In recent years science educators have placed increasing emphasis on the importance of understanding student knowledge. The research aimed at exploring student knowledge--misconception research, nature of science studies, and conceptual change research--has proved useful in telling us what concepts students know before and after instruction.…

Because of the inadequacy of the three models of English teaching in Australia (the skills, personal growth, and cultural heritage models) in carrying the impact of English instruction beyond its own confines, a new model--the person-process model--is necessary. The model focuses on the individual, but serves to locate individuals in their life…

Dialectical thinking has values for education that have been largely overlooked by researchers and educators. Dialectical thinking refers to the ability to view issues from multiple perspectives and to arrive at the most economical and reasonable reconciliation of seemingly contradictory information and postures. Dialectical thinking is a form of…

This paper offers reflections on various presentations at the March 1999 convention of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development in San Francisco. The presentation, "Links between National Standards and Successful Classroom Strategies," is guided by two questions: (1) How are teachers, schools, and school districts promoting…

Based on the review of several pedagogical paradigms, this paper: (1) clarifies the concepts of learning resources and learning objects; (2) proposes a way forward in the use of learning resources in different pedagogical paradigms in a large scale collaborative environment; and (3) exposes characteristics required in different learning objects to…

The study of narrative is an interdisciplinary enterprise actively pursued within literary criticism, semiotics, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, cognitive psychology, and psychiatry. Within education, narratives have found their practical application in two areas. In the curriculum field, narratives seem an obvious choice as organizing…

The growth of interest in all things knowledge management (KM) is exponential. Developments of products and ideas, fueled by a newly designated knowledge community, is happening at such speed that few seem to question the trends or the knowledge management systems finding favor in organizational life. A consideration of what is being presented as…

This paper argues that research findings from the study of teaching could be very useful in enhancing knowledge and tools for the design of both conventional and intelligent instructional software. It also suggests that if the ways in which teachers effectively conduct instruction are different and in certain ways better than other media, and if…

This paper aims to debunk the metaphysics of presence informing modernist pedagogical assumptions. Systematic instructional design, predicated on teleological and eschatological modern metaphysics, superordinates designers' goals at the expense of learners. Tracing structuralist pedagogical theory to Bobbitt (1997) and Tyler (1949), one can…

This paper provides a snapshot of 19 diverse school settings that have committed themselves to whole-school reform to make a meaningful difference in the lives of their students. The schools in this study reflect schools across the country and represent various levels of readiness. Earlier findings in these schools indicated that "although…

The process paradigm for teaching writing has been the dominant curricular model for the past 20 years, but by anatomizing various dimensions of this paradigm, it becomes clear why it, like any other paradigmatic model, will not last forever. To be adopted and become normative, any new paradigm has to appeal to salient features of the prevailing…

Increased attention to inservice teacher education needs has isolated four major structural dimensions associated with the design of effective inservice programs. The INSERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION REPORT I: ISSUES TO FACE (ISTE) explicates an early model of program construction, utilizing these four concepts. Governance, concerned with the…

The purpose of this paper is to identify practices and trends in elementary and secondary education literature applicable to early childhood student teacher supervision. The paper begins by reviewing the relevant literature on both historical and current perspectives on early childhood teacher education programs. Then, the goals of student…

Teacher educators are becoming increasingly concerned about having a model of teacher preparation. As part of its new standards for accreditation, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education demands that professional education programs adopt a model that explicates the purposes, processes, outcomes, and evaluation of the program.…

This paper examines the concept of "outcomes-based education" (OBE), how it was developed, how it relates to other current reforms that encompass the notion of outcomes, and how it relates to students with disabilities in theory and in practice. Outcomes-based education holds that all children can learn and succeed and that schools are…