power Point document to edit blank posters incase you prefer to change the wording to a poster. (includes 6 blank posters-- one for each color-coded category)
3- PDF checklist with a column for date. You can make a copy of the checklist for each student's data folder. Then, simply write the date mastered for each objective. This documentation of student progress will come in handy during parent conferences, report cards and referrals for student academic needs.
-Print these posters on card stock and laminate for durability. Post in your classroom according what you will be teaching on any given day or week.
Each section is color coded and is represented by a different super hero graphic.
Reading Literature posters are purple.
Reading Informational text posters are green.
Reading Foundational Skills are pink.
Writing posters are blue.
Speaking and Listening posters are yellow.
Language posters are orange.
This book also includes a checklist of the strands for each category.
Thanks for stopping by,
Lidia R. Barbosa
You can find me at:
Kinder Alphabet (previously known as Kids Reading Activities.
Or visit me on my FACEBOOK page.
See you there!
Public License credit for use of the Common Core Standards in my posters:
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.


The 150-year battle to improve Britain’s schools
Recent governments have tried to outdo each other in telling us they are shaking up the education system, weeding out poor teaching, rewarding successful schools and ensuring that pupils have a solid grounding in the three Rs. A preoccupation of the last two or three decades, you might think? In fact, as historian Dr John Howlett of Keele University points out, this year marks the 150th anniversary of the first concerted attempt by government in London to test pupils, pay teachers according to results and assert the government’s will systematically over the education system.
It is the anniversary of what was called the Revised Code of 1862, which set out how school education was to be funded, with regular tests of how well pupils and teachers were doing. This was introduced following an investigation by the Newcastle Commission, set up, says Howlett, to discover “what was going on in voluntary schools”. Governments had previously adopted a “broadly laissez faire” attitude towards elementary education. But what the commission found was “pretty horrific” – with church and voluntary schooling failing to keep pace with population growth. In some places only 10 per cent of children were being educated.
There were broader reasons too for this new educational agenda. Government realised uneasily that impressive new industrial and military competitors – notably Prussia – were forging ahead with high-quality education. And politically, as Britain moved towards the Reform Act of 1867 and an extension of the franchise, there was a lofty sense among the elite, says Howlett, that new voters should be better educated.
So the Revised Code aimed to create the framework for the extension of effective and affordable elementary education for all social classes. It established a system of payment by results, whereby schools could claim four shillings annually for pupils who attended regularly, and eight shillings if pupils passed specified tests in reading, writing and arithmetic.
Conversely, poor results meant schools lost part of their grants. Such a system, argues Howlett, was seen as the “most efficient way of saving money” as education expanded.
But then, as now, a centrally devised system of testing pupils and teachers, and allocating funding, attracted fierce criticism.
Teachers, says Howlett, “resented that their salaries depended on results” and said the tests were haphazard, failed to allow for variation in how children developed and “did not reflect how well they had been teaching”. Another criticism with a distinctly modern ring was that the system discouraged breadth of education, as teachers felt forced to concentrate on the three Rs to the exclusion of other subjects.
The system of payment by results only lasted until the beginning of the 20th century, when a more decentralised and variable public educational system took hold, run mainly by local education authorities. And a broader curriculum, including subjects such as geography and history, had become more widespread, leaving the narrower focus on core subjects behind.
There was much educational reorganisation in the 20th century, especially of secondary schools as the leaving age rose. But it was not until the 1970s, points out Howlett, that the alarm over educational standards at all levels was sounded again – this time by prime minister James Callaghan. In a famous speech in Oxford in 1976, he raised “the strong case for the so-called ‘core curriculum’ of basic knowledge” and asked, “What is the proper way of monitoring the use of resources in order to maintain a proper national standard of performance?” Successive governments since have followed this agenda and intervened with modern versions of curriculum reform, testing and ranking of pupils and schools, and changes in educational financing.
And so this deep-rooted education debate continues, as does the tension between those stressing competence in the three Rs and vocational skills versus advocates of a broader approach to what and how children are taught. The current education secretary, Michael Gove, is keen both on school reform and more rigorous teaching of national history. He might find the 1862 Revised Code and what followed to be an illuminating special subject.
Chris Bowlby is a presenter on BBC radio, specialising in history
This series is produced with History & Policy. You can find out more about them and read their papers at www.historyandpolicy.org


