Preliminary results of this study of the preconditions for pedagogical change in Swedish schools indicate that national curricular emphases have changed, but that accompanying changes in teaching methods may conceal wide variation in content and import. The study's objective was to identify the factors conducive or hostile to change in the…

A new definition of teaching must replace traditional modes of instruction. Intellectual growth is best encouraged by assisting, rather than assessing, student performance. Classrooms must be settings which maximize opportunities for participation and conversation. Definitions and practical applications are given for Vygotsky's term "zone of…

Chapter 1 of this yearbook describes the current educational milieu, discusses recent educational changes and implications for educational change, and notes both problems which have hindered progress and possible solutions. Chapter 2 indicates that more than scholarship in a subject is needed in teaching, and suggests possible classroom…

This book is a comprehensive staff report addressed to the United Teaching Profession as a basis to improve America's schools. Contents include: Section 1, The setting: a note of urgency; are schools to blame? the traditional role of education; the fruits of success; the new focus of change: humaneness in education; and, barriers to humane school.…

This collection of four case studies discusses the work of teachers and their efforts to change their classrooms, schools, and districts. The case studies show that teachers can learn to use their own strengths and talents, knowledge, shared vision, and commitment to student growth and development to effect change. The first case study,…

American schools might improve their performance by emulating certain successful businesses that, while distinctly American, have much in common with Japanese corporations. William Ouchi attributes Japanese business success to worker involvement; the typical Japanese corporation, he asserts, unifies its employees around a corporate philosophy…

This investigation of the teaching of science in secondary schools is based upon the analysis of 58 courses in general science, 45 courses in biology, 27 courses in physics, and 30 courses in chemistry. The courses were obtained from schools in response to a request from the Office of Education for courses which had been revised since 1925. Some…

What is the method by which the elementary school can be brought up to twentieth-century standards? The answer is "a complete administrative and curriculum reorganization of the elementary school." The efforts of John Dewey in his highly socialized experimental school in Chicago, of Merriam at Missouri University, and of William Wirt at…