Discusses (1) the need for teachers to understand student conceptions; (2) alternative conceptions that students formulate; (3) changing conceptions; (4) representing conceptual knowledge for studying conceptual change; (5) strategies for inducing change; and (6) a taxonomy of conceptual change. (Contains 61 references.) (MDH)

Describes the use of concept mapping in teaching complex notions in urban geography. Discusses the nature and characteristics of concept mapping, course context, three experimental exercises, and student responses in evaluations. Finds that concept-mapping techniques increased students' understanding. Emphasizes the continuing potential of this…

The proclamation of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development by the United Nations has placed education in general, and environmental education in particular, at the front of a future full of important and uncertain meanings. On the one hand, those inviting a conceptual, theoretical and praxiological revision of the…

Rodrigo, Chamizo, McLaren, & Mackintosh (1997) demonstrated the blocking effect in a navigational task using a swimming pool: rats initially trained to use three landmarks (ABC) to find an invisible platform learned less about a fourth landmark (X) added later than did rats trained from the outset with these four landmarks (ABCX). The aim of the…

The integrative studies model for classroom activities that the author proposes and illustrates in this article combines the chronological focus of traditional disciplines with the thematic orientation of an interdisciplinary approach. A theme or pattern acts as the vehicle for organization. Students are presented with a variety of information…

This study was conducted to investigate pupil responses to lessons taught by preservice teachers, and it addresses teachers' concept mapping as related to interactive behavior or effectiveness in the classroom. Lessons taught by student teachers (N=10) were examined for what pupils thought were the lesson's key ideas and for two things pupils…

This study examined the phenomenon of student teachers' practical knowledge of what constitutes a successful classroom lesson. One student teacher's personal orientation of practical knowledge and implicit understanding of what is needed to make sense out of the experience of success in classroom lessons was explored before and after the student…

Mexican American college students' views about the context influencing their decision to persist or leave the university were studied. Two sociologies of everyday life, symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology, guided the inquiry. Perceptions of college-going behavior before and during the freshman year were obtained from 18 students and…

Findings are reported from two descriptive studies of preservice teacher education students' conceptual change in response to reading methods instruction. The first study, involving 14 preservice teachers, focused on how students applied what was taught in the reading methods course; the second study (14 participants) examined students' conceptual…

Custom mapping, an experiential learning strategy used in adventure education, provides a general metaphoric activity and then requires the group to customize it into their own "meta-map." This approach encourages collaboration, gives the group a high degree of autonomy in developing creative solutions, and has the potential to generate…

Reviews factors influencing reversals of expectations for language-learning outcomes. This article touches on psychological and neurological data regarding individual differences in language-learning mechanisms and focuses on cross-linguistic psycholinguistic analysis that indicates that different target languages offer a wide variety of learning…

Describes a new strategy for informing and involving people in environmental issues. Presents stories of successful efforts by ordinary people to effect environmental change. Suggests that these stories can provide the help people need to build more adequate models about environmental problems and about their roles in addressing them. (27…

Because of its small size, the Chickasaw Nation has been relegated to the margin of studies of eastern Woodlands tribes and rarely included in narratives of Southern history. This omission is regrettable because the Chickasaws were at the center of resistance to French expansion in the region. And while representative of other southeastern…

Given the important role of science teacher educators in developing science teachers' understandings of nature of science (NOS), this study explores 15 Turkish "prospective" science teacher educators' beliefs about NOS in the context of teacher education reform in Turkey. A reflection-oriented qualitative approach was adopted in the…

This exploratory study examined the structure of declarative knowledge about pedagogy housed in the memory of an experienced teacher educator, and it sought to determine the teacher educator's influence on the development of declarative knowledge structures in undergraduate students enrolled in three sections of a physical education teaching…