DeBord visits Sweden's early childhood learning centers
t was a golden opportunity — a chance to travel to Sweden with other child development professionals to get a firsthand look at the country’s early childhood programs. Dr. Karen DeBord, Cooperative Extension child development specialist, felt the trip would give her a chance to see how Sweden utilizes outdoor spaces to educate young children.
With the help of a $5,000 scholarship through North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Charles M. Brickhouse Development Award, DeBord was able to make the trip. The N.C. Center for International Understanding and the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute organized the trip that drew 20 professionals.
DeBord is working with a team of professionals specializing in early childhood education and outdoor environments to develop an instrument for evaluating outdoor play environments for early childhood education centers. A wealth of playground regulations in North Carolina and the United States has turned many outdoor spaces at childcare centers and preschools into less-than-creative environments with anchored play equipment, but no spaces for creative play.
In September, DeBord and the group visited a number of Sweden’s early childhood learning centers in Gothenburg and Stockholm. They also talked with faculty at several universities to better understand the country’s approach to early childhood education.
DeBord said spending time outdoors is an important value in the Swedish culture. “It is an accepted thing for a child to spend 80 percent of his or her day outdoors,” she said. Sweden is not burdened with the overwhelming safety regulations of the U.S. that may inhibit learning, she said.
DeBord used the experience to help test and adjust the assessment instrument for outdoor spaces, which she and her colleagues have been working on for more then two years. She will use photos she took in Sweden to help American educators and parents understand the value of outdoor play.
“How do you communicate to parents the value of outdoor play?” DeBord said. “In Sweden, they just know.”
Sweden recently adopted a state curriculum plan for preschool education, which is similar to developmentally appropriate practices used by many U.S. early childhood centers. Group members were anxious to see how the curriculum, which is a framework for educating young children, compared to U.S. practices and whether it could help improve early childhood education in this country.


Our results demonstrate that a simple color-coded labeling intervention increased sales of healthy items and decreased sales of unhealthy items in a large hospital cafeteria. A choice architecture intervention that improved the visibility and convenience of healthy items further improved the effectiveness of labeling. By addressing low nutrition literacy and decision biases with our intervention, we saw significant improvements in food and beverage choices of cafeteria patrons over the 6-month period.
Menu labeling with calories is a public health policy that has already been implemented insome US cities and will soon be required by federal law.8,9
The evidence for the effectiveness of this policy is unclear. Some studies suggest that consumers purchase slightly fewer calories with calorie labeling,12–15
whereas others have shown no change in calories purchased.12,16–18
Most studies rely on cross-sectional designs and register receipts, self-report, or direct observation.
Reading and understanding nutrition labels is a complex task.10,11
Even highly literate consumers may have difficulty interpreting labels because of low numeracy skills.11
Interpreting the meaning of caloric information on a menu requires an understanding of one’stotal caloric needs, an accurate estimation of a serving size, and adequate time at the point of purchase to consider and act on the information. Phase 1 of our intervention tested a simplified labeling scheme. Although this scheme provided the consumer with less precise information than does calorie labeling, it conveyed complex information in a way that could be easily understood and acted on immediately. The effectiveness of this system was most striking for beverage sales, with red beverages decreasing 16.5% and green beverages increasing 9.6%.
Any information-based labeling intervention, however, does not account for decision biases inherent in many individuals’ health behaviors.19,20
Phase 2 of our study tested whether changing the choice architecture by rearranging the presentation of the food or beverage options would increase healthier choices. The strongest example of the effectiveness of this intervention was the increase in bottled water purchases. During phase 1, bottled water remained in 2 refrigerators that were not centrally located in the cafeteria (), and despite the green label, there was a slight decrease in sales. During phase 2, bottles of water were placed in every refrigerator in the cafeteria at eye level as well as in baskets near several of the food stations (), and water sales increased 25.8%. By making water the default choice, the choice architecture reduced the likelihood that patrons would be tempted by sugared beverages that were less prominently displayed but still available for purchase.
The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in the United States has increased dramatically in recent decades, and there is strong epidemiologic evidence for the association between sugared beverages and poor health outcomes, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.25–28
By phase 2, the cafeteria sold 238 fewer red beverages per day and 190 fewer regular sodas. Although our study does not examine individual-level data, significant changes in the beverage habits of employees who visit the cafeteria regularly could translate into health benefits over time.
A limitation of this study is that there was no control cafeteria. However, we were able to compare sales data for some items at 2 on-site cafeterias that had no intervention, and the changes in the intervention cafeteria were significantly different from those of the comparison cafeterias. We were not able to create a washout period after phase 2 to assess the effectiveness of a choice architecture–only intervention because the changes to the menu boards and displays in the cafeteria for the Choose Well, Eat Well program were designed as permanent changes to the cafeteria. Another limitation to this study is that we could not assess longitudinal change for individuals over time.
This study demonstrated the effectiveness of a labeling and choice architecture intervention in promoting healthy food and beverage choices in a large hospital cafeteria. Without changing the price or selection, we saw significant increases in healthy choices that were sustained over a 6-month period. Our results suggest that a simple information-based nutrition intervention is effective and is enhanced by an additional intervention that takes decision biases into account. In the future, these types of interventions could be integrated with menu calorie labeling to improve the reach and effectiveness of this policy.


