Discovery learning continues to be a topic of heated debate. It has been called a zombie, and this special issue raises the question whether it may be a phoenix arising from the ashes to which the topic was burnt. However, in this commentary I propose it is more like an elephant--a huge topic approached by many people who address different…

In this response to "Measuring Students' Writing Ability on a Computer Analytic Developmental Scale: An Exploratory Validity Study," the authors agree that assessments should seek parsimony in both theory and application wherever possible. Doing so allows maximal dissemination and implementation while minimizing costs. The Writing…

In a decade when brain research has helped people understand learning difficulties in children, and people have seen increased media attention on the use of medications to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adults, Dr. Edward (Ned) Hallowell has worked tirelessly to educate the medical profession, parents,…

Wilbert J. McKeachie has been the president of the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Association of Higher Education, the American Psychological Foundation, the Division of Educational and School Psychology of the International Association of Applied Psychology, and APA's Divisions 2 and 15. He received his PhD at the…

This paper focuses on the scholarship of integration in the field of education and argues that although it has gradually been moving into the mainstream of educational research, it is all too often judged on the basis of criteria more applicable to assess the scholarship of discovery. First, I examine the questions: what constitutes original…

The concept of premature discovery in science entails the publication of an important idea which remains uncited for a long period. Thereafter, a deluge of citations of its substance would occur. An overlooked example concerns the discovery in 1963 of how lung cancer cells stimulate the formation of new lymph vessels in man. Subsequently called…

In this article, the author talks about Galen, a Greek physician who is known to psychologists largely for his personality theory of the four temperaments, and his method of diagnosing the basis of one of his patients' symptoms using a form of single-subject reversal design long before its formal description. Galen's method to diagnose the cause…

Illustrates how the tagmemic theories of Richard Young, Alton Becker, and Kenneth Pike can be used as a heuristic system in writing entire compositions. (DD)

Meanings of "surprise" are wide and include uplifting and engaging facets like wonder and amazement on the one hand as well as ones that may be of the opposite nature like interruption and disrupt on the other. Pedagogically, educators who use surprise in class activities are focusing on students being "taken aback" by a situation, hopefully…

Discusses research that challenges the view that creativity originates in the right side of the brain; advocates a broad but concise definition of creativity. (MAI)

The role of serendipity or "chance in all its forms" in scientific discovery is considered. The need to differentiate between purely accidental events and Rothenberg's "articulations of error" when discussing scientific discoveries is stressed. Examples of articulations of errors are noted, including Fleming (penicillin),…

Time and opportunity to discover truths are essential in education. Discovery takes repetition and trial and error. Discovery crosses intellectual and disciplinary boundaries as well. What is learned through the diverse experiences of one's academic and individual lives will pollinate each other if there is room left for discovery. The tyranny of…

This essay presents a deconstruction of the phrase "technological to a fault" as it relates to applied behavior analysis. The essay discusses the imbalance between analysis as demonstration and analysis as discovery, offers a consequence and a cause, and examines the relationship of discovery and demonstration to behavior-analytic…

Creativity theory supports the conclusion that when a person recognizes the isomorphism in an analogic construct, that insight is the essentially creative act. Infraconscious mentation is more likely to produce insightful analogies than is rigorous, willful, consciously rational mentation, because infraconscious mentation, operating in the mode of…

Documents the search for an adequate conceptualization of writing and argues for the inclusion of personal experiences with composition as the basis for any teaching or research activity. (SRT)