Acquisition in general and first language acquisition in particular is a very complex and a multifaceted phenomenon. The way that children acquire a language in a very limited period is astonishing. Various approaches have been proposed so far to account for this extraordinary phenomenon. These approaches are indeed based on various philosophical…

The purpose here is to translate the Fifth Force Psychologies movement through an integral (Wilberian) lens. One of the most significant impacts of doing this comes from the integral initiative, which has led to Ken Wilber arguing "Psychology is dead." Concomitantly, his view is that the "integral approach" is its replacement. This move…

Student plagiarism is partly the result of a faulty behaviorist model of the research process and unwitting encouragement by teachers. Middle-school teachers can improve the situation by assigning meaningful research topics, building background knowledge, keeping topic selection open, providing easy source texts, suggesting data-organization tips,…

The cognitive-science perspective has radically transformed theory and research in psychology, anthropology, and other fields and has dislodged firmly entrenched behaviorist theories and practices. Cognitive psychology's contribution to educational measurement lies not in new-found assessment methods, but in a richer conception of knowledge and…

This paper focuses on the notion of human learners as being structure-determined. Alternate views of educational phenomena and educational research of G. Cziko (1989), D. Bohm and F. D. Peat (1987), H. Maturana and F. Varela (1980, 1987), and S. E. Pirie and T. Kieren (1989, 1990) are considered. A mathematical theory of chaos, random…

Scottish curriculum documents in science fail to offer adequate objectives for measuring knowledge and understanding of science concepts at the primary level. The behavioral objectives of the national curriculum are incompatible with the prevailing constructivist model of learning. In constructivism, students construct their own understanding…

An instructional systems approach to learning draws on principles of instructional design and development but also draws from theories such as behaviorism, information processing, cognitive theory, adult education, and systems theory among others. This paper focuses on how instructional designers can benefit from awareness of different adult…

Behaviorism was the dominant epistemology in education approximately 20 years ago, while constructivism has most recently been the dominant epistemology in the field. In this paper, differences between the assumptions of behaviorism and constructivism are briefly identified, and the behaviorist pedagogy of Individually-Guided Education and the…