It's great news that a Lucian Freud portrait has been given to the Tate. That adds another work by this extraordinary artist to Britain's public collections. But will we ever produce another artist like Lucian Freud?
Freud came to Britain in 1933, his 11th year. What makes a great artist – nature or nurture? Freud had some impressive genes, being Sigmund Freud's grandson. You could even argue that he and Sigmund shared the same profound preoccupation with the body and sex and our fleshy earthbound natures. Lucian Freud spent his early childhood in Berlin and there is a German cultural heritage visible in his work: his paintings can easily be exhibited next to those of an artist such as Otto Dix.
But it was in Britain that he trained. Freud's most important art education was at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing run by the artist Cedric Morris. He also spent time at London colleges but it seems to have been in East Anglia that this juvenile delinquent started to apply himself. Morris was a self-taught artist who had been involved with British modernist art but rejected abstraction and believed in the depiction of reality. He evidently had a true influence on Freud: you can see this immediately from Morris's portrait of a dog, Belle of Bloomsbury, in the Tate collection. The relationship with Freud's own dog paintings is vivid.
The British art world in which Freud was educated and became an artist was staggeringly different from today's. Art was a comparatively minor component of British culture then: today it is constantly in the news and a source of national pride. The middle class was hostile to modernism and still held to a passion for portraits and landscapes that had dominated British art since the 18th century. Freud took all this to heart and never deviated from his path as a staunchly "traditional" artist whose power rests in craft and skill.
Again, this is very different from today's Britain where there are so many other ways of making art.
So here is the problem. Freud's death and his posthumous retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery unleashed a universal admiration for his stupendous achievement. But was that just froth? Do the British love Freud from the heart, or just as this season's fashion? If it is from the heart – if we recognise that here was a truly great talent who put lesser celebrity artists of our time to shame – then many of us need to re-examine our attitudes to art.
Since the 1990s, all through my working life as a critic, the artistic culture of Britain has done all in its power to prevent another Freud ever again being nurtured. It is as if at some point, just as Freud was reaching his zenith, a meeting was held behind closed doors at the Tate to ensure that a genius like this must never, ever be allowed again to upset the cosy applecart of commercialised conceptualism.
Everyone now praises Freud but for there to be any more Freuds, young artists need to be encouraged to draw from life (not just as wacky doodling) and to take craft as well as concept seriously. The pressures against them doing that get more relentless all the time.
Freud does not have to be the last great British painter. It is up to us to value and nurture the art we want, the art we need.


Upon completion of the program, students should be able to:
- Communicate effectively utilizing written and oral communication skills.
- Model an expert knowledge of studio materials and fluency in studio art techniques.
- Employ a sophisticated use of design, aesthetic and conceptual processes in the creation of studio art.
- Indicate depth and breadth of experience in art history, and an understanding of subject, meaning, and context within art history.
- Demonstrate critical thinking skills by reflecting in visual, oral, and written formats an understanding of art movements both historical and contemporary as the movements relate to individual studio artwork.
- Produce a body of studio work that addresses and communicates an unique and creative vision effectively.
- Express a knowlege of pedogogy and current research specific to the field of art education.
- Demonstrate an ability to apply professional, state, and institutional pedagogical standards to facilitate student learning.


DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF SINGAPORE DEVELOPMENTAL CONTINUA OF EARLY ORACY, LITERACY AND NUMERACY SKILLS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS
Aljunied, M., Ministry of Education, Singapore
The Singapore Developmental Continua of early oracy, literacy and numeracy skills were researched and developed by psychologists from the Psychological Assessments and Research Branch of the Ministry of Education, to provide teachers working with young children with a framework to link assessment to teaching and learning. Aimed at providing teachers with knowledge, skills and resources that would augment the use of curriculum and norm based assessments in schools, the Continua includes description of the phase of developmental progression in oracy, literacy and numeracy, as well as checklists to facilitate child observation and monitoring of progress. This presentation describes the processes involved in the development of the Continua, which involved a validation exercise with about 300 Singapore children from nursery (3 years) to P3 (9 years). Key features of the Continua are also described, making particular reference to the ways in which the continuum reflects the observed progression of skills among children in which the learning/acquisition of English oracy and literacy occurs mainly in the context of schools/structured learning environments. In addition, the numeracy continuum reflects the progression of skills that are pre-requisite to the mathematics curriculum in schools. The use of the Continua in schools by specialist teachers was evaluated using case studies and feedback from specialist teachers. The focus of evaluation is on the use of the Continua for monitoring children's progress/achievement and identification of instructional targets. Findings suggest that the Continua were most frequently used in the context of children who were exhibiting signs of learning delays/ difficulties. Issues concerning the expansion of the use of the Continua as an assessment framework for linking assessment to teaching and learning are discussed.


