Noting the current push for rigor in secondary school curriculums (the lead member of the "new three Rs" of rigor, relevance, and relationships), Washor and Mojkowksi take a closer look at the prevailing conception of rigor. They argue that a narrowly defining a rigorous curriculum as one with more advanced courses and more factual content…

Adresses how doctors know when they have learned enough to cease reading, or talking with colleagues, or using medicine and begin using what they have learned to solve the precipitating problem. (Author/CCM)

Discusses concept learning research and theory, and examines the relationship with models of instructional design. Topics discussed include how concepts are learned; how concepts are measured; instructional design for concept learning; inferences; teaching with analogies; use of learning strategies; and new strategies for classification…

Introduces a special issue of the Journal of the Learning Sciences on methodology in learning sciences. Focuses on how one begins to account for learning and the potential of a learning context to support learning. (Author/MM)

Introduces a special issue on the ways in which symbolic tools enable, mediate, and shape mathematical thinking while being themselves a product of these processes. (Author/MM)

Uses Laudan's model of scientific change to obtain corresponding features on conceptual change in science learning. Discusses some practical consequences for science education. (MDH)

This symposium was designed to promote the formation of an instructional system that would incorporate the best instructional methodologies. Four papers were presented, each dealing with an acknowledged approach to teaching. The first paper emphasizes the importance of effective curriculum design, a facet of direct instruction that assists…

Although the critical thinking movement is a significant trend in both philosophy and teaching, there are certain points of view within the movement which have the potential for undermining its success. One of these developments, conceptual scheme talk, is contradictory to any intelligible notion of critical thinking. Believers in this concept…

Students often fail to apply knowledge and skills learned in one context to other situations. Although the implicit assumption in educational practice has been that transfer takes care of itself, a knowledge of the mechanisms of transfer can enable educators to help their students integrate general and local knowledge. (TE)

Examines the differences between concrete and abstract concepts and their implications for instructional design and teaching. How specific concepts are stored in and retrieved from memory is described, analogies are discussed as an instructional tool in abstract concept learning, and a possible instructional strategy for teaching abstract concepts…

This article introduces a series of papers that explain and illustrate how a higher order thinking curriculum can be designed for a full spectrum of students, including students with learning disabilities. The article discusses an approach in which concepts, rules, and strategies are taught by organizing content around the process of noting…

Humor can not only provide motivation for learning but can also contribute directly to the learning itself. Presents and analyzes excerpts from a number of classic pieces of comedy writing. Contains 28 references. (DDR)

Advocates removing the taboo regarding anthropomorphism and teleology in biology education. Argues that for high school students, accepting such formulations does not necessarily imply anthropomorphic or teleological reasoning. Further, living organisms seem goal-oriented because of their adaptation for survival. Concludes with the argument that…

Specifies some of the different word learning tasks students face, describes different levels of word knowledge, notes three types of costs involved in instruction, and discusses the costs and benefits of some specific methods of vocabulary instruction. (HOD)

Discusses the rationale and a method for the instructional use of graphing calculators as an intermediary step between the intuitive notion of the concept of a limit and its formal epsilon-delta definition. (JJK)