The calculus concepts of concavity and inflection points are often given meaning through the shape or curvature of a graph. However, there appear to be deeper core ideas for these two concepts, though the research literature has yet to give explicit attention to what these core ideas might be or what it might mean to "understand" them.…

Discussed are the nature of the development of conceptual relationships, and the structure of concepts. The topics are presented with regard to the importance of combining metaphors with two alternate approaches to learning, the first being rote learning and the other being inductive learning. The paper is intended to be a model of the concept of…

The purpose of this paper is to report how Gagne's model in "The Conditions of Learning" was adapted in order to develop activities, preobjectives, and test items for social studies concept instruction. One of the major problems in the field of social studies education is the looseness or nonspecificity of many of the definitions and…

Robert Gagne's model as presented in "The Conditions of Learning" (1970) is modified, extended, and used to form a logical model applicable to planning and teaching the social studies. It is used to develop planning procedures and to sequence instructional activities consistent with attaining complex levels of student learning. Sample…

This paper analyzes a study designed to determine if students understand the concept of democracy and can apply democratic principles. It also compares the study with related investigations conducted in Europe and calls for improved teaching to make the concept of democracy comprehensible. In 1974, 1,000 high school seniors in Pennsylvania…