School of Natural Science
Science at Hampshire
In our view the natural sciences form a set of theories, methods, and data for understanding the world in which we live. For students therefore, science is not just information to learn; it is a process and way of thinking.
Events today present scientists with wide range of new challenges – from climate change, vanishing species, and dwindling water supplies to anthrax, malnutrition, and black holes. These demand new approaches at the interfaces of the sciences, for instance between physics and biology or human health and the environment. Right from the first semester, Hampshire’s School of Natural Science engages students deeply in the sciences and in interdisciplinary problem solving.
We design our first year courses so students will be responsible citizens who make informed decisions and also to prepare them for advanced science graduate programs beyond the bachelor degree. Thus all of our 100-level courses help students achieve a high level of scientific literacy. Most of these courses focus on a research topic of particular interest to the professor. In these classes students are expected to:
- Engage in scientific inquiry and own their questions
- Gain a clear sense of the scientific process
- See investigations in broader contexts
- Develop abilities to use quantitative information
- Develop oral and written communication skills
Students spend the second and third years in Division II which is analogous to “major” at a more traditional school. Based on virtually any scientific interest, students choose two faculty members who help them shape and expand what their course of study will be. Many students include internships, studies abroad, research, and other independent work. Thus, students set goals in Division II, but faculty set standards and provide advice and guidance. To see science faculty interest areas go to the NS Faculty Bios page and the Faculty Research page.
Beyond the foundational skills and core studies on which all scientific work is based, the School of Natural Science provides depth, focus and unusually rich learning and research opportunities for interdisciplinary study in two topical areas: environmental sciences/agriculture studies and health sciences. However, students can major in almost any branch of science (astronomy, bioengineering, etc.).
In the fourth year students complete a Division III thesis and take relevant courses. Division III students do research with NS faculty and with scientists nationally and internationally. Division III projects are substantial investigations that often result in publications or presentations at scientific meetings. (Look in the “Grant Activity” section here for examples.) Most Natural Science students go to graduate school, medical school, or other advanced programs and the diverse and rich Division III experience is excellent preparation for this.
The School of Natural Science faculty believe that students need to be actively engaged in finding knowledge, not just passively receiving it. Thus, we design our introductory courses so that students do their own research projects in the lab, field, or in the library. We are pioneers in Student-Active Science.
Some teachers use the case-based approach in which teams of students are given a case (such as a medical case) to solve, where they must figure out what information is needed, make tentative diagnoses, and get the background and knowledge to come to an answer.
Other classes involve students in designing and carrying out their own research projects–for example, testing water in local brooks for pollution, on seeing what chair design causes more tension in neck muscles. These research-based courses also have students working in teams.
At upper levels, students gain deeper skills and knowledge. In Division II students design their own majors, which can be interdisciplinary. In Division III, each student chooses and carries out a major research project.


Up one level
MUE 5054: Methods I: Early Childhood/Childhood Music (3 cr.)**
Philosophy and praxis of the transmission (teaching and learning) of music by students preschool through grade 4. Emphasis on the work of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Zoltán Kodály, and Carl Orff. Training of the body (thinking, feeling, moving) through musicing—from traditional (folk) musics and dance leading to musics and dance of the world (including Western art music and other composed musics). Pedagogy and performance on the soprano (descant) and alto (treble) recorders in preparation for experience on the chest of recorders. Use of the Orff instrumentarium and traditional instruments in the classroom. Music oracy to literacy for children by design of curricular sequencing of music elements and domains using the tools of rhythm syllables and movable tonic solfege. Curriculum projects using five curriculum parts—beginning point, song list, yearly flow chart, daily lesson plan, and activity plan (strategy). Readings of monographs and articles about current debates in music education; reaction papers to these readings assigned. In-class teaching with critique. Twelve hours of observation of preschool and elementary musicians-educators required. Prerequisite: Open to music education majors others by permission. Should be completed as a preparation for EDU.5408: Student Teaching and Seminar: Music Education.
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The classroom examples of arts integration that appear in these workshop programs have been keyed to the McREL Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks, a synthesis of national standards in each of the disciplines. A chart showing these connections can be found on the Standards page of the companion Web site for Connecting With the Arts: A Teaching Practices Library, 6-8.
In addition, helpful guidelines for arts integration are gathered in Authentic Connections: Interdisciplinary Work in the Arts (PDF) . These guidelines were produced in 2002 by the Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, a group that included the American Alliance For Theatre & Education, Music Educators National Conference, National Art Education Association, and the National Dance Education Organization.
NEXT: Meet the Teachers


