Contends that the pragmatic philosophy of the educational progressives permeates education today and emphasizes only the practical or vocational. Argues for activity for its own sake and states that contemporary Aristotelian scholars interpret his doctrine to encompass the view that intellectual activities can be pursued for intrinsic enjoyment in…

Eight papers are presented that illustrate the important impact of social factors in learning and the development of thinking. Some contributions focus on the modalities of teaching and learning and others are concerned with possible new ways of showing how learning is regarded by different social groups. (SLD)

Discussed is the behavior displayed by good problem solvers of feeling free to restructure, revise, or redefine a problem. Examples of student work are included. (MNS)

Examines implicit assumptions about knowledge and learning found in the "Holmes Report" on teacher preparation. Considers the impact of these epistemological assumptions on conceptions of art knowledge, learning, and teacher assessment. Suggests that art education could provide a needed evaluative counterpoint to current trends toward…

In school design evaluation, the facility meets the following criteria: (1) is an integral part of the community; (2) creates a behavioral setting for learning; (3) fosters communication; (4) enhances the opportunity for teachers to function as professionals; (5) accommodates students' learning styles; and (6) is adaptable to the user's needs.…

Accuracy of students' judgments of learning (JOLs) in predicting recognition versus recall was investigated in 4 experiments involving 263 college students. Accuracy was greater for delayed JOLs than for immediate JOLs, and the accuracy of JOLs was lower in predicting recognition than recall. (SLD)

This paper reviews how sociocultural theory conceptualizes teaching and learning, fundamental constructs of the theory and methodology, and basic guidelines for discourse analysis. It applies these concepts to three research areas: the social construction of disability, contingent instruction between adults and learners, and miscommunication…

A conceptual framework of cognitive growth is sketched and a mathematical model of cognitive growth is presented with the conclusion that the most plausible model is a model of logistic growth with delayed feedback. The model is transformed into a dynamic systems model based on the logistic-growth equation. (SLD)

A study with 43 fourth graders and 32 fifth graders demonstrated that once they learned a poem to the same degree, fast and slow learners recalled about the same amount after 7 days, but when they relearned the poem, fast learners recalled more after 14 and 28 days. (SLD)

Attempts to define a discipline of social studies by identifying a philosophy of social studies. Suggests that such a philosophical structure should attempt to develop a systematic, coherent, definable body of thought organized on the basis of structure and process. Uses epistemology, ontology, and axiology as a framework. (DK)

Provides a brief history of the empiricism-nativism issue, considering present-day intellectual roots of nativist and empiricist inclinations. A schema is proposed for explaining the ontogenetic origin of an innate attribute or principle relevant to language. An attempt is made to explain the origin of primitives as derived by learning. (Contains…

Evidence from 5 experiments with over 150 newborns suggests that infants are born with some information about the structure of faces. This information, termed CONSPEC, is contrasted with CONLERN, a device for learning visual characteristics of conspecifics. Distinction between these mechanisms allows for reconciling conflicting data about face…

Criticizes an article by Messick (1989) that emphasizes consequential validity (the potential and actual social consequences of test score interpretation and use) as a component of construct validity. Shows the profitability of separating the construct-indicator link from the indicator-score link, and the greater importance of the former.…

Two types of teacher workplace commitment--organizational commitment and commitment to student learning--were studied in 63 urban elementary and middle schools. Schools high in organizational commitment generally served educationally advantaged students, exhibited orderly school, climates conducive to learning, and involved teachers in…

Two studies examined individual student differences (N=79) in student perceptions of learning context and studying utilizing a new statistical procedure (multidimensional unfolding analysis). The results confirm the existence of important associations between qualitatively different perceptions of learning context and individual approaches to…