A Handbook for The Learning Window

Section Four: References

Children's Development

Ault, Ruth. Children's Cognitive Development , 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.

The author examines children's cognitive development from both Piagetian and experimental child psychology viewpoints. Piaget is presented as a stage theory addressing specific arenas while non-Piagetian theory focuses on quantitative change within processes.

Beery, Keith E. and Norman A. Buktenica. The VMI -Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration . Cleveland: Modern Curriculum Press, 1989.

This drawing test measures a child's ability to copy 24 figures ranging from a single line to complex figures. The age range for the test is 3 to 18.

Bower, T. G. R. The Perceptual World of the Child . Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 1979.

This small book describes infants' perceptual abilities and their development as pictured from a series of experiments. The young child has far more complex and functioning perceptual system than previously thought.

Bruner, Jerome. Child's Talk . New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1983.

The author describes when and how children acquire language and explains what may help them do so. Dr. Bruner suggests that children have a Language Acquisition Support System which mediates the developmental processes of language.

Gaitskell, Charles D. and Al Hurwitz. Children and Their Art , 2nd ed. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1970.

This comprehensive textbook is directed at anyone who teaches art or seeks to understand the role of art in human development.

Goodnow, Jacqueline. Children Drawing . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977.

This book from the Developing Child Series investigates child art because, in the words of the author, " children's drawings present the world from the point-of-view of the child."

Kellogg, Rhoda. Analyzing Children's Art . Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1970.

This much illustrated book traces the development of children's artistic development. The reader learns to identify the predictable stages which occur in children throughout the world.

Lowenfeld, Viktor and W. Lambert Brittain. Creative and Mental Growth , 5th ed. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1970.

This is a significant art education textbook encompassing the role of art and art instruction in human growth and development.

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Imagery, Perception and Visual Thinking

Arnheim, Rudolf. Visual Thinking . Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969.

The processes of vision involve thinking and reasoning. Perception, in Arnheim's view, is the stuff of thinking through which we structure events and derive ideas. "The language of images is a prime mover of the constructive, creative imagination. Thinking calls for images, and images contain thought. Dr. Arnheim was Professor Emeritus of Psychology of Art at Harvard at the time he wrote this book.

Barlow, Horace, Colin Blakemore and Miranda Weston-Smith. Images and Understanding . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

The editors present a comprehensive collection of papers on the form, function and processes involved with imaging. They convey how images help make meaning and participate in thought.

Bloomer, Carolyn. Principles of Visual Perception . New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1976.

The author explains and illustrates the mechanisms of visual perception.

Dondis, Doris A. A Primer of Visual Literacy . Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1973.

The author describes the essential skills needed to create and to understand visual communication.

Epstein, William & Sheena Rogers, eds. Perception of Space and Motion . San Diego: Academic Press, 1995.

The authors present current information about the application of perception in a variety of situations that include depth, pictorial layout, events, 3 dimensional structure, as well as the development of space and motor perception.

Gombrich, E. H. Art and Illusion . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969.

The author originally presented these ideas at the A W. Mellon Lectures in Fine Arts at Princeton. The theme of the work is "A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation."

Kosslyn, Stephen Michael. Ghosts in the Mind's Machine . New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1983.

The author explores how humans create and use images in the brain.

Kosslyn, Stephen Michael. Image and Mind . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980.

This author explores imagery, how images are created and used and makes a case for the central role of images in the function of the mind.

McKim, Robert H. Experiences in Visual Thinking . Monterey, CA: Brooks J. Cole Publishing Company, 1972.

This is a Stanford University textbook used in the course on visual thinking developed by Robert McKim.

McKim, Robert H. Thinking Visually . Belmont, CA: Lifetime Learning Publications, 1980.

This strategy manual for problem solving includes a wide range of exercises to help individuals learn to solve visual problems.

Pick, Anne D. ed. Perception and Its Development: A Tribute to Eleanor J. Gibson . Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1979.

The authors present a series of papers that portray the nature and development of perception.

Potegal, Michael, ed. Spatial Abilities, Development and Physiological Foundations . New York: Academic Press, 1982.

The authors examine the way organisms learn to understand spatial relationships and review the physiological and neurological mechanisms involved.

Sacks, Oliver. A Leg To Stand On . New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1984.

The author, a neurologist, probes self awareness and consciousness in a personal episode that occurred after a severe leg injury. During convalescence he went through an extended interval of feeling dissociated from his leg even though it had healed.

Samuels, Mike, M.D. & Nancy Samuels. Seeing With The Mind's Eye . New York: Random House, 1980.

This comprehensive book explores the history, techniques and uses of visualization.

Schone, Hermann. Spatial Orientation . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.

Subtitled "The Spatial Control of Behavior In Animals and Man," this book describes how animals orient themselves in space as well as the mechanisms and processes involved.

Scientific American Readings. Perception: Mechanisms and Models . San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1972.

This collection of articles includes fundamental research papers on perception, systems and processes.

Wadsworth, Barry J. Piaget for the Classroom Teacher . New York: Longman, Inc., 1978.

The author is a psychology professor who set out to make the concepts and philosophy of Piaget understandable and practical for classroom teachers and students of education.

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The ARK Institute of Learning:
Applied Research Knowledge
overcoming obstacles to learning

Despite normal or superior ability, people who have learning disabilities and/or attention disorders often underachieve. Many fail at school and in their careers. Often mislabeled lazy or undermotivated, they may agree with this label at great cost to themselves and society. Spatial disability, a focus of ARK Institute of Learning, is the least recognized learning problem.

People with this type of disability may have difficulty with:

• mathematics
• spelling
• punctuation and capitalization
• mapping
• understanding time
• drawing
• copying from board or book
• organizing sequences
• changing point-of-view
• giving directions
• adapting to schedule changes
• creating order
• handwriting

The ARK Institute of Learning applies research knowledge to overcome these obstacles, producing articles, videos and products like The Learning Window Handbook.

For more information about spatial difficulties, please read Spatial Relations and Learning, available at this website.

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About the Authors:

Carol Stockdale is Director of the ARK Institute of Learning. She was a founder of Another Door to Learning, an agency serving learning disabled children and adults. She is a former teacher and artist. A focus of her research and writing has been the development of visual perception.

Carol Possin, Ph.D. is a psychologist in Schenectady, NY, specializing in learning and attention problems. She has been a teacher, school administrator, professor, and researcher. The focus of her research and publication has been learning disabilities.

Many people have contributed to this handbook. Fifteen educators and parents used an earlier edition in a variety of educational settings in four different states. Their ideas have been incorporated into this edition. Margaret Haskins and her students in the Lab School at Life Christian in Tacoma presented new challenges for which they also created effective solutions. In their work with the Learning Window over many months, they added new methods and refined old ones.

ARK publications are works in process. Readers are invited to add their ideas. Request copies of this handbook for an $8 fee or address comments to:

ARK Foundation
Allenmore Medical Center
1901 South Union Suite A-311
Tacoma, WA 98405
Phone (253) 573-0311
Fax (253) 573-0211
E-mail ARKfdn@aol.com

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Go back to the beginning of The Learning Window Handbook

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ARK Institute of Learning 1916 South Washington St. Tacoma, WA 98405 Phone (253)573-0311 Fax (253)573-0211 E-mail ARKfdn@aol.com or cstockdale@ARKInst.org

 

Copyright © 1996, 1998 ARK Institute of Learning
Permission is granted to copy for clinical or instructional purposes but not for commercial use.

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