BOARD schools, often mistakenly called boarding schools, were built and run by elected school boards, which were responsible for elementary education between 1870 and 1903 when their role was taken over by councils.
School boards were advanced organisations for their time.
For instance, women had equal rights to stand for election to the boards, well ahead of getting the vote in other areas of life.
Architecturally, their buildings were also innovative.
They introduced what we would now call "passive stack ventilation" and their high windows flooded the rooms with light without giving pupils distracting views.
Sliding screens provided flexibility in classroom sizes.
Rounded bricks, tiled walls, solid doors and small window panes allowed for the inevitable hard wear inflicted by classes of 60 or more children.
Hull School Board built 37 schools, of which seven still survive in school use and a further seven in other uses.
Newington (1885), Stepney (1887) and Wheeler (1901) primaries are all listed nationally as of special architectural and historic interest, while Marfleet (1892), Clifton (1889), Mersey (1902) and Thoresby (1903) are on the local list.
All have special features and interesting histories.
William Botterill, an experienced architect of renown, was architect to the Hull School Board.
Of his designs, the only survivors are Charterhouse Lane School (1881, listed), now occupied by Northern Theatre School and Hull College, and Blundell Street (1878, listed), now sadly derelict.
Most of the surviving Hull Board school buildings were designed by his partner John Bilson.
He had worked for the London School Board and our schools have many similarities in design, providing impressive focal points to views from surrounding streets.
The flexibility of their design has meant the buildings adapt well to other uses.
The former Blenkin Street School (1889 and listed), with its distinctive stepped gables, is now a club. The Avenues Adult Education Centre (1888) was originally an "Industrial School" teaching domestic skills to girls.
Brunswick House (1891), now council offices, was built as a Higher Grade School for children staying on after the school leaving age of 13, as was Boulevard School (1895), attended by Amy Johnson, now Rosedale Mansions.
Newland Avenue School buildings (1896) currently provide accommodation for council services and a Youth Centre, while Northumberland Avenue School (1896) accommodates Humber Archaeology and business units.
St George's Primary, (1881 and listed) was built by the Newington School Board when this area was still outside the Hull boundary.
Somerset Street School (1881 and listed), now occupied by Scrapstore, is also one of their schools.
Lambert Street Nursery (1879, locally listed and the oldest Board School still in school use) was built by the Cottingham School Board, a reminder that the boundary of Cottingham Parish once came as far south as Queens Road.
Our Board Schools are among our best Victorian buildings.
Hopefully, the significance of the buildings will be borne in mind in considerations of the future of Newland Customer Service Centre and Lambert Street Nursery.


Fun with Numbers
In April of 2009, Joanne Lee (Department of Psychology) and Donna Kotsopoulos will be launching Fun with Numbers, a free community-based outreach program offered weekly at the main Waterloo Public Library Branch(www.wpl.ca) for the development of early numeracy in infants and toddlers (ages 12 to 28 months). Our own research has shown that many parents during play-time with their children do not engage in number play, or mathematical talk, that may support mathematical learning and achievement. Yet, studies suggest the amount of “mathematical talk” children receive in the daily lives during the early years is important and has been shown to influence a child’s acquisition of mathematical concepts and mathematical achievement. Other research has shown that parents have been found more often to focus on literacy development and neglect the development of mathematical concepts with infants and toddlers – seeing mathematics learning as something that occurs when school begins. This program will support infants and toddlers in preparing them for schooling - much the same way that early literacy programs have been shown to be effective in preparing children for schooling and in subsequent achievement. To date, no such early numeracy programs exist for babies and toddlers. For more information see www.wlu.ca/childlab.


