The National High School Center's goal is to encourage researchers, policymakers, and practitioners at all levels to engage in comprehensive, systemic efforts to maximize attainment for all high school students, with a focus on those students who have been historically underserved. To this end, it has developed a framework that consists of eight…

Although exploring students' thought processes can be rewarding, most teachers rely heavily on reponses to tests and assignments that fail to disclose learners' thinking patterns. Concept maps grouping interrelated ideas can encourage students to demonstrate effective and meaningful assimilation of organized study areas. Includes five footnotes.…

Attempting to characterize the research literature on schooling, this paper discusses six possible inquiry perspectives termed analytic, portrait, intentional, structural, societal, and narrative. These perspectives are then analyzed and related to forms of knowledge about educating children. While preferring the narrative approach, the article…

Argues that knowledge generation and model building in supervision and teaching are mistakenly patterned after the physical sciences instead of the cultural sciences. Also, this mimicry is too simplistic by physical sciences standards. Metaphorical models of research and practice would enhance educators' understanding of reality. Includes 31…

Considered are two commonly used techniques, the interview and word association techniques. Highlighted is a third technique called the repertory grid. This third technique can be used to interpret students' knowledge based on an explicit, psychological theory of human behavior. (Author/CW)

The world presented to our senses is essentially continuous in space and time. The simplest observations of children have shown that we are not born with ways of "breaking up" the world. The structures of our knowledge must be developed, and the major issue this paper considers is how those structures develop. The discussion focuses on Jean…

The education of teachers involves three categories of knowledge: particularistic, technical, and liberal. These knowledge areas are explored and their association with field, laboratory and scholarly/scientific learning environments is discussed. (DF)

Explores how some of the work in the history and philosophy of science might develop a more adequate understanding of students' untutored ideas. Describes how students' views can be interpreted. Explains and discusses the merits of commonsense-scientific theory analogy. (YP)

This paper describes the Structure-Mapping Engine (SME), a cognitive simulation program for studying human analogical processing. SME is based on Gentner's Structure-Mapping theory of analogy, and provides a "tool kit" for constructing matching algorithms consistent with this theory. This flexibility enhances cognitive simulation studies by…

This paper on the curiculum development process describes how primary sources may be used to teach history. Three frameworks related to historical understanding are presented: (1) the thinking skills/information processing framework; (2) the cognitive structure framework; and (3) the response theory framework. A curriculum development model is…

Described is the generative learning strategy, an approach which encourages pupils to discuss their out-of-school ideas about plant breathing, drinking, wood production, soil, minerals, and leaves, and assist them in linking appropriate ideas together to form an explanation of the origin of plant materials. (CW)

Presented is an alternative method for analyzing the van Hiele level of students' geometrical reasoning. The accuracy of students' answers may afford a description of acquisition and/or expertise for each of the van Hiele levels simultaneously rather than the traditional assignment and evaluation of one level at a time. (JJK)

This paper analyzes Bogdanov's theory of knowledge as found in philosophical dialogues and essays. The style of Bogdanov's writing and his ideas on philosophy, science, scientific constructs, truth, human knowledge, objectivity and ethics are discussed. These ideas are compared to the constructivist view of knowledge. (CW)

A study documented 10 college students' understanding of the limit concept and the factors affecting changes in that understanding. Encouragement by the researchers for the students to change their common informal models of limit to more formal conceptions were met with extreme resistance. (Author/JJK)

Discusses the difficulties that some students have in understanding the concept of chemical reactions. Proposes that instructors try to consider the various difficulties during a chemistry course when students form their concepts of element conservation. (TW)