The "Practical 1" paper combines Schwab's abiding concern, for the nature and quality of educational experience with another abiding concern, for how we think about what we do. The Practical 1 is the first of a set of four "practical" essays. These in turn are the product of his thinking about college education and his…

The paper examined expert literature teachers' coping with a novel textbook, integrating literature with visual arts, which is a particular interdisciplinary case of text-image relations in textbooks. Examination was performed within the framework of teachers' responses to curricular changes and of theory regarding strategies of interdisciplinary…

Maintains that Canadian scholar, Kieran Egan, developed a schema of childhood development that presents a bold, new approach to the stages of growth, both affectively and cognitively. Describes Egan's views and how the school curriculum must be adapted to correspond more closely to these views. (CFR)

Examines developments in social and cultural approaches to understanding child development. Focuses on the issue of narrative understanding as an important concept in discussions of how children learn. Offers a rationale for considering narrative understanding as a key aspect of meaning-making and discusses implications for classroom practice.…

Reports a research project with the goal of learning about the barriers to promoting higher-order thinking in high school social studies. Compares social studies departments that are successful at promoting higher-order thinking with less successful departments. Describes the technical aspects in the development and use of the 17 observational…

What lies behind the lack of theorizing about content in history in contrast to much greater attention given to theorizing about children's developing understanding of historical skills and processes? Egan's model of the characteristic ways in which children of different ages engage with the world is used to raise the question of what content to…

The concept of a curriculum task, defined as a task having goals, procedures for achieving goals, external resources (e.g., instructional materials), and internal resources (student's prior learning), leads to questions that can guide curriculum inquiry. For example, what are we doing to help students use their resources in accomplishing tasks?…

This paper examines the question of whether there are useful general thinking skills. It offers a working definition of "thinking skill" and identifies ways in which this concept has been over-applied. Thinking skills, used across domains, are not inevitably weak as a result of the generality-power tradeoff. Admitting that thinking skills require…

Describes interactive educational technology and discusses its use in the classroom. Asserts that research about the effectiveness of interactive technology ignores links to curriculum goals and educational objectives. Asserts that a human tutor may still be needed to extend the thinking of a group. (CFR)

Analyzes three widely-held conceptions of critical thinking: as one or more skills, as mental processes, and as sets of procedures. Considers each a misconception and offers alternative proposals for teaching critical thinking. (CMK)

Discusses previous attempts to confront the issues of how to deal with the competing views of science. Suggests an alternative approach for integrating nature of science issues into the school science curriculum. States that educators must accept that no single nature of science exists. Includes references. (CMK)

Reviews theories regarding school knowledge, cognitive processes, and curriculum development. Contends that students are not taught theoretical concepts because of a misapplication of Piagetian Theory. Concludes that students should be encouraged to explore several perspectives of reality to understand knowledge and thinking. (CFR)

Discusses three educational ideas, demonstrating their incompatibility: (1) a focus on socialization; (2) Plato's notion that education is the process of seeking truth about reality; and (3) Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea that the mind undergoes a developmental process and education furthers its development. Argues that education is learning to use…

Discusses the use of Aristolean logic in developing practical reasoning and arguments. Asserts that practical arguments are used to explain why an individual took action based on practical reasoning. Contends that this approach should be used by teachers in applying research findings to instruction and in encouraging students to support their…

Presents a response to, and critique of, the purely postmodernist approach to the study of history. Maintains that an appreciation of the subjective and constructed nature of knowledge still can be integrated, as a component, into a study of the understanding, construction, and transcription of history. (MJP)