logging in or signing up The Life Cycle of a Butterfly sarahsummey Download Post to : URL : Related Presentations : Let's Connect Share Add to Flag Embed Email Send to Blogs and Networks Add to Channel Copy embed code: Embed: Flash iPad Dynamic Copy Does not support media & animations Automatically changes to Flash or non-Flash embed WordPress Embed Customize Embed URL: Copy Thumbnail: Copy The presentation is successfully added In Your Favorites. Views: 2600 Category: Entertainment License: All Rights Reserved Like it (2) Dislike it (0) Added: April 13, 2010 This Presentation is Public Favorites: 1 Presentation Description The PowerPoint describes the life cycle of a butterfly. It is an interactive way for students to learn and review. Comments Posting comment... Premium member Presentation Transcript The Life Cycle of a Butterfly : The Life Cycle of a Butterfly By: Sarah Summey Quit Slide 2: Key Term: Metamorphosis (definition) Life Cycle Picture Egg / Ova Larva / Caterpillar Pupa / Chrysalis Butterfly Website Video About the Author Resources Quit Key Term: Metamorphosis : Key Term: Metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process used to develop after birth into an adult that has a significantly different physiology (body shape)! EXAMPLE:Butterflies do this! Quit The Life Cycle : The Life Cycle Egg or Ova 2. Caterpillar or larva 3. Pupa or Chrysalis 4. Adult or Butterfly Quit The Egg/Ova : The Egg/Ova Female butterflies lay as many eggs as possible so that even just a few may survive. The eggs a laid in a protected area (on stems, leaves etc) near food for the future caterpillar. The egg is usually a tiny, round, oval, or cylindrical object. Quit The Larva/Caterpillar : The Larva/Caterpillar This is the long, worm-like stage of the butterfly. The caterpillar often has patterns of stripes or patches. This is the feeding and growth stage. As it grows, it sheds its skin four or more times so its rapidly growing body will fit, because it is almost always eating. Quit The Pupa/Chrysalis : The Pupa/Chrysalis The chrysalis (or pupa) is the transformation stage. The caterpillar tissues are broken down and the adult insect's structures are formed. Many species overwinter in this stage. Meaning they stay in there until spring. This is where Metamorphosis takes place. Quit The Butterfly : The Butterfly The adult is colorful butterfly. It is the reproductive and mobile stage for the species. The adults undergo courtship, mating, and egg-laying. The adult butterfly is also the stage that migrates or colonizes new habitats. Quit Slide 9: On this website we will watch the animated video on the life cycle of a butterfly. Click on the picture. It is at the top of the website. Just click play. Quit Here is a Video on the (Monarch) Butterfly Life Cycle : Here is a Video on the (Monarch) Butterfly Life Cycle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vXmF5W_Wkc&feature=related Quit About the Author : About the Author My name is Sarah Summey. I’m from Sturgis, Michigan. I am attending Grand Valley State University to obtain my bachelors degree in Elementary Education as Language Arts major. Some day I hope to teach any grades K-3 in a very diverse setting. I have even considered teaching abroad…how fun would that be! If you have any questions or comments please email me. Quit Resources : Resources Images, video and information http://www.wou.edu/~rlemus/ed422website/lifecycle.html http://www.utahbugclub.org/ubcgraphics/butterflylifecycle.jpg http://www.kidsbutterfly.org/life-cycle http://www.cocoon.org/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vXmF5W_Wkc&feature=related http://www.neok12.com/Metamorphosis.htm Quit You do not have the permission to view this presentation. In order to view it, please contact the author of the presentation.


A growing body of research literature documents the nature, process, and consequences of early childhood learning and development, and directs attention to the role of risk and protective factors in children's development. Research in HDFS on early childhood education focuses specifically on understanding the relations between home and school factors that contribute to children's positive developmental and learning outcomes. A primary research focus is on the design and evaluation of targeted interventions that support the development of children's social, cognitive and academic competence.
The Miller Child Development Laboratory School provides child development practicum and student teaching experiences for students, fulfill a need in the community for child care, and support child development research.
- James Elicker
Dr. Elicker is investigating child care quality and young children's development in early care and education contexts. (Evaluation of Child Care Quality Rating Systems; Child Care Quality and Child Outcomes in Low Income Working Families)
- Blake Jones
Early childhood is a critical time for establishing healthy habits and behaviors. Factors predicting long-term obesity and sleep deficits are often seen in early childhood. Unfortunately, problems with obesity and sleep deficits in early childhood are often stable and predict long-term problems with these issues. Dr. Jones is interested in child obesity prevention, and works with parents, child-care workers, and teachers to understand how to promote health and prevent obesity in young children.
- Douglas Powell
Early literacy and language skills provide an important foundation for later school success, including reading competence. Dr. Powell's research focuses on the development and evaluation of professional development interventions with pre-kindergarten teachers aimed at enhancing the early literacy and language development of at-risk preschoolers.
- David Purpura
Dr. Purpura’s research focuses on understanding the development of early mathematical concepts and behavioral problems. Specifically, he is interested in investigating how these domains, and other factors, interact across early development.
- Sara Schmitt
Dr. Schmitt’s research focuses on optimizing young children’s development, particularly during the early childhood years. Specifically, she studies factors that support children’s school readiness, with an emphasis on self-regulation, executive function and early academic skills. In particular, she is interested in the role of early care and education experiences and family stability in preparing children for kindergarten entry. In addition, she develops and evaluates interventions that strengthen school readiness skills for children from disadvantaged families.


