This paper reports data collected during the first year of the Understandings of Consequence Project. This project explores how mismatched models of causality, instances when students' assumptions about how causes and effects behave significantly depart from scientific ones, may generate and/or exacerbate difficulties in achieving scientific…

Laboratory experiences as a part of most U.S. high school science curricula have been taken for granted for decades, but they have rarely been carefully examined. What do they contribute to science learning? What can they contribute to science learning? What is the current status of labs in our nation s high schools as a context for learning…

Initial textbook investigations indicate that more new words/phrases are introduced than in a similar time frame in which foreign languages are studied. Reviews these initial studies, studies of vocabulary mastery in foreign languages, and general research concerning vocabulary development. Reports on occurrence of technical/special words in 25…

Specifies rules individuals use to make moral judgments, suggesting that certain culturally transmitted excuses are generally believed to absolve people of blame for harming others. Areas discussed include accepting excuses, children's moral judgments (including Piagetian theory), accidental harm, learning excusing conditions, and a theory of…

Among the topics discussed relating to demands on business/industry/education resulting from the "pull" of the information explosion are: frontiers of knowledge, research on educational television, computer-based learning, intelligent videodiscs, quality of learning, science education/cognitive research, misconceptions, motivation,…

Points out and challenges the imbalance between the recognition and development of intuitive wisdom versus the accumulation of factual knowledge. Makes a clear distinction between the overlapping concepts of knowledge and wisdom, and between the paradigms of logical scientific inquiry and intuitive understanding. Outlines an intuition training…

Agricultural educators must begin to consider the emotional, developmental, and maturation needs of learners in the planning process through a personal approach to teaching which would not only provide learners with examples needed for their own development, but would also develop respect for the teacher and provide greater efficiency of…

Many current assessment practices are incompatible with the goals of independence, thoughtfulness and critical analysis; common forms of assessment are not consistent with the behavior of academics in their own contributions to knowledge; and the assessment policy of many departments undermines approaches to learning. (Author/MLW)

Examines the connection between the classroom as an organizational and social system and the learning outcomes of a class of students. Makes hypotheses concerning lateral communication. Finds that interaction among students is particularly valuable in heterogenous classrooms in which many children have difficulty understanding the teacher's…

This article reviews the best evidence concerning the cognitive and noncognitive effects of multigrade (students of more than one grade taught by one teacher) and multiage (students grouped for expected benefits) classrooms. Studies of noncognitive, cognitive, and achievement effects reveal no adverse effects of learning in such classrooms. (SLD)

The approach of the School without Walls illustrates how collaborative curriculum can empower students and can address the problem that our schools do little to change power relations between students of elite families and those of minorities and low socioeconomic status. Data from a study of the school's student outcomes and a national study of…

This review examines research that has investigated the complexities of the associations among families, schools, and children's school outcomes. General categories of studies are (1) social-arithmetic environmental research; (2) family and school structural characteristics; (3) the environmental press of families and schools; and (4)…

The Test of Reactions and Adaptation in College (TRAC), a measure of students' personal dispositions toward learning, is presented. Results from 2 different samples of college students (n=1,081) indicate acceptable psychometric characteristics for the TRAC. The TRAC predicted college success better than high school weighted academic average did.…

Examines common assumptions about the nature of teaching and professional learning that influence the design of teacher education courses. These assumptions are contrasted with current empirical research about teacher knowledge. A role for the emerging theory in the analysis, evaluation, and development of professional training courses is…

Discusses North Carolina's alternative assessment program for first and second grades, the process of implementation, knowledge gained from the program, and implications for implementing Standard 6 (focusing on analyzing and interconnecting teaching and learning) of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Professional Teaching Standards.…