Responsive assessment is explored in this book in terms of its ability to support people who learn. This book represents a search for assessment practices that are relevant and responsive. Part 1 introduces responsive assessment as a set of guidelines and as a theoretical foundation for assessment and instructional planning. Chapter 1 explores the…

The concept presented in this document offers an alternative to the traditional structure and ideology of the community college. The "learning college" is based on the assumption that learning experiences are designed to meet the needs and convenience of students rather than those of the institution, its faculty, and staff. Six key…

This ethnographic study of a male kindergarten teacher in inner-city Milwaukee (Wisconsin) provides a picture of a classroom in which children from one of the city's most troubled neighborhoods work peacefully as they learn reading, writing, and other school knowledge. Most important, perhaps, is that they learn a way to act and participate in…

Empowering education is defined as a critical-democratic pedagogy for self and social change. It is a student-centered program for multicultural democracy in school and society that approaches individual growth as an active, cooperative, and social process. The pedagogy described in this book is student-centered, but not permissive or…

The renewed attention to assessments that attempt to capture complex aspects of educational attainments of students is explored. The definition and impetus for attention of the measurement community to higher order thinking skills are examined. Through a detailed description, a model assessment development process is presented. The process relies…

The author discusses Seligman's research on helplessness: how it is learned, what factors influence its formation, how it is unlearned and the implications of his research for counseling depressed clients. The author clains that directive counseling would be quite helpful for depressed and helpless clients. (SE)

A study was conducted involving two experiments to address the question "What effects do students' beliefs about the nature of knowledge have on comprehension?" Experiment one involved 117 junior college students and 149 university students as subjects. An epistemological questionnaire was administered to the undergraduates. Factor…

Quality education in an information society must include skills related to the accessing and evaluating of pertinent information for problem solving. Moving beyond the practice of using reserve material, lectures, and textbooks predominant in most college teaching today would be a step towards producing independent learners more likely to use the…

The Learning in Science Project has adopted the view that science teaching might be improved if teachers can be given some appreciation of students' views of the world and the beliefs, expectations, and language that learners bring to new learning situations. This investigation looks at the topic of soil, one of the basic resources of New Zealand…

Research approaches to the complex issues related to college teaching and learning are discussed. Topics covered include: research itself (why improvement is needed, potential targets for improvement, types of research, and an integrated strategy for productive research); the learning activity; the teaching activity; learners; teachers;…

The effect of school climate on student learning was considered important by educators until the late 1960s, was discounted as a result of major research findings during the 1970s, and is now beginning to reemerge as a potentially critical factor suitable for study, according to the author of this paper. Reviewing the literature, the author notes…

Students have well-formed but incorrect theories of simple motion. As children, they interpret many phenomena related to motion before encountering any formal science education. Since most adults have misconceptions, children's questions are not answered correctly, so the misconceptions persist. Thus, every science teacher must face the prospect…

The major problem faced by those who would evaluate teaching has been the difficulty of defining teaching effectiveness or establishing criteria for measurement. Traditionally, evaluations have focused on teacher performance in the classroom or on teacher traits as the criteria of effectiveness. However, previous studies have indicated that…

Seventeen research reports related to mathematics education are abstracted and analyzed. Five of the reports deal with aspects of learning theory, three with teacher education, two with testing, three with children's knowledge and understanding of various mathematics-related concepts, and one each with errors in solving linear equations, classroom…

Fourteen research reports related to mathematics education are abstracted and analyzed. Two of the reports concern studies funded by the National Science Foundation to provide an assessment of the status of science education; three deal with teaching methods, three with conditional reasoning, two with problem solving, two with intellectual…