The Collaborative Center for Literacy Development (CCLD) provides high quality professional development and research on behalf of improved literacy instruction and student achievement from early childhood through adulthood. In order to provide systemic support, CCLD works with early child care providers and educators to develop children’s early language and literacy skills. It supports initiatives that produce highly effective teachers and early childhood care providers who can facilitate the language and learning skills that guarantee future reading, writing, and school success. These early childhood professionals need to know theories of child development, how to meet the unique and varied needs of individual children, and how to plan a research-based curriculum delivered in an interesting and stimulating environment that contributes to the healthy development of young children. The benefits of such early care and education promote both cognitive and social development, as well as fostering language and literacy from birth to age five.
Young children are born with an innate curiosity and an enthusiasm for learning. Despite individual differences present at birth, every young child deserves the opportunity for care and education of the highest quality provided by excellent early childhood educators. To achieve this level of excellence, early childhood professionals need specialized training and education in practices that are most effective in promoting young children’s learning and development, i.e., developmentally appropriate practices.
In 1993 the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) developed a conceptual framework for an effective professional development system with four primary components addressing the diversity of early childhood providers. The framework also includes the provision of professional development opportunities and compensation linked to participation in these opportunities.
In 1998 the International Reading Association (IRA) and NAEYC issued a joint position statement bringing together the accumulated knowledge of both organizations, specifically the processes involved in reading and writing and the stages of child development. They outlined three aspects of developmentally appropriate practice that need to be considered when teaching young children:
- Using the stages of child development to set realistic goals for literacy learning that align with the age (literally and experientially) of the learners
- Ongoing assessment of children’s progress in order to monitor and adapt instruction
- Considering the cultural context of the children’s life experiences by providing relevant instruction and background knowledge
In 2005 IRA issued a position statement on literacy development in the preschool years. It stated the importance of the preschool years, ages 3 and 4, in many areas of development, focusing on the domains of literacy and language development. Skills learned in these areas are critical for children’s success in the future. High-quality preschool experiences can improve social as well as academic performance, particularly when provided by well-prepared and knowledgeable preschool teachers. Research tells us that preschool education benefits children of all economic backgrounds, but it appears that the most benefit comes to children whose parents have the lowest incomes and least formal education.
In 2009 NAEYC developed professional preparation standards that provide a framework for what teachers should know and be able to do. They are:
- Promoting child development and learning
- Building family and community relationships
- Observing, documenting, and assessing
- Using developmentally effective approaches to connect with children and families
- Using content knowledge to build meaningful curriculum
- Becoming a professional
CCLD is committed to providing professional development to early care and education professionals and to partner with other early childhood organizations and agencies in the state in pursuit of this goal.


A fourth or fifth grade teacher will find inspiration for lessons on
geography, history, science and cultures - all of which may connect with an
art-making experience. This will be clearer if the reader is familiar with
the artist's work. But -- for instance, she uses an ancient petroglyph (
rock drawing )of Rabbit, the trickster. Perhaps children will invent a
narrative piece, using collage and paint, and telling a story of their
encounter with Rabbit. Maps are a recurring motif in Ms Quick-To-See
Smith's art. This suggests a discussion of the artist's maps followed by
producing maps of the children's worlds - home, school, mall, town, etc.-
individually or collectively.
Ms Quick-To-See Smith reminds us that Indians are very much alive in
America today. Your friend may have students with Native American parents
or ancestors. Please take care not to reinforce existing stereotypes. The
artist especially cautions teachers not to do projects on Kachinas. At the
1995 National Art Education Association she said; "It is inappropriate for
a classroom and it devalues someone else's religion".
I hope you & your friend will look at Ms. Quick-To-See Smith's artwork. It
is richly rewarding. Hope this note helps, too. Best Wishes! Kathie
At 08:34 PM 10/30/97 -0500, you wrote:
>A former student of mine who is studying to be an elementary teacher is in
>need of an idea for an art project that deals with Native Americans.
>She'll will be working with 4th and 5th graders for an hour max.


The following is a guest post written by art education advocate Charlie Schofield.
There are a lot of things that I remember doing as a small boy whenever I teach inside my third grade classroom. Growing without any siblings in downtown London, I found company in my toys – my Batman action figures, those little green Army men, a cabbage patch kid that I cleverly named ‘Veggie.’ My favorite was Michelangelo Etch-a-sketch, which I used every afternoon to draw Veggie’s clumsy face. That was the beginning of my love affair with the arts.
I regret one thing though. I quite distinctly remember a small box right behind my Etch-a-sketch masterpieces. If only I played with the contents of that small box before, I would’ve been this generation’s Michelangelo by now. That’s an exaggeration of course. But it is a valid hypothesis I presume. Fast forward two decades, I am new putting that theory into practice. What’s that super amazing creative toy inside the small box I failed to utilize?
Let me give you three reasons why I think this toy is a great creative tool for art teachers.
Lego teaches kids to use their hands.
It seems like moving your hands and using them for different purposes isn’t necessarily a skill that needs to be taught. But you’d be surprised. It’s more than just common sense; motion and cognitive cognition is more closely linked than you thought. By exercising kid’s physical movements, especially in the hand and arm area, they are simultaneously activating the right side of their brain – image perception, intuition, and music adeptness. Stacking Legos doesn’t merely exercise the hand muscles, but also subconsciously enhances creativity.
Lego teaches kids to imagine.
We can all agree that grand creations start from little things. Here is a fine example of what a kid can do with Lego blocks.
Try and do this little exercise that I do with my students. Have them create something out of a limited number of Legos. Watch how these kids use their imagination to build something out of six, five, or eight blocks. This is great to ignite the childrens’ passion for building and creation. Who knows, these tots might be the future engineers, sculptors, and landscape architects of the future?
Even further, integrating the creative process with new media is a great way to boost the kids’ imagination. If you’ve been reading this blog before, then you know that there is an app for everything. Lego is no exception, and you can download apps made by the Lego group in the Google play app store.
Some of my personal favorites for the purposes of art education are:
Let the kids’ imagination run free with these great games.
Lego teaches kids that the box does not exist.
Imagine a bag of small blocks of Lego scattered all over the floor. This is chaos, and the process of making a defined structure with all of the fallen pieces – that is order. What’s great about Lego is that kids are trained to create order in any direction that they choose. There is no best way to create a Lego fortress. There is no proper sequence of blocks for a cool alien ship. There is no limit to how high a tower should be. There is no box. Lego teaches us that there are a million things that we can do, and a million more ways to do it.
About the author: Charlie Schofield is a tech writer for Techie Doodlers, geek dad, and educator. He is currently traveling Southeast Asia as part of an edTech campaign to teach kids about the wonders of technology. He is a painter and a supporter of education drives such as Lowe’s and Verizon.


