set 1976 : no. 2

A recent American survey conducted by Ann Terry and published by the National Council of Teachers of English was designed to:
1. Determine what kinds of poetry were most enjoyed by children aged 9 to 11 years.
2. Analyse this poetry, and other less popular kinds, in terms of the (i) form, (ii) content, (iii) poetic elements and (iv) year of composition.
3. Determine any relationships between the children's choices and factors like age and sex.

Many students have difficulty mastering the vocabulary of a foreign language. This report describes the keyword method, which appears to facilitate the learning of new words quite dramatically.

David Greene and Mark Lepper are psychologists whose research on motivation has led to a concern that, by using external rewards more often than necessary, teachers may lessen the intrinsic motivation that drives children to do something purely for the fun of it.

A recent Society for Research into Higher Education report reveals striking variations in the way students react to and prepare for examinations, the authors of this report, Miller and Parlett, coining the term cue-consciousness to distinguish different types of student responses.

Teaching standards are higher when teachers work in teams instead of staying in individual classrooms, according to a recent report from the National Foundation for Educational Research.

The Bullock Committee of Inquiry was set up by Mrs Margaret Thatcher, then Secretary of State for Education, in 1972. The establishment of the committee followed closely on the publication of the report of the National Foundation for Educational Research entitled The Trend of Reading Standards. This report implied that reading standards were declining and said that there was wide concern about methods being used to teach English in primary schools.

The topic of 'corporal punishment' and 'discipline' is difficult to deal with as it is always highly coloured by the emotional extreme from which a participant in a discussion considers it. I do not believe in corporal punishment nor have I found it necessary to resort to its use. I do, however, firmly believe in 'discipline' as it pertains to the learning process by which a student is guided in the development of self-control and in the recognition of his responsibilities to himself and to… Read more

In this bulletin an attempt has been made to explain what is meant by the term intelligence, and to answer some of the queries concerning intelligence tests which teachers and principals often raise. More specifically, the purpose of the bulletin is to provide answers to the following questions:

What is intelligence? What is an IQ? What kinds of intelligence tests are available in New Zealand? Are intelligence tests valid? Are they fair to minority groups? Why test at all?… Read more

Noise is, or can be, a source of constant difficulty in a pre-school institution, affecting the health and behaviour of both teachers and children, and making it difficult if not impossible to carry on specialized or individual programmes of one kind or another. Dr David Barney, Associate Professor, Department of Education, University of Auckland, directed, 3 years ago, a preliminary investigation designed to reveal the noise producing factors in a group of eight relatively new kindergarten… Read more