Curriculum and Methods
Enhancing Thinking Through Cooperative Learning, ed. by Neil Davidson & Toni Worsham (Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Ave., New York, N.Y. 10027; 320 pp., $20.95 paper). Examines the theoretical foundation of current practices in cooperative learning. Also contains practical methods that can be applied to a full range of classroom settings from kindergarten through graduate school, and in a variety of subjects.
Imagination in Teaching and Learning: The Middle School Years, by Kieran Egan (The University of Chicago Press, 5801 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60637; 177 pp., $8.95 paper). Gives advice on how to structure curriculum to help maximize students’ use of imagination.
Mathematics Assessment and Evaluation: Imperatives for Mathematics Educators, ed. by Thomas A. Romberg (State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y. 12246; 370 pp., $14.95 paper). Presents viewpoints on issues surrounding mathematical testing, such as the need for valid performance data, the implications of new standards for test development, gender differences in test taking, and methods of reporting student achievement.
Mathematical Challenges for the Middle Grades, ed. by William D. Jamski (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1906 Association Dr., Reston, Va. 22091; 46 pp., $7.50 paper). Provides teachers with innovative problems for classwork on computation, geometry, probability, and numbers.
Projects for a Healthy Planet: Simple Environmental Experiments for Kids, by Shar Levine & Allison Grafton (John Wiley & Sons Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10158-0012; 94 pp., $9.95 paper). Explains such environmental concerns as oil spills, clean-water supplies, and erosion, suggesting class projects that include creating environmentally safe materials, such as homemade flea repellent, soap, and bubble bath.
Seeds of Change: The Story of Cultural Exchange After 1492, by
Sharryl Davis Hawke & James E. Davis (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Rte. 128, Reading, Mass. 01867; 94 pp., $10.36 student edition, 46 pp., $5.40 teacher’s edition, paper). Based on research for a National Museum of American History exhibit, “Seeds of Change,’' this curriculum guide for grades 5-8 charts how the exploration of the Americas led to the introduction of new forces into both the old and new worlds, for example, the horse; corn, potatoes, sugar, and other agricultural products; and various diseases, and discusses these influences’ effect on European and American populations.
Seeds of Change: Readings on Cultural Exchange After 1492, ed. by Mary Ellen Jones (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Rte. 128, Reading, Mass. 01867; 126 pp., $10.36 student edition, $5.40 teacher’s guide, paper.) Aimed at high school students, this curriculum guide offers further discussion of the exchange of resources from the new and old worlds, and the effect of this interplay.
Gender Issues
The Courage To Achieve: Why America’s Brightest Women Struggle To Fulfill Their Promise, by Betty A. Walker & Marilyn Mehr (Simon & Schuster, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020; 202 pp,. $20 cloth). Presents a “blueprint for reaching one’s maximum potential’’ based on findings from a study of 1,250 academically talented graduates of New York City’s Hunter Schools for Girls; the authors draw implications from the life patterns of achievement--and many revealing interviews--of the study’s subjects, who ranged in age from 19 to 92.
Education and Women’s Work: Female Schooling and the Divison of Labor in Union America, 1870-1930, by John Rury (State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y. 12246; 277 pp., $19.95 paper). Discusses the connections between markets, politics, ideology, social structure, gender, and the evolution of education during the Industrial Revolution.
Women of Influence, Women of Vision, by Helen S. Astin (Jossey-Bass, 350 Sansome St., San Francisco, Calif. 94104; 201 pp., $25 cloth). Interviews with three generations of women in leadership roles reveal a common emphasis on nontraditional leadership characteristics such as cooperation, and creativity.
Educational Policy
Changing Schools From the Inside Out, by Robert L. Larson (Technomic Publishing Company, 851 New Holland Ave., Box 3535, Lancaster, Pa. 17604; 180 pp., $35 paper). Includes an examination of the societal factors affecting change in public schools, and discusses national research on change and on the organizational characteristics of schools and classrooms; features case studies illustrating the dynamics of small-scale change in site-managed organizations and gives advice on the role of principals, teachers, and board members.
Facing the Challenge: Task Force on School Governance (The Twentieth Century Fund Press, 41 E. 70th St., New York, N.Y. 10021; 130 pp., $9.95 paper). Examines the efficiency of school governance, debating the role of politics in school boards, the board-superintendent relationship, training for board members, and the possibility of eliminating school boards entirely in favor of some new form of governance.