A Child's Life
Volume 25 Number 2
Drawing of "poverty"
Photo courtesy Judith Chafel
What does being poor mean?
Crayons in hand, 8-year-olds across Indiana have transferred their answers onto 12-by-18-inch sheets of drawing paper to help Indiana University Professor of Education Judith Chafel better understand children's ideas about the poor.
Chafel's research project involved 62 children in 15 classrooms and nine schools, both urban and rural. She documented children's thoughts and emotions, through their artwork, to elicit their perceptions of poverty.
Doctoral student Mary Harnishfeger began the sessions with the children by reading the book Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen, about a boy who spends a day with his uncle working to feed the poor. Then, with yellow, red, and blue crayons, the children drew pictures and answered the question, "What does being poor mean? Tell me about your drawings."
"One of the things that was so important to the study was to try to develop a new methodology, using the transcripts of the children's verbalizations along with the pictures," Chafel says. "The principal research in this area has been based solely on verbal data."
One boy drew an adult and child, simple stick figures, walking on a sunny day. The text above the picture has them saying "I think everyone should have homes. I think being poor is wrong." Then the child drew another stick figure lying on a park bench, similar to a scene in the soup kitchen story.
Talking to the children about what they drew, Chafel and Neitzel could document the true message, from the artist. In the case of the boy and his stick figures, Chafel says, "The child communicated an awareness of socioeconomic status groups in our society and of the neediness of the poor."
In Chafel's efforts to understand the children's words and works, she was assisted by several people from the School of Education's highly ranked graduate programs in art education and counseling and educational psychology. Professor emeritus Gilbert Clark worked with Chafel to analyze the children's drawings. Graduate student Melanie Davenport helped with category generation, while graduate student Miwon Choe assisted with data coding. Doctoral student Carin Neitzel did statistical analyses and collaborated on interpreting and writing up the findings.
"It was a rather complicated way to get meaning from the data," Chafel says. "It was extremely time-consuming. But one important contribution of the research is that we approached the questions with a different perspective, more from the child's point of view."
The results were not surprising. But they are interesting, and they may help determine how educators take on the topic of poverty in years to come. For example, Chafel says, "Educators might introduce a spirit of altruism into education at this age, to nurture a sense of empathy for the poor. Given children's ability at this age to think about poverty, this may also be a good time to start talking about its complexities, to counter popular societal ideas that are too simplistic."
Chafel's findings showed that girls displayed a greater awareness of the helplessness of the poor, possibly because girls in our society are encouraged to be more sensitive to people's feelings.
Of the 62 children, 21 were African-American or biracial urban students. Fifteen of those were in a lower socioeconomic group. These non-white students were more likely to communicate an awareness of the poor and the negative aspects of poverty.
"It's a highly reasonable finding," Chafel notes, given that these students were more likely to know poverty firsthand in their own lives and neighborhoods. "They often have observed the realities of being poor."
Children in the higher socioeconomic class were more likely to lack awareness of poverty and to put a more positive face on being poor. "Their drawings suggest they don't fully grasp the meaning of poverty," Chafel says. "They have an unrealistic picture."
Rural students were more likely to have a "positive" perception of poverty than kids living in the city. Chafel notes the rural poor are spread around, often not as visible as the poor in more populated areas.
"Using the drawings and the words of the 8-year-olds was a valuable way to gain insight into how they view the world," says Chafel, who continues to write up analyses of the data she collected from the children. "Combining the two modes of communication is a great research tool."
Laura Lane is a writer for the Hoosier Times in Bloomington, Ind.